Two Sides of The Star

Looking at the Indy Star online today was bittersweet. Dan Carpenter included me in his list of honorable mentions for seven candidates who were not endorsed, but left very favorable impressions.

Then I looked at their "Voters Guide". It left me off their slick mock ballot. The Democrat & Republican were given headshot photos, bios, and a position statement. This Libertarian was given nothing- not even the journalistic minimum of "Libertarian Mike Kole is also on the ballot". (There is no dirct link for the Guide. It is a pop-up feature on the Star's main page.)

In fact, no Libertarian is included. No Eric Schansberg in District 9, no Steve Osborn for US Senate, nothing. There are nice elephant and donkey graphics for the Ds & Rs.

Maybe Matt Tully would just say I'm whining here, but this is an outrage!

Is this a paid advertisement for Ds & Rs, or is this a Voters Guide?
Is this malicious omission, or just shoddy journalism?

I respectfully call on the Star to remove this Voters Guide until such time as all ballotted candidates appear on it.

The Star is plainly free to publish whatever it chooses, just please don't call it journalism, and certainly don't call it a Voters Guide, because it's nothing of the sort.

This snub just illustrates why the purcase of radio ads is so important. We can't count on certain outlets to include us in the free publicity they heap on the other two, so in the grand Western tradition, we have to buy our message to compete. Please- click here to support our purchase of radio ads statewide. $10 = 1 minute, on average.