One of the most freely spewed criticisms of the DTH I’ve heard during my college career is that our content is hopelessly biased to the left. Undoubtedly, those who hold such a view have some extra ammunition this week.
The Democratic National Convention has figured prominently in our coverage during the last few days. And the question of why we didn’t shine a similar spotlight on the Republican National Convention last week is a fair one. But the reason why has more to do with our budget and our audience than our politics.
First, know that, like every business, we have a budget. A trip to Tampa would have cost us tanks of gas or a few plane tickets, along with hotel rooms for several nights. Sending a rotating team of four to Charlotte only cost us the gas to get down there (our reporters, photographers and videographers are staying with my parents, free of charge).
But, of course, budgetary limitations do not excuse one-sided political coverage, and we don’t think our coverage has been one-sided. Some of our reporting last week did center on the Republican convention. But we decided we could report on the issues that matter to our audience just as well from afar.
Speaking of which, consider our audience. Consider yourselves. The Democratic National Convention is as much about Charlotte, and as much about North Carolina, as it is about politics. In addition, a much larger percentage of our primarily student audience traveled to Charlotte than to Tampa. And we’ve tried to focus our coverage on issues that matter to you — the youth vote, the convention’s effect on Charlotte (for UNC’s Charlotte-based contingent) and the student representation.
In the end, we felt that our audience as a whole, for a few different reasons, cares a lot more about what’s going on in Charlotte than what happened in Tampa. We’ll continue to offer stories that include both sides of the political spectrum as November nears.
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