Chronicle coverage of mayoral race unfair

I am writing to voice dissatisfaction over The Chronicle's story, "Durham mayoral race heats up," last Friday. Not only was the article on Mayor Bill Bell much longer than the one on City Council member Thomas Stith, but its presentation was slanted. Also, the stories failed to scratch the surface of major issues facing the city.

The coverage of Bell fawned over his record and was completely positive, focusing on his fighting the lacrosse lawsuit. On the other hand, the story on Stith was much more critical, focusing on unimportant issues like how Stith hired a consultant to help on the campaign. Quite frankly, I don't care about who Stith hires to conduct his campaign. Instead, I care about the issues at hand.

Both stories cover other council members endorsing the candidates. However, while the council member supporting Bell was featured prominently in the beginning of the article, the one supporting Stith received only the final sentence. Such treatment is an unfair representation of the candidates' supporters.

The real shame of these articles is that neither article manages to discuss the most important issue at hand: crime. The unfortunate circumstances off East Campus over Fall Break are a sad reminder the current mayor has not addressed violent crime successfully. In fact, violent crime increased in 2006 by 32 percent, according to the Durham Police Department. Why was this issue not discussed in The Chronicle's stories? Why was the nearly 1000-percent increase in the city's gang participation since 2001 not discussed? This is a real campaign issue, and Stith has addressed these concerns with proposals, including an increase in police protection and application of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act for prosecution of gang activity. Yet with all the criticism of Stith using a consultant, the story on Bell contained no criticism of the rise in violent crime, something far more important.

As a student, I am more concerned over my safety than on what Professor James Coleman thinks about Bell's handling of a lawsuit against the city. Friday's Chronicle coverage failed to inform the student body on the issues of the campaign and failed miserably in fair coverage of the mayoral candidates.

Samuel Tasher

Trinity '09

Chair, Duke College Republicans