hard deadlines

Failed Democratic primary candidate Mary Correia takes a backhand swipe at this blog in a statement reported in today's Providence Journal:

Correia said in a statement that she has been criticized for not responding to a questionnaire submitted to candidates for elective office by John McDaid, who runs a blog on issues of community interest.

Correia said McDaid also serves as the webmaster of the Democratic Town Committee Web site, and she did not believe he could fulfill both roles impartially.

McDaid said he posted all the responses in their entirety on his blog. He said he does not see any conflict between his role as a blogger and as a webmaster for the Democratic Town Committee.
— via Providence Journal

Gee. If there are any visitors to my blog who have doubts that I express a point of view, they clearly can't have been reading very long. I am a Democrat and I contribute my time and money to support Democrats. I don't think anyone who even briefly glances at this page could miss that. (And, uh, not to put too fine a point on it, but isn't Correia a Democrat?)

So-called "impartiality" represents one kind of editorial stance, but citizen journalism has different standards. Just like oral storytelling is different from writing a novel, online journalism is not print. It's a different beast, with different rules.

That said, in this particular case, I made it quite clear that the purpose was to get the candidate's words, unfiltered and reproduced at any length they chose, in front of the public, something that you can not do in print. Here's my original note to everyone who filed candidacy papers. As you can see, I sent the questionnaire to Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, and promised to run exactly what they said.

Here are the responses from Town Council and School Committee candidates. In addition to the endorsed Democratic candidates, Terri Cortvriend (D, undendorsed), Keith Hamilton (R, endorsed), and Thomas Vadney (D, unendorsed) responded. I stand by the integrity of this process. I posted exactly what people contributed, and I challenge Ms. Correia to prove otherwise.

Did I ask the candidates follow-up questions? Yes, where I felt there was a need for more clarity. That's a reasonable expectation from any journalist, print or online. Could that be the reason some candidates chose not to respond?

I reiterate my offer, as I did personally to two of the Republican candidates, Jeff Plumb and Joe Robicheau when they stopped by my house last week. Happy to resend the questionnaire to any candidate who needs it.

If Ms. Correia wants to run a campaign by press release and letters to the editor, only do interviews where friendly faces lob softballs, and blame the media, may I suggest a great model in the current national campaign of Sarah Palin.