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Expected better
Dear Editor,
As a former McCook resident, a former McCook Daily Gazette staff member and an adamant supporter of Sen. Barack Obama, I have to say that when I went to the Gazette's Web site recently, I was very disappointed.
I understand that the Gazette, at the very least, has to endorse Sen. John McCain. Living in the fifth-most conservative congressional district in the United States, it is rare for a newspaper to endorse any Democrats -- even the newspaper that I am lead copy editor of published an, albeit apprehensive, endorsement of Sen. John McCain.
What I'm disappointed about is that the Gazette seems to have made no effort to provide the facts to its readers. I know that this is very much a Republican area, as is my new home in the Panhandle, but that doesn't mean misinformation or outright lies are ever appropriate for a newspaper to publish. Regardless of readership or ad revenue, one should never turn pandering into propaganda.
One particular point of contention is that, according to the Gazette's endorsement of Sen. McCain, "Obama supports abortion." The fact is that Sen. Obama is pro-choice. As a member of the Democratic Party and a pro-choice individual, I can tell you honestly that being pro-choice and supporting abortion are two completely different stances, not just semantics.
Further, for the Gazette to actually claim that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's credentials "easily match or exceed those of Obama" certainly calls into question the editorial staff's judgment, just as the selection of Gov. Palin for the Republican ticket did for Sen. McCain.
Lastly, the moderator on the Gazette's Web site should really be required to have some journalistic experience and integrity -- this most certainly would have prevented him from posting disrespectful, inappropriate and unprofessional responses to the comments on the site.
While I knew that the Gazette, its staff and its readers were largely conservative Republicans, I still believed the people I know -- in the place that I got my start in journalism and the town I was raised in -- were better than this.
I guess I was wrong.
Taylor Rogers
Scottsbluff
EDITOR'S NOTE -- The editor apologizes for the flippant nature of the response ("Biased opinion? Horrors!") posted in response to a post by another former Gazette staffer. He has been reminded of the Web site's admonishment to "Please be respectful of others and try to stay on topic." The response has been removed from the thread regarding the Gazette's endorsement of McCain and Palin.