One of the most hotly contested—and expensive—state Senate races in recent memory is finally over. But media circles are still buzzing about the runoff between Dan Claitor and Lee Domingue—specifically the mud that was not only slung by the candidates, but by the media about the media.
It was an ugly contest from the start. Claitor leveled some hefty accusations at Domingue that focused on questionable past business dealings. Then, The Advocate ran a series of less-than-flattering articles that attempted to ferret out the charges in the advertisements.
But things really heated up when Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister wrote a column in the March 24 issue that criticized The Advocate for its reporting, singling out Capitol Bureau reporter Marsha Shuler and editor Mark Ballard for alleged bias in their coverage.
McCollister chidingly referred to them as “M&M,” accusing Shuler and Ballard of having an agenda “to defeat anyone Gov. [Bobby] Jindal supports” and employing a “shameless strategy” to embarrass Jindal, whom they “want to fail in every respect.”
McCollister caught a lot of flak for his column—from media-politico junkies who whispered that with his growing publishing business he was trying to take on the Manships, as well as from readers who flooded the Business Report Web site with comments. The majority told McCollister he had gone too far.
In McCollister’s defense, you have to respect a man who makes no bones about what he believes and where his allegiances lie. He is fiercely loyal to those people he decides to support and will defend them to the end. From the beginning, he has been upfront and transparent about his support and advocacy of Jindal and those candidates Jindal decides to back. McCollister came out in favor of Domingue before Jindal did.
It’s also important to note that even though McCollister has taken it on himself to promote Jindal’s agenda, he genuinely respects the line that separates opinion from objective news coverage—at least as it relates to his own publications. [Let’s table for now the question of whether such a thing as objective news coverage really exists.] McCollister does not censor Business Report writers, nor does he dictate what they cover and how they cover it.
That’s why it’s surprising that he took his attack against Shuler and Ballard to such a mean-spirited, personal level. What’s more, it overlooked the fact that it’s their job to sift through the accusations made in campaign ads and publish the ones that have merit. Sometimes, dirty attack ads are nothing but dirt. Sometimes, they’re actually true, however unpleasant that might be.
The Advocate is known as one of the most cautious newspapers in the country. It rarely goes out on a limb, and it even refuses to publish stories that can’t be attributed to on-the-record sources. Not to mention that Shuler and Ballard are as solid and credible as any journalists in the state. They have long track records and are respected professionals.
Which is not to say The Advocate hasn’t made mistakes. It ran a correction last month after publishing a story by Shuler that questioned the integrity of Business Report’s Business Awards selection process because Domingue won the award in 2008.
Does that impugn the paper’s credibility? Or the credibility of two of its most seasoned journalists? McCollister would say yes. I would disagree. But there’s a bigger issue at stake here that provides the backdrop for the whole flap over the coverage of Domingue and it is this: The Advocate stands alone in this state in taking a hard look at Jindal and his administration.
In a departure from its usual MO, the newspaper has had the gumption to question things like travel and spending of the governor and his staff. It also had been critical of the close-knit circle of advisers with whom Jindal insulates himself.
McCollister and other Jindal supporters don’t like that. But they have to realize just because Jindal is intelligent, pro-business and not corrupt doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be subjected to the same kind of scrutiny as previous governors.
At the end of the day, Jindal still is a politician. The state Senate race reminded us of just that.
