CONTROLLING

THE

NARRATIVE,

PART I

An Exclusive www.RobertDyer.net Report

The so-called "ombudsman" of the Washington Post wrote a waste of an article 2 months ago, admitting that the Post had failed to cover the Montgomery County elections. A waste, because the lack of coverage never changed. All the while, there was extensive coverage of Marc Elrich, Nancy Floreen, George Leventhal and Hans Riemer. It was the Republican challengers who were not covered, and that was intentional.

Something the ombudsman also admitted seemed to escape public notice. He referred to a secret meeting between the Montgomery County Council and the editors (and reporters?) of the Washington Post. A meeting, never disclosed to Post readers, at which the current council demanded more coverage of their actions.

They got it, as anyone who read the Post during the election knows. Plenty of "council-in-action" coverage of council sessions and parroting of the incumbents' revisionist (and simply fantastical) talking points, yet no coverage of candidate forums, Marc Elrich's ethics scandal or Hans Riemer's K Street Money Machine.

There are many questions about this private meeting that remain unanswered. First of all, since when does a newspaper have a meeting with political candidates to discuss giving them more coverage? Second, why were the Republican candidates not given a similar opportunity to meet with the Post, and similar coverage during the election? Third, where did the secret meeting take place, who was in the room, is there a transcript, was it on county property, was it held during council business hours at taxpayer expense? The questions are endless.

We're still waiting for the answers to these questions, just as Republicans waited all year for the Post, Gazette, Examiner, TBD, Sentinel, etc. to cover the County Council At-Large race.

We have a right to know.