Good journalists know the difference between covering the news and "making" the news. We have learned that if we interject ourselves into a story, then that story or even our own reputation comes into question.
In the past, this has been easy. All a journalist had to do was keep their opinions out of news stories and on the Editorial Page. Not so with the advent of the Internet.
On Monday, I received an email from the Republican Party of Louisiana. In it, was a link to the GOP's governor's race blog, A Fair Fight.
The gist of the blog was taking issue with Gubernatorial candidate and Bossier Parish resident (and Public Service Commissioner) Foster Campbell. In particular, comments he made about Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in a commercial that is airing statewide.
I found the GOP's take rather humorous, so I forwarded the email to local blogger Marshall Fannin (Not his real name). He really has a great sense of satire and I knew it would be right up his alley.
Lo and behold, I checked Marshall's Blog this morning and there is the commercial and link to the GOP's blog - in all its glory. There is also a thanks to me for the "tip."
Most folks would recognize that this tip was merely giving a fellow commentator something to see. But this is political season, you know.
I am sure there are those in the GOP and in Foster Campbell's campaign that think I had ulterior motives - people tend to think things like that during campaigns.
When you run one "press release" or don't run another during a campaign, people call you biased, or in the corner of one candidate or another. It is just the way things happen in politics.
I treated this email like many others I have forwarded in the past. We all get jokes, prayers and other items of interest in our emails. We then forward them to people we think would enjoy such things.
This time, an innocent forward may be taken the wrong way. I just have to be more careful next time I guess.
May the Blog Be With You.
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