“You guys are just in the tank for Jason Carter.”
That’s what a reader wrote us after Snowjam 2014 stranded thousands of metro Atlanta children in their schools and trapped thousands of motorists on traffic-choked roads. In the days that followed, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s coverage was tough on state and local leaders, but perhaps roughest on Gov. Nathan Deal, a Republican. Carter, a state senator, is Deal’s likely Democratic opponent in this fall’s election.
That reader and others were summoning a demon AJC editors have been trying to exorcise for years: the newspaper’s reputation for liberal bias.
We’ve recognized the perception in recent years and taken steps to address it.
Still, it’s a fact that every statewide elected official is a Republican. And if the AJC is going to uphold our renewed commitment to watchdog reporting - holding leaders accountable for their words and actions – Republican politicians are going to be scrutinized.
The governor in particular plays a crucial role in our fragmented metro area.
Admittedly, when 2.6 inches of snow on Jan. 28 led to chaos, there were plenty of leaders whose actions or inactions contributed. But Deal is our state’s top elected official, so he’s the one we held most accountable.
We questioned his reaction, his decision making and his leadership. After days of withering coverage by the AJC and others, Deal apologized to the people of Georgia.
Were Deal a Democrat, he would have received the same treatment from us. Ask Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, a Democrat, if he enjoyed the story we published about him zipping past gridlocked motorists to get to a Weather Channel interview.
I was the Journal-Constitution’s political editor at the tail end of Roy Barnes’ tenure as Georgia’s last (to-date) Democratic governor. I received a call or email at least weekly from someone close to the governor complaining about our coverage.
Rumor had it that Barnes’ wife inscribed her tennis balls with one of our reporter’s names so she could vicariously bash him.
More recently, influential Democratic leaders Reed and DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis have come under our microscope.
But we will be fair. When the next winter storm came, Deal acted differently. On last Sunday’s front page, reporter Shannon McCaffrey wrote:
“A review by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution of emergency efforts this time around found a more vigorous and better coordinated effort. Gov. Nathan Deal seized the helm early and stayed visible throughout.”
That said, we don’t deny “bias” is an issue we must battle. The perception goes back at least to the era when Constitution Editor Ralph McGill took the “liberal” view of challenging segregation. More recently, in the merger of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, the shrinking Journal’s conservative editorial voice was overwhelmed by the larger Constitution’s. Nowadays, our opinion pages are balanced.
For news reporters, we’re trained to leave our opinions on the sidelines and simply seek the truth. The term bias – implying an intent to slant the news - is a four-letter word to us. However, everyone brings their own world view and experience to their job. Sometimes that can creep into their work unintentionally.
In reader surveys we started years ago, the public saw the AJC as left-leaning. Our staff began taking a harder look at our coverage, especially on controversial topics such as illegal immigration. As I edit a story I ask myself: would my Cobb County neighbors see their point of view represented here?
Our efforts have paid off: recent surveys have indicated readers see us as generally in the middle of the road.
Meantime, a new election season officially kicks off with qualifying next month.
Deal is running for re-election, along with many other Republican incumbents. One of Georgia’s U.S. Senate seats will be up for grabs and a Republican will be the front-runner.
The candidates of both parties will get similar treatment from us. Georgia Republicans generally have longer political records to assess, so coverage of every candidate may not look exactly the same. But over the course of the campaigns our coverage will be balanced.
In addition, Political Editor Susan Abramson Potter and I developed a system for “backgrounding” candidates: culling relevant information about their finances, resumes, and other data. All major candidates will get the same systematic review.
It's a long way to November, and many of you will be watching us. If you think we've slipped up, contact me at cgay@ajc.com.
