CANCEL CULTURE
I believe I was a victim of cancel culture by the Cleveland Plain Dealer during the recent election campaign.
I was the official candidate of the Republican Party for the U.S. House of Representatives in Ohio District 11. That District includes most of Cuyahoga County. As such, I deserved more attention from the largest newspaper in the county than I was given.
The PD published no story about the Republican primary election that I won. Then, it published no story about my general election campaign other than a final report of vote totals.
Its editorial board did not even attempt to interview me. Nor did it endorse a candidate in my race in either the primary election or the general election. Nor did it explain why it endorsed candidates in two other congressional races that involved only small portions of Cuyahoga County and none in the race that most concerned the entire county.
This newspaper went as far as it possibly could not to mention my candidacy.
I even bought ads on its online version at Cleveland.com. But I have no proof other than the word of an advertising agent that they were published and seen.
Ohio District 11 has almost 750,000 residents and nearly 300,000 of them voted on November 5. And yet, the Plain Dealer chose not to advise them about a contest between representatives of the two major political parties in a significant election who had very different ideas. It never told them that they had a choice.
The Plain Dealer may consider any Republican candidate in Cuyahoga County to be a minor political actor unworthy of attention. And I did lose by a large margin. But I received almost 58,000 votes. That is more than many other Democratic state and local candidates received. And yet, the PD saw fit to publicize those candidates but not me.
Some have told me since that I should not be surprised since biases of that newspaper have been evident for a long time.
But still I am disappointed because I consider this history as proof that the very journalistic standards of the Cleveland Plain Dealer are suspect. It purports to offer its readers information. In my case, it failed. It owes subscribers and readers an apology. And it maybe it owes me one as well.
