If you dont follow politics in NH closely or if you dont watch WMUR, you may not have noticed the disappearance of James Pindell. So, how would what happens to one reporter affect you? Why would it matter if reporter X that always seems to report from the angle you disagree with (hes too far left, shes too far right...) suddenly disappears after asking a tough question? It matters because it can happen to a reporter, and because if it can happen to a reporter that is disliked by the left AND the right, then it can happen to any reporter. Heres more of the story- On the Importance of James Pindell By Jay Surdukowski Last night for the first time I can remember – Political Standing – a weekly run down of who is “up” and who is “down” in New Hampshire politics that also contains rhetorical questions which deeply inform our politics—didn’t appear. The author of this well-known online column, as well as an insightful front page column in the Union Leader which explores the backstory behind the stories of our public servants, has been in a reporter’s purgatory since the day before the election. His Twitter feed has gone dark. He didn’t appear on television on one of the most significant election evenings of our lifetime. His employer, the State’s largest television station, has ignored public calls for an explanation from leaders of both major parties, as well as some fellow members of the press. In a word, our most prominent political reporter has disappeared without a trace. Frost and snow may be in the air, but last I checked, New Hampshire isn’t Soviet Russia. In an era when millionaire’s now seem to have most of the megaphones during our electoral jousts and the full-time New Hampshire political press corps can be counted on one hand, the importance of independent and thoughtful and challenging reporting is painfully pronounced in the First in the Nation state. I first met James when he moved here from West Virginia and I returned from law school in Michigan. With a shock of reddish hair and Brooklyn-style glasses, this precocious fellow also then in his mid-20s started a series of online websites (Politicker, PoliticsNH, etc.) that quickly became must-reads in Concord and Washington, DC and his serial scoops have caused every campaign I have been involved in to utter—nearly on a weekly basis—“we need to get this to Pindell.” His rolodex is unparalleled and his voice a vital one. Like Bob Woodward, only James can be a fly on the wall for a private and remarkably revealing airport conversation between, say our State’s two United States Senators. See, “When Senators Collide,” Union Leader, October 4, 2014. I have admired James drive and scrappy struggle as a young person also making my home in the Granite State and trying to build a meaningful career here in the place I was born and the place I love more than all others. You can bet for years before he went in-house at WMUR James was living on crumbs as he sought to keep his political scoop websites alive. We have led parallel tracks in different arenas, and I have always been proud to see him conquer each new mountain in his drive to go the extra mile in New Hampshire reportage, and to bring it into the digital age. Believe me, as legal counsel to Governor Hassan’s campaign defending campaign finance law violation complaints in recent months, I more than anyone know the sting of a humiliating down arrow from James. I think we had three consecutive down arrows in quick succession. He is an equal opportunity critic and has given Republicans and Democrats some harsh reviews in the last eight years. But the fact James has made so many mad is a sign of a good reporter. He is not beholden to anyone, for better or worse. Our politics needs this independent check. It’s a reason the freedom of the press is so central to our constitutional form of governance. It may be that Channel 9 and the Hearst Corporation—or the vested interests who pumped millions of dollars of advertising into the station this political cycle—is not happy with James’ now famous geographical question to Senator Scott Brown—a question, regardless of how it was prosecuted, was one that I and others who love our civil liberties should applaud the asking. Sitting in that television studio for what would be the defining moment of the Senate campaign, the thoughts that crossed my mind were many. Is Sullivan County North or West? Did James push too hard? But the thought that rose above all others then and since was that there was a genuine question in the air as to whether one who would be our Senator had the faintest idea of where Sullivan County is, based on his foggy no-answer-answer. It reminded me of John Rauh in 1992, very famously having no clue where Chester, New Hampshire is. Judd Gregg won that a year in a squeaker, and the rest is history. In both cases, I think our reporters did New Hampshire a great public service. We may be years in debating James’ question—but the fact we will be debating it at all is a testament to the question’s utility in a rough and tumble democratic society. I won’t presume to tell a private business what it should do in a case such as this. But I do hope Channel 9 will at least come clean on whether we will have James’ voice back next week—or if we are entering yet another gradation of darkness on our ever dwindling political reportage landscape. With the AP’s Norma Love gone and Kevin Landrigan and John DiStaso not in print for the first time in nearly my entire lifetime, this past year has been a twilight of our press gods. Each minute that passes without James on the beat is the stuff of great loss. I close this note with an homage to James’ well-known Questions for the Weekend – his weekly bid to get the folks who would purport to govern to think about both the fault lines and successes of our politics -- these are the questions that weigh on my mind in these hours when James’ fate is as yet, unknown. Will other media outlets report this story? Will Rye residents Scott Brown and Gail Huff – herself a television reporter for many years – stand up for the freedom of the press and publicly ask for word about James’ fate? Who will be the most prominent Republican to have the courage to seek clarification on Channel 9’s actions? Who will be the most prominent Democrat to do the same? In the spirit of democratic transparency, will Channel 9 address the status of our most well-known political reporter? Who can take James’ place?
Posted on: Sat, 08 Nov 2014 20:27:53 +0000
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