TS Is He the Right Man for the Job?

[The Touchstone]

      I place below a copy of the radio script for the Touchstone Radio 
show that aired on KEOS yesterday (Thursday).  The show is on Robert 
Borden, opinion page editor of the Bryan-College Station Eagle.  It 
discribes my recent experiences dealing with him.  It's something we should 
all be aware of and concerned about. You can also listen at 
http://www.rtis.com/touchstone/tsradio/static/cd41-08.html

                       Danny

Is He the Right Man for the Job?

Texas A&M university announced on August 2 that Deputy Secretary of State 
Richard L. Armitage would be a speaker at one of the August 13 commencement 
ceremonies.  Armitage was a particularly bad choice and an insult to our 
communities because he is a prominent neo-conservative who has had a large 
part in the planning and execution of the Iraq war that has had such 
disastrous consequences.  He was also an important figure in Iran-contra 
and there are substantiated allegations that he ran drugs and prostitution 
in the 1980s.

             Along with the help of a few friends, I organized a peaceful 
demonstration outside of Reed Arena prior to the commencement.  We had 
about 30 demonstrators there -- which is great for our area -- especially 
considering that we had short notice and it was a warm Friday afternoon in 
the summer when many people would be away and others would be working. KBTX 
TV covered the demonstration and even featured it on its newscast. Coverage 
by the Bryan-College Station Eagle was scanty and dismissive.

             I wrote a polite letter to the editor of The Eagle complaining 
about their coverage.  What happened next can only be described as 
bizarre.  The first email I received from Robert Borden, the opinion page 
editor read: "I really, really am tired of this guy and his constant 
bitching about The Eagle. Should we run?"  Not only was the email rude and 
offensive, it wasn't true.  I hadn't publicly complained about the Eagle 
for years.  Two years ago I went away on sabbatical in Denmark for a 
year.  During the year after that I was relatively inactive because of some 
personal problems.  I couldn't remember how long before the sabbatical I'd 
complained to The Eagle about anything.  I'd given up writing letters to 
The Eagle in the mid-1990's when the editor of the paper then, refused to 
print my letters but instead would misquote and distort them in editorials 
he'd write.

             Borden subsequently apologized -- actually several times over 
the course of our email exchanges -- but in each he never sounded at all 
sincere and tried to blame me.  For example, one read " I apologize. The 
e-mail was meant for internal consumption. And, yes, you constantly 
criticize The Eagle because it doesn't cover your activities the way you 
would like. Again, I am sorry you received my original e-mail." I 
repeatedly asked him to provide some documentation for what he claimed was 
my constant criticism of the Eagle.  He never gave me any -- because none 
exists from at least the past several years.  The tone only changed 
somewhat when I complained to his boss publisher Donnis Baggett and started 
cc'ing the emails to him.  Rather than continue to read these emails 
on-air, I've placed them on our web site rtis.com/touchstone so you can 
read them yourselves.  By the way, after all of this The Eagle did publish 
my letter -- with some deletions and small changes in wording.

             Mr. Borden is also a member of the Board of Directors of 
Brazos Educational Radio, the organization that owns and operates KEOS 
Community Radio.  Mr. Borden has provided financial support to KEOS which 
has benefited Touchstone Radio, for which we're grateful. But that's not 
going to stop us from questioning whether Mr. Borden, who is so touchy 
about criticism as to resort to name calling and apparently can't keep his 
facts straight, has the right journalistic values, ethics, and ability to 
be a director of a truly independent media outlet.
             For Touchstone Radio, this is Danny Yeager.

Danny Yeager

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Phone and FAX at home: (979) 696-8695
Phone and FAX at work: (979) 845-3436
Cell: (979) 777-8758

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