Vulnerable GOP senator feuds with top state newspaper
A vulnerable GOP senator is facing off with a top newspaper in his home state heading into the final week of the election.
The Raleigh News & Observer—the second largest newspaper in North Carolina—announced Monday it had been blacklisted from receiving Sen. Richard Burr’s campaign schedule over concerns about the newspaper’s ability to cover the race fairly.
{mosads}Jesse Hunt, a spokesman for Burr’s campaign, said in an email to Colin Campbell, a News & Observer reporter, that the campaign is placing an “embargo” on giving him scheduling details “until you demonstrate the ability to cover this race from a balanced point of view.”
“Please make sure you include that Sen. Burr has made over 35 public stops in October and done more than 20 local media interviews,” Hunt added, according to the News & Observer.
Though the newspaper is still allowed to attend campaign events, Campbell wrote Monday that the campaign’s decision “effectively limits” the newspaper’s ability to cover Burr in the final eight days of what has become one of the top Senate races of the 2016 cycle.
He added that the newspaper had been receiving frequent updates on the senator’s schedule, but they recently stopped receiving the emails.
The GOP senator is currently in a a dead heat with Democrat Deborah Ross, leading by an average of one percentage point, according to Real Clear Politics.
The decision is drawing comparisons to Donald Trump’s blacklist of certain reporters during his campaign. The GOP presidential nominee blocked some outlets from receiving credentials to cover his campaign events, though he lifted that ban in early September.
The decision to ban the News & Observer comes after the newspaper reported last week on Democrats hammering Burr for scheduling a 2010 fundraiser at the same time as a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
Campbell wrote on Monday that the campaign had “voiced concerns” with the story.
Hunt implied in his email to the News & Observer reporter that the campaign’s decision stemmed from broader concerns, writing they are no longer getting campaign schedules “because Colin Campbell and The News & Observer have failed to cover the Senate race objectively and on its own merits.”
Burr and Ross have been trading fire over their legislative attendance records. State Democrats accused the GOP senator of missing up to 58 of 84 Armed Services Committee hearings in 2009 and 2010. Burr’s campaign fired back that Ross missed 150 votes in the state legislature.
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