Editor’s Note - AJC’s loss, CL’s gain

Daily shouldn’t underplay campaigns

Sometimes, we here at CL have gone a bit hard on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But when I look at how much the daily newspaper has worked to underplay this year’s election, I think we’ve gone a bit easy.

It’s not that the AJC doesn’t have fine political reporters. But the paper’s sense of priorities — not covering various races, underplaying others — has been downright shameful. The state’s only major daily has made it a far higher priority to highlight the cocktail controversy at the Georgia-Florida football game, for example, than to get serious about two crucial contests for Public Service Commission or even the lieutenant governor’s race.

This week’s CL cover story is dedicated to the Nov. 7 election. I’m immensely proud of that endorsement package. We worked hard to understand the candidates and issues in every race we covered. You may not agree with all our choices, but I hope you’ll find them informative, well-reasoned and, above all, honest.

But CL is an altweekly newspaper in the blue heart of what’s become a red state. We can point to the corruption and demagoguery that defines Georgia’s increasingly dysfunctional political culture. Sometimes we can have a real impact. In fact, I’ll boast to anyone that our writers frequently bring about real change.

But only one media outlet in Georgia has a megaphone large enough to consistently shift priorities and elections statewide. The AJC’s top editors will tell you that by downplaying elections they’re redefining news, based on “listening” to what their readers want and on not being “arrogant” journalists. I’ve heard them preach this gospel. It’s bull.

The AJC’s readers are keenly interested in this election. I’m convinced that political news is being ignored because the AJC’s managers fear that they’ll alienate conservative suburban readers if they dig deeply into controversial issues.

Whatever their reason, the results are an opportunity for CL’s political reporting to have more of an influence. But the AJC’s indifference is sad for a state that cries for all principled leadership in high places.

ken.edelstein@creativeloafing.com