If you want to know what Senate candidate Michael Whatley talked about when he visited an event sponsored by the Haywood County GOP on Saturday, July 18, at the Waynesville Recreation Center, you won’t be able to read about it in The Smoky Mountain News. Did the Senate candidate trying to keep Thom Tillis’ seat, and who will most assuredly toe the Donald Trump line much more reliably than the independent-minded Tillis, deliver any remarks that might help him in the Nov. 3 election against former N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper? Our readers — and those of the Asheville Citizen-Times — won’t know.
The Haywood GOP-sponsored get together was billed in press releases as open event. In The Smoky Mountain News online calendar where readers can input information for their own events, someone promoting it wrote this: “… an opportunity to hear directly from Whatley, learn more about his vision for North Carolina, and discuss the issues that matter most to our region … Whether you’re looking to learn more, ask questions, or simply stop by and visit, join the event for an afternoon of conversation and fellowship.”
Sound like the description for an open meeting at a public facility.
Well, the “fellowship” didn’t last too long when ACT reporter Cory Vaillancourt (who was previously a long-time SMN reporter) tried to attend. Organizers, in particular Haywood GOP Party Chair Kim Genova, denied Vaillancourt access. Even after Waynesville Town Attorney Martha Bradley told Genova via telephone that the meeting was public since it was in a public facility, she denied Cory access.
SMN News Editor Kyle Perrotti was with Vaillancourt as they tried to enter. The local GOP officials said that Kyle was not barred from entering, but he decided that he didn’t want to be there if the event had become one where only selected media were invited (kind of like what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been trying to do at the Pentagon, though some of those restrictions have been overturned).
As for media access to this particular event, luckily Blue Ridge Public Radio did get a reporter in. That story can be read at that news organization’s website. It’s likely they did not know about the kerfuffle with other reporters, or that entity might have made the same decision as Perrotti.
The fact that Cory was denied entrance — and you can find plenty of comments on social media about this if that’s your thing — at this particular meeting is not as important as the ongoing deteriorating relationship between some politicians and the media, and the continuing attacks on our First Amendment freedoms. It seems reporting the truth can get you barred from covering some politicians, and Whatley is clearly ensconced among those who believe these kinds of actions are just fine.
Whatley has also barred reporters from the Assembly and N.C. Newsline from some of his events. This despite the fact that all polls say he’s losing pretty badly in this race. Vaillancourt wrote extensively about Whatley’s failings as Trump’s Helene recovery czar while here at SMN and has kept it up at the ACT.
“[Whatley] sees a political advantage for going after some in the press that he considers to be not supportive of his candidacy,” David McLennan, a professor of political science at Meredith College, told NC Newsline. “Whatley is a political animal, been the chair of the state and national GOP, and so he’s well-versed in attacking the media, making them the story as opposed to himself.”
McLennan went on, “He needs to make himself known, because all the public opinion surveys I’ve seen say most North Carolinians don’t know much about him. You’d think, well, is my strategy to become better known to make myself more available, or less available?”
I was pretty proud of Kyle’s decision to not attend and not cover Whatley’s event. Letting politicians choose what reporters are allowed entry into an event smacks of authoritarianism, even at a backwater GOP rally in little old Waynesville.
(Scott McLeod can be reached at info@smokymountainnews.com.)