| Subject: Ethical ?? |
Author:
John Cornsilk
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Date Posted: 10:08:39 04/30/03 Wed
This past Sunday the Tahlequah Press came out with a special edition with an insert of a voters guide, with answers to a questionaire..
Privevoulsy we were approached by phone and e-mail seeking to sell us at least a quarter page ad, to participate, Robin declined telling them they were biased..
Just before deadline I was emailed, and told, if I would buy at least a card size ad I could participate, also reminded by the managing editor Robin had said they were a biased paper, and she said you may think so too..
I ask if Robin could participate also, I was told yes, so I bought two card size ads we got our bio and the card ad ran in the paper, I did not pay any attention to it, only to look to se if we were in it..My son stoped by today and was looking it over and ask why we had no answers to the questions printed..I told him what I just wrote here, he said that aint right, and proceded to write the following..
John Cornsilk
I recently had the opportunity to read what was touted by the Tahlequah Daily Press as a “voter’s guide,” published April 27th. Much to my dismay and I must say, anger, I found what was nothing more than a biased political rag which misleads and misinforms the Cherokee people.
When candidates were invited to purchase an advertisement in the Progress edition of the Press, they were informed that purchasing an ad would also provide the candidate with the option of answering questions relevant to Cherokee governance. If they did not purchase an ad of at least one quarter page, the candidate was not permitted to respond to the questions. This, in itself is unethical and unfair to both the candidates and the voters.
First, it is a well known fact that viable candidates with a great deal to offer the Cherokee people often have little money to spend on a campaign. This is no indication of the support they have from the Cherokee people, nor are huge sums of campaign dollars any indication of support from the average Cherokee voter. It is well known that some candidates, particularly incumbents, have huge sums of money for their campaigns with large contributions coming from outside the Cherokee people’s pockets.
The “voter’s guide” (their label, not mine), shows itself to be the product of deception in the third opening paragraph on page two. That paragraph follows:
All 22 candidates who filed for these offices are listed on the front page of this section. Ten candidates opted to answer a series of 14 questions. Three more bought smaller ads, and gave us biographical data to include in the section. The remaining candidates either chose not to participate or had not responded by press time.
The critical questions for the intelligent Cherokee voter include:
1. Has the Tahlequah Daily Press acted in such a manner as to deceive the voter and cast certain candidates in an unfair light?
2. Can the so-called ‘voter’s guide’ and the Tahlequah Daily Press be trusted to be honest, unbiased and truly hold the best interests of the Cherokee people at heart?
3. Has the Press made it clear to the voters that their ‘guide’ is nothing more than an attempt to sell advertising and promote certain well-heeled candidates at the expense of truly informing the voting public on the issues and the stand of each candidate?
4. Is the Press’ publication truly a voter’s guide?
In my opinion, the ‘guide’ misguides the Cherokee voters by making them believe that the candidates chose whether or not to answer the questions. It infers that answering the questions was independent of purchasing an ad, yet that is patently untrue. It further misguides the voters by purporting to be a voter’s guide while leaving out critical candidate information, including answers to the 14 questions.
The Cherokee press is under the total control of the Cherokee Nation administration. In spite of claims to the contrary by the current administration and the editor of the Cherokee Advocate, the voter’s guide published by the Advocate omitted certain candidate information using flimsy excuses. Freedom of the press does not exist in the Cherokee Nation; at least not when money is at stake. The umbilical cord of financing holds the Cherokee Advocate hostage and, it is painfully clear also controls the ethics of at least one Northeastern Oklahoma newspaper, the Tahlequah Daily Press.
David Cornsilk
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