John McCain may have won the Arizona Republic's endorsement for best Republican presidential candidate. But relations between the Arizona senator and Gannett's second-biggest paper have been plenty frosty at times, The Politico says today, in a new story about the McCain that the national press corps may not know.That January endorsement notwithstanding, Republic Editor Randy Lovely is promising to cover the senator's campaign "more thoroughly and aggressively than anyone else.”
(Could it include revisiting the Republic's past reporting on McCain's non-affair with singer Connie Stevens? Now, that would be aggressive!)
[Image: McCain on his campaign plane while in flight to New Orleans from Atlanta on Friday, Gerald Herbert, Associated Press]
I laughed out loud when I read the comments from Editor Randy Lovely about beefing up McCain coverage and that he wants the Republic to have the best coverage. He said the exact same thing two years ago. What a total joke. No way can the Republic match the national media in covering a guy they have only sucked up to since Gannett bought the newspaper. The best of the political reporters and editors are gone, too. So, this is gonna be quite hilarious to watch. Well, actually I wont' be watching it because I, like most Phoenix residents I know, don't get the paper anymore. There is little of value or interest in it. Just one big piece of fluff.
ReplyDeletePrevious Anon is 100 percent right.
ReplyDeleteThe Republic won't aggressively cover any politician in Arizona. We have the most corrupt sheriff in America, but you wouldn't know it by reading the Republic, which does nothing but fawn over Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
The Republic (and Gannett) needed McCain's support when newspaper/tv station cross ownership was an issue. A lot of folks believe the price of that support was sycophantic coverage. The paper didn't even send a photographer to Texas when McCain clinched the Republican nomination.