Mon
Jun 4 2007
08:37 am
Knoxville News Sentinel political coverage
By: R. Neal

Doing a quick check of the current Google News archives, here's the scorecard on KNS mentions of the 2008 presidential candidates:

• Fred Thompson: 35 articles
• Mitt Romney: 30 articles (some about Thompson)
• John McCain: 21 articles (some about Thompson)
• Rudy Giuliani: 16 articles (some about Thompson)

• Hillary Clinton: 27 articles (two about Thompson)
• Barack Obama: 23 articles (three about Thompson)
• John Edwards: 20 articles
• Al Gore: 9 articles (two on Thompson, one Victor Ashe)

Republican mentions: 102 (56%)
Democrat mentions: 79 (44%)

Topics:
Andy Axel's picture

And that's not counting

Submitted by Andy Axel on Mon, 2007/06/04 - 8:53am.

And that's not counting mentions by Michael Silence.

____________________________

I'm a guy in a Reagan mask -- and I'm running for President!

Elrod's picture

Not really surprising

Submitted by Elrod on Mon, 2007/06/04 - 9:11am.

I wouldn't hold this against the KNS, honestly. Fred Thompson may be an empty suit. But he's a Tennessean empty suit and the KNS is very much a regional newspaper. I guarantee if Al Gore were very seriously inching toward a run the KNS would publish as much about him as it would about Thompson.

Note also that Romney got more mention than any other announced GOP candidate. Why? Because he visited Knoxville and local politicians flocked to him at the time.

Bbeanster's picture

"I wouldn't hold this

Submitted by Bbeanster on Tue, 2007/06/05 - 1:50pm.

"I wouldn't hold this against the KNS, honestly. Fred Thompson may be an empty suit. But he's a Tennessean empty suit and the KNS is very much a regional newspaper. I guarantee if Al Gore were very seriously inching toward a run the KNS would publish as much about him as it would about Thompson..."

You're not from around here, are you?
Well, neither is Ol' Fred, but you'd never know it. Local Repubs love Fred, and consider him their own.
They are fond, for example, of telling and retelling the story about how he opened his first campaign at Pinkston's car lot in South Knoxville, and the story's even morphed into some hogwash about him buying the red truck there, too (not true).
Trust us on this one: regardless of who the opponent is, Fred will be rammed down our throats for months, maybe years, to come. Not an appealing metaphor, but hide and watch.

MartyD's picture

Surely there are people in

Submitted by MartyD on Tue, 2007/06/05 - 11:01am.

Surely there are people in K'town who don't read that right wing rag!

R. Neal's picture

I wouldn't hold this against

Submitted by R. Neal on Mon, 2007/06/04 - 9:17am.

I wouldn't hold this against the KNS, honestly.

You're not from around here, are you?

(Heh. Just kidding.)

R. Neal's picture

And that's not counting

Submitted by R. Neal on Mon, 2007/06/04 - 9:48am.

And that's not counting mentions by Michael Silence.

A couple of his All Fred All The Time posts showed up.

Which reminds me of one of my off-topic beefs with Google News.

Noticing some blogs (mostly right-wing nuts) showing up, I submitted KnoxViews and Facing South to be included as sources.

They included Facing South, so that's cool.

Regarding KnoxViews, they said:

"We have reviewed (link...) for inclusion in Google News. We currently can't accept sites in Google News which allow users to submit their news without a formal editorial review process."

OK, then. But here are some of their sources with "formal editorial review process":

(link...)
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WhitesCreek's picture

So institute a "formal

Submitted by WhitesCreek on Mon, 2007/06/04 - 11:10am.

So institute a "formal editorial review process" already.

You sort of already have. I understand the real difficulty but you can make it work for you. It's tough being fair, isn't it?

R. Neal's picture

Being fair and still having

Submitted by R. Neal on Mon, 2007/06/04 - 11:12am.

Being fair and still having a point of view, yes.

Factchecker's picture

Hmmm

Submitted by Factchecker on Mon, 2007/06/04 - 10:25pm.

KnoxViews. Fair. Not Balanced.TM

redmondkr's picture

Surely there are people in

Submitted by redmondkr on Tue, 2007/06/05 - 11:24am.

Surely there are people in K'town who don't read that right wing rag!

I read their obituaries online most days (folks my age do that, you know) but I decided many years ago that, if you don't have a birdcage, you don't need to buy a News Sentinel.

Unfortunately, a lot of people in East Tennessee suck it up like beer.

Come See Us at

The Hill Online

Eleanor A's picture

Tennessean isn't much

Submitted by Eleanor A on Tue, 2007/06/05 - 12:55pm.

Tennessean isn't much better, sad to say.

I'm seriously thinking of leaving town over the 4th of July weekend if ol' Empty Suit is going to announce in Nashville that day. Where can I get that'll be out of the radius of his pustulent gasbaggery? Venus?

p.s. after having been gone for a while, I'd say we do have an editorial review process. It's pretty darn nice not to have to fight the same tedious battles over and over with folks determined to make us defend basic premises of the progressive movement.

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