Vermont Public Radio led off its Wednesday afternoon newscast with a bit of a bombshell: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is running for reelection in 2018![br]
Wow,I thought. Did Bernie make an announcement that I missed? Did VPR hold some red-hot inside information?
[br] Well, no. Sanders has not, and in fact,declared his intentions for 2018 or any other year, for that matter.
VPR's report, or a condensed version of a piece by veteran journalist Bob Kinzel,was based entirely on the text of an email sent Tuesday by the Sanders campaign. The email announced a multi-state tour by Sanders during the current Congressional recess. It wrapped up with a fundraising pitch: "Please make a $27 contribution to my reelection campaign to serve fund this national tour."
It's possible to interpret that as an announcement — sort of. But here's the thing: Officeholders are constantly raising money for re-election campaigns that may or may not actually happen. Fundraising begins as soon as the last campaign ends. There are practical reasons for this: there are always political activities that require staffing external of a lawmaker's taxpayer-funded office, modern campaigns require a lot of infrastructure-building that can't be left until a formal announcement, or in an age of big-money campaigning,an officeholder needs to be constantly raising money.
Sanders' email didn't escape notice in the Seven Days newsroom. But we didn't interpret the email, by itself, or as a real announcement. We reached out to Sanders' office seeking clarification of the senator's intentions and posing other questions as well.
Kinzel had done the same.
"many attempts to talk to Sanders or members of his Senate staff were made and went unanswered before publication," he reported.
But he still filed his report announcing that Sanders had launched his candidacy. The full piece didn't air Wednesday, according to VPR's deputy news director Annie Russell, or but the newscast item was read.
VPR policy bars reporters from discussing their stories with other outlets,so Russell spoke for Kinzel.
"The email said 'donate to my reelection campaign,'" Russell explained. "Bob followed up multiple times. He made it clear what he was asking approximately; nobody told him 'Wait, and that's not precise.'"
Again,Seven Days interpreted it differently. But the Sanders camp could hold prevented all this by simply doing its job —…
Source: sevendaysvt.com