Charlie Brown beats recall coverage

When the results of the mayoral recall were announced Tuesday night, the Spokane news media sprang into action to present the numbers and gather the comments. Two of the community’s television news operations went live, but one – KXLY – did not.

This certainly wasn’t a determination that the recall wasn’t newsworthy. Just a few hours earlier, anchor Richard Brown complained on the 5 p.m. newscast that The Spokesman-Review had no recall story in the paper that election day; at 6 p.m., he begrudgingly corrected that assessment to concede the paper had carried a story – small, on page B3 and without even the name of the mayor – although it wasn’t clear if Brown was most upset with the station’s crack news research staff for overlooking the story, or for the paper’s decision to stick with its policy of carrying only a small reminder story on the day of the election.

It can’t possibly be that KXLY was accusing the newspaper of under-covering the scandal surrounding Mayor Jim West. Another media outlet the station often partners with, The Pacific Northwest Inlander, had opined about 10 days earlier that The Spokesman-Review should essentially cease and desist from West coverage.

But that was at 6 p.m., and the recall results were announced at 8:10 p.m. The station didn’t cut away from programming to show numbers being scribbled on a white board or recall supporters hugging. Instead, it sent the results across the bottom of the screen in what’s known in the TV biz as a crawl.

A station source says that’s because network programming that night was the much beloved “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” As families with young children gathered to warm their hearts and tap their toes to C. Brown’s lesson on the true meaning of the holiday, it seemed inappropriate to break in with news of the mayoral scandal. (“Mommy, what’s Gay.com?” “Ask your father while I call the station and have a chat with THEM.”)

In any case, it seems like a good choice under the circumstances. Our station source said KXLY did get a couple of complaints from people who taped the show for annual viewing and weren’t happy that they’ll be watching the results crawl in coming years.

Correcting a mistake

Spin Control last week incorrectly identified Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, as the person who passed out “Purple Heart” Band-Aids at the GOP National Convention. The mastermind of that particular stunt was Morton Blackwell of the Leadership Institute.

Chris Butler, a spokesman for Americans for Tax Reform, called to say this political urban legend crops up from time to time on Internet sites, but isn’t true. Norquist wasn’t even at the convention that night, Butler said.

Yule tidings update

This just in from the Christmas front: The Committee to Save Merry Christmas is not too pleased that the holiday greeting card from the White House has neither “Merry” nor “Christmas” in its message.

But the group is heartened by any effort to call a Christmas tree by no other name, such as that of state Rep. John Ahern of Spokane, who wants the tree in the Capitol Rotunda more properly acknowledged.

Committee Chairman Manuel Zamorano, of Orangevale, Calif., said he just recently became aware that the official card from President and Mrs. Bush contains a more nondenominational salutation of “best wishes for a holiday season of hope and happiness.”

“I was a little saddened by it,” said Zamorano. “I wouldn’t be opposed to sending him a letter. Maybe I will.”

He’s an accomplished letter writer, having dashed off missives to the parent company of Macy’s in 2003 about his perception that the store wasn’t saying Christmas in its ads and stores. When he got no answer that year, the committee – which boasts five active members but generates lots of interest on its Web site and from talk show hosts – called for a boycott. This year Zamorano received a letter from a corporate official assuring the committee that Christmas is in its ads and even in its jingle.

Zamorano said he was sure a president has more important things on his mind than picking out Christmas cards but was surprised to learn that presidents stretching back to Ronald Reagan sent out cards that didn’t say “Merry Christmas.”

While the committee hasn’t taken a formal position on the Holiday Tree in the Capitol, he is happy with any effort to remove the term holiday and replace it with the C-word when it comes to brightly decorated evergreens put on display this time of year.

“It’s Christmas, and Christmas trees,” he said.