Metro Pulse/Ear to the Ground

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Tip the Scales for Fairness

In the mayoral race, News Sentinel publisher Bruce Hartmann is famously a Bill Haslam supporter. There's no secret about that. So when veteran editor Georgiana Vines turned in a story for Tuesday's issue about the I-40/James White Parkway dilemma in which Madeline Rogero's answers seemed more fully informed than Haslam's, Hartman naturally insisted that Bill could do better than that. Like any kindly schoolmarm, he had the answers sent back to Haslam for a redo.

He did not offer the same privilege to Rogero. Hartman's unorthodox approach, which perhaps made perfect sense to him, is said to have caused a near-mutiny in the newsroom among old-school reporters trained in outmoded concepts of objective journalism.

That's the story we got from insiders, anyway. Contacted Wednesday, News Sentinel editor Jack McElroy confirmed that Haslam was re-interviewed to flesh out his anwers to achieve balance in the story, as part of the paper's campaign for balanced coverage of the mayoral election, but he said the decision to do so was made by Managing Editor Lara Edge. He said he was aware of no controversy over the issue.

Let the Games Begin

Fringe mayoral candidates George Hamilton and Boyce McCall don't have a shy bone between them. In fact, it would be tough to single out a clear winner in any 1-10 obnoxiousness-measuring contest, since each could make a case for a perfect 10. Take Hamilton's visit to County Commission Monday, for example, when he referred to Commissioner Phil Guthe (pronounced "Goo-dah") as "Commissioner Goofy." But McCall probably outdid him at Tuesday night's mayoral forum at the Bijou, an event in which neither McCall nor Hamilton were invited to participate. They showed up anyway, and sat in the audience to listen to the discussion, a polite question and answer session that was restricted to the two major candidates, Rogero and Haslam. Those who chose to watch the forum on Channel 6 might have been puzzled by the commotion evident at the beginning of the introductions. The noise reached a crescendo when Rogero began to speak. It was McCall protesting his exclusion by hollering "Shame on you!" What the viewers couldn't see was McCall being dragged out by the police. Hamilton contented himself with handing out leaflets outside.

Mark Your Calendars

Beer-festival master of ceremonies Tom Rutledge has announced some details of the 7th annual Knoxville Brewer's Jam, which is returning to its home, the World's Fair Park, on Oct. 18, after a couple of years' absence. He says the successful event, which has gained in regional notoriety over the years, will draw at least 30 brewers from five, maybe six states, 110 beers in all, with unlimited samples for the $20-25 entrance fee (with special deals for designated drivers). They'll celebrate the return to the fair site (the North Lawn, this time) with a "retro" theme, with three bands performing music from the '50s through the '80s. It's a benefit for Community Shares. The River FM 100.3 had been the event's broadcast-media sponsor, but that status is in limbo with this week's yet-unannounced changes. "We're one more group that's been hurt by this loss," Rutledge says.