By Adam Pagnucco.
Imagine reading a series of tweets about Montgomery County that said the following.
About the county’s new law requiring healthier drinks for kids in restaurants: “More over regulation and anti business rules from @MoCoCouncilMD @MontgomeryCoMD”
About County Executive Marc Elrich’s proposed property tax hike: “This is a completely irresponsibly high and unnecessary increase at a time when inflation remains high, cost of living is more than it was last year! This will only hurt the county, more people will leave and relocate to VA or other less taxed counties!”
About U.S. Census data showing population loss in MoCo: “Not surprising… Rising crime, high cost of living, over business regulation, declining schools, ability to work remotely, very high taxes, – this was predictable and will continue unless there is a refocusing of county policies and priorities. @MoCoCouncilMD @MontgomeryCoMD @MontCoExec”
You might think such tweets would be coming from some rogue blogger. But they’re not. They are coming from one of the region’s most powerful local media executives.
Meet Patrick Paolini Jr., Senior Vice President and General Manager of Fox 5. He is a man of strong opinions. Here are a few thoughts he has shared about MoCo.
March 30, 2023 (on a Fox 5 story about MoCo’s population loss)
He has even retweeted some of my stuff, which no respectable media figure should ever do!
Part of me is entertained by this. Who wouldn’t want a big local media boss retweeting their stuff? Paolini gets bonus points for being an opinionated guy with an Italian surname starting with P. Cin cin!
That said, there are two huge differences between Paolini and someone like me. The first is scale. My site has an audience of thousands. Paolini’s broadcast TV station can reach millions and his audience extends far outside of MoCo. Fox 5 can shape what the rest of the region thinks about us in ways I never could.
The second difference is that I’m an opinion writer. That’s why this site is called Montgomery Perspective and not Montgomery News. On my About page, I discuss my background in working for various politicians, including two who ran against the current county executive. I invite everyone who reads my content to consider that in determining how to evaluate what I write.
Fox 5 has a news operation. I imagine its reporters want to be considered professional and objective journalists like all the other reporters in the region. Paolini has a First Amendment right to say whatever he wants. But when he does so, how does it affect his station’s reporters?
I asked Paolini about these issues on Twitter last week. As of this writing, he has not responded. He has tweeted about other subjects since then.
I wonder how county officials feel when they read these tweets. Do they believe they have a shot at getting fair coverage from Fox 5?
An obvious parallel worth thinking about is the Washington Post, which has issued many editorials going after Elrich while its reporters are supposed to be objective. I have talked to a few Post reporters over the years and every one of them I have asked about this has said that they are not supervised by the editorial writers. Does the same hold true at Fox 5 for Paolini and their reporters?
The irony in all of this is that Elrich proposed giving Fox 5 a half million dollars to move from D.C. to Bethesda back in 2019, which the county council unanimously approved. This is what you’re getting in return, Marc. Can you get the money back?