Georgia Governor vs. local media

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Gov Nathan Deal (R-GA) is proud of his office’s ability to bypass traditional media to get his message out via social media, so much so that he touted that fact at an unusual venue -- the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism Centennial Gala in April. The Atlanta Journal Constitution headlined its blog post about the event, “Nathan Deal to journalists: We don’t need you anymore.” “There’s no group of editors or news directors who can prevent me from communicating directly with a mass audience,” Gov Deal reportedly said. True enough. But as Gov Deal would soon be reminded, people who buy ink by the barrel can also still get their message out.

Dink NeSmith, president of Community Newspapers, Inc., a company with 67 newspapers in Georgia, Florida and North Carolina, found Deal’s words at the gala typical of a governor he called arrogant and dictatorial in a column he wrote after the speech. NeSmith said the governor had inappropriately meddled in the work of the Georgia Board of Regents when NeSmith was chair. He also said that the governor’s staff had tried to get NeSmith to muzzle a columnist who was critical of Gov Deal. And not long after, NeSmith noted, Gov Deal decided not to reappoint him to the Board of Regents. Gov Deal’s office responded with a statement, also printed in full by the AJC, in which Gov Deal spokesman Brian Robinson insisted the governor thinks the media “play a critical role in our democracy.” Then he compared NeSmith to a petulant teenager: "This is a tantrum by another name, all the more unseemly because it so transparently stems from hurt feelings. When you don’t get asked to the prom, you can be cool about it and act like you have better things to do, or you can have a public meltdown on the school PA system and make wild accusations against the person who turned a blind eye to your inviting smiles. No decent person enjoys seeing the latter, particularly when it involves someone of dignity and respect."


Georgia Governor vs. local media