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We really don’t know how else to say this. So, we might as well speak plainly. Here goes.

The Louisville Cardinal’s coverage of Granny D’s visit to Belknap Campus in October was just awful. To begin with, you misrepresented the subject of the discourse between Granny D (Doris Haddock) and ACLU representative Laura Murphy. Your articles gave the impression that their meeting at The McConnell Center was a pro vs. con debate on campaign finance reform. You missed the point. Both sides support campaign finance reform, as it turns out.

The issue was the means, not the ends. Granny D and Murphy disagreed about the constitutionality of the McCain-Feingold Bill, but both of them favor public financing of elections.

There is much more. In your first article about the visit, you quoted Prof. Gary Gregg extensively. He only talked about Murphy, of course. Granny D was just mentioned by name in the opening paragraph. This lopsided coverage happened in spite of that the fact that we had given you Granny D’s home phone number. In the follow-up articles, a week later, your coverage revealed that Murphy had dazzled you. You quoted her at length, even those comments that digressed from the subject of the meeting. You quoted Granny D’s gratuitous compliments of Murphy’s qualifications. And, your article about Murphy was twice as long as the one about Granny D.

In writing about Granny D, you were much more concise. You dismissed her presentation as a “speech full of anecdotes.” You characterized her criticisms as “attacks.” And, you even quoted one of her self-deprecating comments out of context.

Some of the attendees noticed that Granny D drew twice as many questions from the audience as did Murphy. They counted. Murphy resorted to giving a general history lesson about the ACLU in her effort to fill in the silence during her presentation. This is something you missed entirely.

Granny D spoke to students at Belknap Campus twice during her visit; not just once. Her host was the Student Activities Board the second time. You did not even mention the second meeting in your coverage.

Tom Louderback,
Secretary Treasurer,
Common Cause/Kentucky
U of L Graduate School, 1992