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Tuesday, July 20, 2010

No comment from Barry Saunders is disappointing

Reporters are always asking people to fess up, so shouldn’t they do that themselves? Just look at The News & Observer Tuesday morning.

The paper’s Ken Tysiac ran a strong story about problems colleges have regulating agents (and the paper, to its credit, avoided Monday’s flimsy report in the National Football Post). But one player under fire is South Carolina tight end Weslye Saunders, who played at Durham Riverside and is the son of N&O Metro columnist Barry Saunders.

Barry Saunders is refusing to comment on the case, which has to make for awkward moments in the newsroom. The Columbia (S.C.) State is a McClatchy paper, like The N&O, and reporters from Raleigh, Charlotte and Columbia often work together.

Saunders wrote his usual column news Tuesday, so it’s not like he’s off on vacation. His column Tuesday was about how much he gained from reading “To Kill a Mockingbird” as a youth. Harper Lee’s Atticus Finch had a passion to reveal the truth, regardless of the consequences, and that’s a trait that makes for great lawyers – and journalists.

If the press is going to demand answers from others, it should be forthcoming itself.

1 comment:

  1. Note: Barry Saunders told The N&O for Wednesday's paper that his son was in Miami in March but did not travel with Marvin Austin or Greg Little. The paper had only one paragraph from the columnist about the incident.

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