Is Midday unfair?
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We got a couple notes from listeners who were not happy about the decision to air Tim Pawlenty's speech to the RNC yesterday on Friday's Midday program.
They echoed commenter Jamie from an earlier post, who basically said Pawlenty didn't make any news, and that allowing him to go unchallenged in harsh criticism of President Obama requires a Democratic response. Otherwise, they say, we shouldn't put such speeches on at all.
Here's part of a note from another listener:
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I don't see how you can hold yourself out as a public radio system when you present such a one-sided political diatribe. This is not news; it is posturing by Pawlenty in his run for the presidency in 2012.
I asked Midday Producer Sara Meyer for a response and here's what she wrote:
Minnesota's governor is considering a run for President, and gave a major speech to the Republican National Committee in San Diego. Minnesota Public Radio gave its listeners a chance to hear what he had to say and to make their own assessment of it. That's what we specialize in on MIDDAY. We give Minnesota listeners the chance to hear speakers present their views for an entire hour, and we collect these speeches from all over the country and from Minnesota...knowing that most people wouldn't have a chance to attend in person. We offer quite a variety of speakers and topics... in fact there are 260 of these noon hour speakers every year! Some are politicians of various stripes, and most are not politicians at all.
Maybe you saw my response to Jamie, but rather than be defensive I'd like to know what you think.