Pat Robertson Mulls Bid for Virginian Pilot

Business Week reports:

Televangelist Pat Robertson is considering buying The Virginian-Pilot, a newspaper he has criticized for its coverage of his activities.

Norfolk-based Landmark Communications Inc. announced last week that it was evaluating whether to sell its assets, including The Weather Channel and the Pilot, its flagship newspaper.

Robertson said in a statement to the paper Thursday that he is considering a potential bid. He said owning the newspaper would help provide internships for journalism students at Regent University, a school he founded in Virginia Beach.

Robertson, founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network, has said the newspaper has characterized him unfairly.

It would be the most delicious irony if this actually came to pass. I doubt if the Batten family would want to sell to Robertson, a person who has received relentless criticism from the paper.

And in the unlikely event that it would happen, there is sure to be a newsroom revolt. But the Pilot would be a better paper under Pat than it is now. Anything would be better.

Here's how the Pilot itself reports it:

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, who has sharply criticized The Virginian-Pilot in the past, is considering making a bid to buy the newspaper, an associate said Thursday.

Notice how the writer, Philip Walzer, characterizes the controversies surrounding Robertson and the Pilot. Apparently the Pilot was just standing around doing nothing, minding its own business and Robertson jumps up and “sharply criticized” the Pilot. In that phrase you have an outstanding example of media bias. With that phrase the paper has made itself the injured party.

The fact is that the Virginian Pilot has initiated all the personal and business attacks against Pat Robertson. All Pat has done is responded to the Pilot's attacks. How dare he?

It’s a reminder of Hillary's tears. She's not doing anything and - out of the blue - she gets criticized. It's so unfair, and she's feeling so sorry for herself that she chokes back tears. And we are supposed to curse those evil people who are making Hillary feel bad.

Other commenting on this are UPI, Romenesko, Editor & Publisher, the VLW Blog, The Daily Press (in a fairer summary of the disputes between Robertson & the Pilot), Vivian Paige, Yahoo Finance among others.

My good friends at Bearing Drift chimed in with the expected responses.

Will Pat Robertson make the Virginian-Pilot “fair and balanced?”
asks Brian Kirwin:
Pat Robertson may buy The Virginian-Pilot

It will be interesting to hear the left use part of the first amendment to deny other parts of the first amendment in their predictable attacks on this idea.

Some there find the prospect shocking:

Are you actually going on the record to state that it is good for Hampton Roads to have Pat Robertson purchase the Virginian Pilot?

The fact is that several religious organizations own and publish respected and excellent newspapers. The Christian Science Monitor is one; so is the Washington Times.

In addition, Regent University has a journalism program. The Pilot can provide its students and graduates job opportunities. And it is fatuous to suggest that graduates of Regent could not do a better job of publishing a high quality newspaper than the motley crew currently putting out this current abomination.

Finally, if the Pilot, under Robertson’s ownership turns into a bust, I’m sure that all of the Liberal readers who are threatening to cancel their subscriptions will band together and resurrect the old Pilot.