Newsroom Blog

May 15th, 2008

West Virginia's image has taken another hit. Sen. Hillary Clinton overwhelmingly defeated Sen. Barack Obama, and it's clear that intolerance played a role in her victory. An Associated Press exit poll shows that race was on many voters' minds.

We've found in our own reporting that many people don't believe Obama is a Christian. Instead, they suspect he's a Muslim, and they're holding it against him. We've also spoken to voters who refuse to vote for Obama because of his race.

On Wednesday, Comedy Central's The Daily Show poked fun at West Virginia in this segment. Jon Stewart remarked the new state slogan is "No Interviews Please."

During today's All Things Considered, NPR listeners heard several West Virginia voters reveal their prejudices toward Obama.

The segment also includes a conversation with Washington Post reporter Kevin Merida about the racial slurs and doors that have been slammed in the faces of Obama campaign workers around the country. Click here to listen to the segment. Anna Sale gathered the sound of West Virginia voters who were part of this segment.

On Friday's West Virginia Morning, Scott Finn and Anna address the role of race and religion in West Virginia presidential politics. You can listen and read that story here.

So why am I writing all this? We want to hear from you.

How much of a role do you think race and religion played in West Virginia's Democratic presidential primary? How much of a role do you think it will play in the general election if Sen. Obama is the Democratic nominee?

Just click on the comments link below and tell us what you think. We'd also like to use your comments on the air.
- Greg Collard, News Director

WVU’s University Assembly has voted 563-35 to demand the resignation of President Mike Garrison in the wake of the Heather Bresch MBA degree scandal.

Emily Corio is on the scene. We’ll talk to her this evening during All Things Considered. Tune into West Virginia Morning at 7:30 a.m. Thursday for an in-depth report.

- Greg Collard, News Director

From Greg Collard, News Director

West Virginia is getting a lot of attention this weekend, and not just because of the election.

Sunday is the 100^th anniversary of Mother’s Day. For those who don’t know, Mother’s Day began in Grafton, West Virginia.

Emily Corio produced an interesting story on how the holiday started, and why founder Anna Marie Jarvis later worked to rescind the holiday. Click here to access audio and video versions of this story.

Emily also produced a Mother’s Day story for NPR that is scheduled to air this weekend on Weekend Edition Sunday.

Anna Sale is scheduled to lead into the Mother’s Day segment. She’ll discuss the West Virginia presidential campaign with host Liane Hansen. It’s well-documented that Barack Obama has many challenges in West Virginia.  She reported on these challenges last week in this story.

New York City

This week, Anna Sale also spoke to WYNC’s John Hockenberry on the program, The Takeaway. Check out that interview by clicking here. Anna is scheduled to reappear on the program Monday morning.

Scott Finn also discussed the presidential race with WNYC’s The Leonard Lopate Show. One listener commented: I have no sympathy for these people anymore. They deserve the economic dislocation they are going to get under GOP policies. You can listen to Scott’s interview by clicking here.

For several years, we’ve heard many complaints about our Web site, and deservedly so.

We weren’t providing the online services that our audience expects and deserves.

We’ve made some improvements here and there, but they were really just baby steps in the right direction.

Today we’re taking a giant leap with our new Web site.

It’s now easier to listen and read our stories. Our stories are easier to locate, and you’ll be able to access them from our archives. Just type key words in our search engine, and you should be able to find any locally-produced news story.

You can also sign up for RSS feeds. You’ll be notified anytime we post a story.

This is just the beginning. In the future, we will be podcasting all of our local news programs, including West Virginia Morning and Inside Appalachia.

We also want to hear from you. If you have ideas for improving our online services, feel free to e-mail us.

Bottom line: We’re not done. This is just the beginning of a new era for West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Greg Collard
News Director