Piggybacking on my earlier post about the 6th district congressional race, while I was reading about the controversy surrounding the inflammatory ad by the pro-Zelenik Super PAC I couldn’t find a single article by a newspaper in the Upper Cumberland that covered the story.

As a matter of fact, the only article I have seen about the race at all was this one in the Crossville Chronicle. Now you don’t have to do a lot of research on this race to realize the two Republicans seriously dislike one another and are trying to differentiate themselves as much as possible. This brings me to my point. Independent reporting is crucially important for small communities. We desperately need to know about who wants our vote and why they feel they deserve it. We need to know whether good or bad so we can make an informed decision. And when editors, writers, and columnists don’t take the time to do their own independent research that leaves us as readers, as the public, as an informed electorate in the lurch.

My favorite quote from the above article, the only article about the 6th District race I’ve seen this election season…the race with candidates that desperately dislike one another…the race where the term “crazy” has been used by a sitting Congresswoman to describe her opponent…my favorite quote from that local news article when describing the character of the race: “Both incumbent Sixth District Congresswoman Diane Black, just completing her first term in office, and Lou Ann Zelenik, who lost to Black in the last election in a narrow, [sic] are expected to compete in very aggressive campaigns.”