by Dr. Louis Meyers
I am one of the four Democratic Congressional candidates, a physician and a moderate Democrat. It is distressing to experience some of the biased reporting from the news media.
A number of media outlets have declared this to be The Year of the Woman, and have discounted my candidacy as a result of my gender (male) and my politics (moderate and balanced). In a small state like Vermont, which has relatively few widely distributed news services, this unbalanced coverage can certainly influence an election.
As a further example, I have twice been denied participation debates with my fellow candidates (all of whom are women). On one of those occaisions, the debate coordinator was heard saying that he was excluding me because he wanted to make sure a woman won this election.
I have a great deal of respect for my fellow candidates – as I hope they do for me.
But as Vermonters and as firm believers in democracy and free choice, we should all hope and demand that the media give every candidate a fair hearing. And I hope that Vermonters will vote with conviction and conscience.