Beating a dead horse

Its a sad time indeed for the N&O. Weeks ago, they uncovered evidence that Former Gov. Mike Easley flew on his friend's plane for free. But apparently former governors are not allowed to have friends with planes, or so they say. We've finally moved on, but not to anything better. It's starting to seem like the N&O has a grudge against not only the Easleys but NC State as well. A year ago, Mrs. Easley got a pay raise along with a pretty big promotion. But the N&O conveniently left that last detail out. Now she is getting heat because a friend of hers, a certain former Chairman of the NC State Board of Trustees, recommended her for a job. That was four years ago. But apparently the N&O holds grudges for a long time. Their incessant campaign against the former first lady and her husband has lead to a FBI investigation, an ethics investigation, and so far has claimed the jobs of at least two people who just got caught in the cross hairs. But apparently its not enough for the N&O that Larry Nielsen, resigned from his position as provost at NC State because he was getting pestered by reporters (how many do you think were from the N&O?) so badly he couldn't do his job. Now they want his pay too. Where do you draw the line? When does investigative reporting go to far? I think its when someone has to give up their job, not because they did anything wrong, but because it has become impossible for them to do their job with all the people scrutinizing every detail of every decision they made. Nobody is infallible and if anyone should know that, its the N&O. Its time for this to stop. I believe Larry Nielsen has earned the right to take a few months leave before they cut his salary. If you left your job, your vacation time would get paid out (it is a federal and state law after all.) Its time to move on. It's not like there isn't anything else to report, with President Obama nationalizing banks and socializing our formerly capitalist country (65% stake in GM seems a bit much). Maybe if the reporters stopped digging through piles of papers to find the stuff that's hidden, they should open their eyes and report on the stuff that's right in front of them. Everybody is tired of this witch hunt, and its time for the N&O to grow up. Nielsen's only mistake was qualifying their questions with a response.

Edited version submitted to N&O June 7, 2009