local tv bias rears its head in scranton

UPDATE. The tv station and me traded a few more e's. Here's the last one I received:

Dear Mr. Middleton:

I hope you saw Sarah Palin's address this afternoon (Tuesday, 10/14).... She spoke at 2pm live at the Riverfront Sports Complex and we did indeed cover it live.

Thanks for taking the time to write to us sir. Have a good day.

Susan J. Kalinowski
Program Director, WYOU-TV

Score one for the good guys!

So I am enjoying watching the Jets guard a small lead with their new quarterback, Brett Farve (who, btw, has passed for over 35 miles in his career). I don’t watch much pro ball, so it was a treat. With about 5 minutes left and the game in the balance, the local station, CBS affiliate WYOU interrupts the game for a “Special Report.”

Ut oh. Russia in the Ukraine? Iran acting badly?

No.

The pudgy little man says, “Vice Presidential Candidate Joseph Biden, who has Scranton roots, is about to speak at a rally with President and Senator Clinton at the Riverfront Stadium Complex. They will be speaking about how we cannot afford four more years of the disastrous economic policies of President Bush. We don’t want you to miss any of this important event, so as you can see, we are going to split the screen. The audio will be of the speeches.”

WTF? I almost ripped out my teeth.

I switched to the Redskins’ game.

So that link above to the WYOU site ... how pathetic. Has some gray bars on it that obviates the content. The links behind the gray bars don’t work. I couldn’t activate “Contact Us.” So I went to Google with “WYOU Scranton Contact Us” and got directly to the page. Pathetic again. The gray bars, still present, covered all the names.

So I went to the Internet Archive and got the information I wanted.

The general manager is Lou Abitabilo (labitabilo@nbga.net). I probably should have thought about it longer, but I just ripped an e – so forgive the lack of organization, syntax errors, and whatever else is here:

Dear WYOU,

I am absolutely appalled that you interrupted a sporting event for a political rally. Very poor judgment.

I look forward, however, to your equal time give to Gov. Palin this Tuesday at the same venue.

If you choose not to cover the Palin event, then you can draw your own conclusions about your bias.

Your desk person did you no favors with his intro - "They'll be talking about how we cannot afford four more years of failed Bush economic policies."

How sad. Factually stating the theme of the words to come? Perhaps. Also a cheap shot. If you have any ability to absorb facts, you know that the Constitution places budgetary authority in Congress. You also know that the main reason for the current situation is the subprime collapse - the first major deregulatory action belongs to President Clinton, who has rightfully defended his action. And the larger issue is the mixture of private corp/government-lack-of-reporting supported by the Democratic party. Please tell me you know these things.

I am beyond caring what the talking heads at 30 Rock do - they are so far removed from reality they don't matte.r But when it hits this clsoe to home, as it did today,. it is truly disappointing.

Do not tell me it is because Biden is from Scranton. He left when he was 10. I grew up a few blocks from him. He was 10. Get real. Bill O'Reilly has more claim to Scranton than Biden.

Just remarkable.

Here is what I got back: I will be out of the office on 10/9 and 10/10 with limited access to email. If you need to contact me, please call Linda Parri at 570-706-7399.

Thank you.

Just disgusting.