N&O editor still silent on important questions

MSM reporters and editors want their questions answered promptly and "drop everything" when they want an interview. So how has one MSM journalist responded when she was asked some important questions? So far, not at all.

On August 9, Raleigh News & Observer's executive editor for news Melanie Sill blasted North Carolina officials for, as she saw it, not responding quickly and fully to her and other N&O staffers' questions and interview requests. Sill's special targets were Governor Mike Easley and his staff.

Sill detailed complaints about the governor and his staff's treatment of N&O reporters. She was particularly upset that she'd been denied an interview with the governor which Sill said she requested only "to hear (his) side of things."

Instead of an interview, Sill told readers she received a "lengthy email statement from (a staffer) in the governor’s press office saying that our reporters are free to chase down the governor at public events (as they do as often as they can) and ask him questions."

But Sill didn't provide readers a copy of the email. So I called Governor Easley's office and requested one.

I posted on August 29 linking to Sill's column and providing a full text copy of the email which I had received from the governor's office within an email.

You can read Sill's entire column here. You can read the entire email here within the post.

You'll see there's quite a difference between Sill's description and the email itself. The email's much more than "reporters are free to chase down the governor at public events"

So in my post I asked Sill the following questions; and sent her an email link.

Why didn't you link readers to the email from the governor’s office or publish it in full?

How did withholding the email text from readers serve their interests?

Since you told readers you “sought to hear Easley’s side of things,” what do you say to readers asking why you didn't make the email available to them so they could "hear" for themselves his "side of things?"

Is your reporting on the email and Governor Easley and his staff a fair example of how N&O staffers report on public officials and their staffs?

I told Sill I'd publish in full her responses to these questions as well as her responses to related questions readers might ask.

A few days later, hearing nothing back from Sill and seeing no response to the questions at her blog, I emailed her again.

I'm sending Sill a link to this post. It's my third and final effort to get Sill's responses to the questions.

If Sill again makes no response, her frequent assurances to readers that she values our questions and is eager to respond will seem shallow at best.

And the North Carolina public officials who have read Sill's column and my posts will have no choise but to conclude she's a member of the "One standard for thee; and a different one for me" congregation.