John Edwards tries to squash UNC student's video report on his campaign

[Queasy]

Geez talk about going overboard.

A UNC-Chapel Hill journalism professor said John Edwards' presidential campaign tried to kill a student's video story about his campaign headquarters.

Associate Professor C.A. Tuggle said two top staffers for the former North Carolina senator demanded that the school drop the segment from the student-run television program "Carolina Week." They also asked to have the video removed from the YouTube Web site.

Tuggle said they threatened to cut off access to Edwards for UNC student reporters and other student groups if the piece aired.

"My gosh, what are they thinking?" Tuggle said. "They're spending this much time and effort on a student newscast that has about 2,000 viewers? They're turning a molehill into a mountain."

A spokeswoman for the Edwards campaign said it had no problem with student reporters.

"This is silly," campaign spokeswoman Colleen Murray said in a statement. "We love all reporters, the problem is the feeling isn't always mutual."

The campaign would not answer questions about the incident.

The segment, by graduate student Carla Babb, began as a look at Nation Hahn, a UNC senior interning with the campaign. During the interview, Babb asked about a recent column in The Daily Tar Heel, the student newspaper, criticizing Edwards' choice of the posh Southern Village shopping center as the location for his headquarters.

Babb rewrote the piece to focus on that angle and interviewed the columnist, prompting the complaint from Edwards' campaign.

In the video, James Edward Dillard, a columnist for The Daily Tar Heel, says that the location conflicts with Edwards' campaign goal of reducing poverty in America.

"To pick that place as your campaign center, when you're going to be the man who advocates on behalf of the poor, I just think, why not turn the media's attention to somewhere where there are huge, huge problems," Dillard said.

On the other side, Hahn is quoted saying that the choice of Chapel Hill over Washington, D.C., shows that Edwards is a candidate for the average person.

"Frankly, Chapel Hill is a relatively affluent area, period, so I don't know where they would rather him place his headquarters," he said.

Tuggle, who has overseen the "Carolina Week" news program for eight years and previously worked as a television reporter in Florida, said that it is not uncommon for the focus of a piece to shift during reporting.

What made this case unusual, he said, was the decision to post it on YouTube before broadcast.

Babb posted the piece to the popular online video-sharing site Tuesday to meet the deadline for an MTV "Choose or Lose" news contest.

Despite the complaints, Tuggle said the piece will air as scheduled on Monday and will remain on YouTube here: the video.

Why would the Edwards campaign even waste time on this? I know he's behind Barak and Hillary but he (or his staffers) are only making himself look worse.

 

[Sinsear]

Originally posted by: Queasy
Geez talk about going overboard.

A UNC-Chapel Hill journalism professor said John Edwards' presidential campaign tried to kill a student's video story about his campaign headquarters.

Associate Professor C.A. Tuggle said two top staffers for the former North Carolina senator demanded that the school drop the segment from the student-run television program "Carolina Week." They also asked to have the video removed from the YouTube Web site.

Tuggle said they threatened to cut off access to Edwards for UNC student reporters and other student groups if the piece aired.

"My gosh, what are they thinking?" Tuggle said. "They're spending this much time and effort on a student newscast that has about 2,000 viewers? They're turning a molehill into a mountain."

A spokeswoman for the Edwards campaign said it had no problem with student reporters.

"This is silly," campaign spokeswoman Colleen Murray said in a statement. "We love all reporters, the problem is the feeling isn't always mutual."

The campaign would not answer questions about the incident.

The segment, by graduate student Carla Babb, began as a look at Nation Hahn, a UNC senior interning with the campaign. During the interview, Babb asked about a recent column in The Daily Tar Heel, the student newspaper, criticizing Edwards' choice of the posh Southern Village shopping center as the location for his headquarters.

Babb rewrote the piece to focus on that angle and interviewed the columnist, prompting the complaint from Edwards' campaign.

In the video, James Edward Dillard, a columnist for The Daily Tar Heel, says that the location conflicts with Edwards' campaign goal of reducing poverty in America.

"To pick that place as your campaign center, when you're going to be the man who advocates on behalf of the poor, I just think, why not turn the media's attention to somewhere where there are huge, huge problems," Dillard said.

On the other side, Hahn is quoted saying that the choice of Chapel Hill over Washington, D.C., shows that Edwards is a candidate for the average person.

"Frankly, Chapel Hill is a relatively affluent area, period, so I don't know where they would rather him place his headquarters," he said.

Tuggle, who has overseen the "Carolina Week" news program for eight years and previously worked as a television reporter in Florida, said that it is not uncommon for the focus of a piece to shift during reporting.

What made this case unusual, he said, was the decision to post it on YouTube before broadcast.

Babb posted the piece to the popular online video-sharing site Tuesday to meet the deadline for an MTV "Choose or Lose" news contest.

Despite the complaints, Tuggle said the piece will air as scheduled on Monday and will remain on YouTube here: the video.

Why would the Edwards campaign even waste time on this? I know he's behind Barak and Hillary but he (or his staffers) are only making himself look worse.

And to think that only about 2000 people would have seen the report. They do somehting stupid like try and have it pulled, and many many more people will see it. Great strategy they have there: dig hole, climb in.

 

[jonks]

This just smells strange. Need more data.

 

[palehorse]

I'd like to meet the sweet young gal who made the video

I mean, if I were single... DOHH!

 

[heyheybooboo]

Originally posted by: palehorse74
I'd like to meet the sweet young gal who made the video

I mean, if I were single... DOHH!

:laugh: {{...imagines Mrs. PH giving - - The Look...}}

Babbs was just on MSNBC - said Edwards campaign threatened not to talk to UNC/reporters. She was called on it and gave it the ol' "" Buh buh buh buh . . .they talked to my prof and he had reviewed the piece - so it was okayed . . . ""

Big deal (from both sides) over nuthin'. If the report had compared other national campaign headquarters to Edwards no one could have said it was 'slanted'.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

I like to think about the words of the poet, Jay-Z...

:laugh:

I can't believe the Edwards camp reacted the way they did. Why would he be so sensitive about some college kid's opinion about where his campaign HQ is?

 

[daveymark]

where should they set up campaign HQ then? the barrios of Raleigh-Durham? this is a non-story

 

[OutHouse]

that pro edwards guy was so doe eyed over edwards i felt sick.