(Proquest links, click here first)
Last Monday, Congressman McGovern spoke at a panel discussion regarding the People’s Rights Amendment at Clark University.
The Telegram didn’t see fit to cover this event.
That’s well within their rights — after all, they did report on an event in which the Worcester County sheriff caused a kid to vomit, so they pretty much covered all the newsworthy events for the day.
But the Telegram didn’t cover the event with actual reporting, but did see fit to refer to it in an editorial cartoon and a lengthy editorial against the constitutional amendment.
Let’s leave aside that statements like “The U.S. Constitution is not a document to be trifled with. Those swept up in the enthusiasm of the moment … should pause to consider whether they are truly wiser than the Founding Fathers and the U.S. Supreme Court” conveniently ignore that those Founding Fathers legitimized slavery, only allowed property owners the right to vote, and left women as second-class non-citizens.
Let’s even leave aside that I probably lean towards the Telegram’s perspective on this particular issue (rather than Congressman McGovern’s).
If you’re going to editorialize not once, but twice, about McGovern’s views, then it might be worth attending and covering the event in which he expresses those views. It’s okay to ultimately disagree with those views, but the public deserves an impartial observation before the editorializing.