Anti-Obama incidents get mainly local notice

Editor & Publisher says it is keeping track of "anti-Obama, often racist, incidents taking place around the country, generally overlooked in the national media -- but covered by local papers." Since E&P typically monitors daily newspapers, we encourage weeklies to tell reporter Dexter Hill or editor Greg Mitchell about such stories that may have escaped E&P's attention by clicking here. Here are some examples from their latest update, yesterday:

"Local stories show that anti-Obama incidents (including physical and verbal abuse, KKK outfits worn, flags burned on front lawns) are occurring on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line. ... In Idaho, the Secret Service is investigating a “public hanging” sign erected by a man upset with the election outcome, the Bonner County Daily Bee (Sandpoint) reported Thursday. ... In Oswego, New York, police are investigating whether a fight outside a pizza shop that left a SUNY-Oswego student hospitalized was sparked by remarks said about Obama. ... At Appalachian State University [in Boone, N.C.], the administration has expressed disappointment at the numerous times black students have expressed being harassed in residence halls since the election." The Appalachian, the student newspaper, noted that "racist comments were discovered at North Carolina State University last week," E&P reports. (Read more)

The lack of national attention may reflect a desire among editors to not encourage such activity, or to not give fringe behavior mainstream attention. At the local level, it needs to be reported but not sensationalized, and may call for editorial comment. And if you're as tired as we are of things negative about the election, read this article from Ron Suskind in The New York Times Magazine. You'll feel better.