Political retaliation?

Casewell County blog readers say that the Register & Bee's report on Hugh Webster's small claims court case is political retaliation. Webster, says one reader, has been a thorn in the side of liberals for years and the Register & Bee is playing up the story now that they have a Republican in their sights.

Having worked at The Register & Bee I can say that's possible, but more likely it was a slow news day and someone called to tell Bernard to show up for the story since he was seen hanging around the courthouse before the case was filed. Notice they used a FILE photo of Hugh Webster....not usually done since it's considered lazy and half-assed reporting...but, they do it.

Unfortunately, if it's a slow news day - meaning no one was stabbed, shot, their house set on fire or a store robbed, the next "newsworthy" item that takes little investigation, relies mostly on documents that can be quoted - like a court case, and involves someone in the public eye - unless it's a drunken sports reporter working at the Register & Bee - (historically the R&B keeps its own shortcomings out of the paper), they'll end up on the front page. Any lawsuits against the Register and Bee that involve an R&B reporter, are also kept out of the paper. So....