#ncpol: Laura Leslie — STILL employed ????
Yep, the same individual who was all over social media blaming Christians and Trump voters for the gay night club massacre in Orlando — the same
person who ranted about the “crazy mf-ers with guns” — has been elevated to social media police-person at WRAL and the final arbiter of what IS and IS NOT appropriate behavior on the Internet. Laura Leslie is beside herself that politicians are turning to social media and bypassing her and her fellow drivebys:
President Donald Trump is such a Twitter aficionado that he is sometimes referred to as “tweeter-in-chief.” But other politicians are also bypassing traditional media and turning to social media to communicate with people.
Gov. Roy Cooper, for example, chose to spell out his legislative priorities this week in a post on a social media site called Medium instead of in a press release.
“This is, I’m sorry, sort of old school at this point,” Berger, R-Rockingham, said with a laugh about holding news conferences at the General Assembly.
Similarly, former Gov. Pat McCrory sometimes used YouTube as a substitute for news conferences.
The advantage of social media, Berger said, is that his message doesn’t get cut down to a sound bite.
It also has to do with the fact that fewer and fewer people are watching driveby news or reading driveby papers. The Internet is where it’s AT!
“If we have something to say, we can say it in our own voice and using the language that we want to convey. I think that’s helpful,” he said.
Cooper spokesman Ford Porter added that social media lets the governor reach people directly.
“The goal is to communicate and listen to more taxpayers,” Porter said. “People are getting their information, learning about their public figures, from a lot more different outlets. So, there’s more for us to do.”
Steven Greene, a political science professor at North Carolina State University, said social media can help leaders connect with constituents, but it also allows them to put out their points unchallenged.
Who challenges Roy Cooper at his press conferences?
“Rarely does any public servant give you the unvarnished truth. I mean, it may not be alternative facts, but it’s at least going to be spin,” Greene said. “When viewers think they can just get it all straight from the politician, we’re really losing an important check.”
When McCrory conceded the election in early December after weeks of challenging vote counts, he did it in a YouTube video, which allowed him to avoid having to answer questions from reporters.
“In a well-functioning democracy, it is essential that our public servants – because they are public servants – need to be responsive to the people, and the medi
a in this case is the representative of the people,” Greene said. “We need to be able to ask those questions.
“If you’re going to put out the tweets, the Facebook, the YouTube, fine. But if you’re doing that instead of talking to the press, that’s a problem,” he continued.
Cooper and Berger continue to meet with reporters but use social media to augment their message to constituents.
Here’s where the smoking hot hypocrisy gushes in:
Another potential pitfall of social media is that it can go awry pretty quickly. North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey and state Sen. Joyce Krawiec, R-Forsyth, both issued apologies this week after posting material many people found offensive.[…]
Oh, yeah. Go on the air and holler about the need for an apology from those folks. But Miz Leslie couldn’t bring herself to apologize for blaming 
the religious right in this country for the Orlando night club massacre. It doesn’t look like the Goodmons, who own WRAL, were all that serious about making her apologize, either. She disappeared off the air for a few days. But she’s back in even rarer form. (I can understand the Goodmons being unwilling to get too tough with her. They were probably worried about what Laura’s pals in the gay mafia might do in response. Footage of stuff like what happened in DC during the inauguration probably really rattled WRAL’s ruling family. Especially the shot of the limo being burned. I mean, how can you function as an authentic limousine liberal if your limo has been set afire?)
Be assured that neither Goodmon Sr or Jr have the cajones to try and fire Laura Leslie. She would have the HRC and ACLU and LGBTQ mobs busting down WRAL’s door within 10 minutes. Not that either Goodmon is at all displeased with the way she represents their station. She is doing exactly what they brought her in to do.
To borrow a well worn popular leftist phrase: “F*ck Laura Leslie, not my reporter”
This is truly a bed the fake news media has made for themselves. Their blatant choosing of sides in any coverage that can be remotely political is their downfall. It might be different if it were like in the past where there was a media outlet that promoted each side, but nowadays almost all the traditional outlets have chosen the same side.
This being said, why would ANY side talk to them. The demorats know they will have their water carried for them whether they interact with them or not. No tough questions will be asked and the narrative will be set. A Republican knows that any time they interact with them there will be total opposition no matter the issue and hysteria will ensue. Hostile questions will be asked and their words turned around into something unrecognizable.
Now that few people watch the fake outlets, I do not blame any politicians for going their own route.