Comments on: Support from a surprise quarter

by: NotThatImportant

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:19:05 +0000

While it certainly would have been better to have uncovered the Easley stuff while he was still the sitting governor, I think it’s a little unfair to think it would have been possible to uncover this story back then. As has been reported as part of this coverage as well as other coverage, the Easley administration blocked the release of the documents that made reporting of this story possible. It wasn’t until he was gone that they received the information they requested well within the timeline the critics here expect. I think they deserve some credit for sticking with the reporting after all this time.

by: Erstwhile Editor

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:58:55 +0000

I’m still getting the print version of the N&O, even though I realize my subscription money is supporting the idiocy of the McClatchy bigwigs. The N&O has proven itself with the Easley investigation, but it did well on Frank Ballance, Meg Scott Phipps, Jim Black and (after a too-credulous start) the Nifong fiasco. (I loved it that one N&O commenter said “Who would have thought that appointing Mike Nifong would turn out NOT to be Easley’s biggest mistake!”) Persistent investigations like one into the Easleys’ shenanigans require well-funded, independent newspapers. I don’t think bloggers or Web sites or cable news has the resources or the determination to follow through on a long, slowly evolving story that is being blockaded at every point by powerful politicians. If you give up on print newspapers, you’re giving up on watchdog and investigative journalism.

by: Sherry

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:37:04 +0000

But…..you are saving trees, not having to recycle, and not getting ink on your fingers!

I’ve found that N&O’s online battles with WRAL.com for best, fastest news postings in the area. Sometimes they win and sometimes they lose!

Glad to see you back.

by: Then he

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 03:25:30 +0000

Yeah I agree with the comments. Relevant it is, but late. As for the printed N&O, an online soduko never beats a paper one. Still I expect I’lll drop the print the next time money comes due.

by: I.C.

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:55:53 +0000

Business North Carolina is a very good publication and I look forward to reading your work there!

The other part makes me kind of sad.

by: MIT

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:51:59 +0000

Locomotive Breath and Walt are both right. The N&O has done a great job lately in my opinion, but where were they before the election?

The Easleys have been rotten a long time. They didn’t make a move until after Perdue and the usual suspects were safely entrenched.

And they held off until the National Enquirer had already exposed the Edwards until they reported on that. Poor Christensen is still trying to put perfume on those greedy and dishonest Edwards pigs.

Worse yet is their refusal to make right what they did in a deliberate way to boost the lacrosse hoax and give credibility to the crazy Duke 88 and Nifong. No, they won’t tell the truth about any of what they did.

If people from the lacrosse blogs and especially someone as brainy as the Diva leaves comments that are unquestionably relevant and pertinent to the subject matter, they try to silence those people.

There is already proof that some of the online editors erase anything that talks about the role the N&O played in the lacrosse case.

If they continue to do this kind of thing, people will just take the party somewhere else and their online will suffer just like their print coverage.

The Easleys, the Edwards, the Duke 88, and most of those who the N&O has always been in bed with are PIGS! PIGS who have finally been cut off from the public trough!

by: Walter Abbott

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:45:05 +0000

If the NandO should want to do penance, it would report fully and accurately on the pending Duke Lacrosse lawsuits now pending in the courts.

But they won’t do that - they were part of the original combine that framed innocent men.

by: Walt-in-Durham

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:42:00 +0000

Welcome back Dan.

The N&O was late to the game of covering Mike Easley. They should have been doing this back when he was Governor instead of now after he’s gone. Better late than never, but the N&O bears some of the responsibility for the mess going undetected for so long.

I gave up on a N&O subscription months ago. I’m not a chump, I don’t pay for stuff they give away.

It is good to see your column again.

Walt

by: Locomotive Breath

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:24:07 +0000

The N&O covered up for Mike Nifong, John Edwards and the Easleys until there was no political liability for the Democrats for going after them. The pats on the back are unwarranted.