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Web posted
Friday, January 23, 2004
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Editorial: Let's give them something to talk about
Carolina Morning News
The national media reception to be hosted in Greenville on Thursday by local agencies is, in a word, inspired.
The national spotlight shines only infrequently on South Carolina, and when it does it is usually focused on something negative.
The Confederate flag debate springs to mind, as do images of plutonium that no other state wants. These are issues that the Dan Rathers of the world are all too familiar with.
The Thursday debate featuring Democratic presidential candidates offers a wonderful opportunity to change perceptions and give the media something else to talk about.
The national media will be out in force, because the Feb. 3 primary will offer the nation a glimpse at how the South as a whole might be leaning and could easily change the course of the election. (It happened as recently as four years ago, when George W. Bush blew away John McCain in the Palmetto State and started distancing himself from the GOP field.)
The national media will want to put the polling in context. In other words, they will want to show the mindset of the typical South Carolinian. Just like they did in Iowa, where the populace was oversimplified as being "plain," "simple" and "hard-working."
If you work in the tourism business in this state, you want to help the media define the typical South Carolinian. There is probably no better way to do that than to talk one-on-one to some of the people who will be writing the news stories and filling dead air on the networks.
We have no idea who will show up at the reception, but we predict that everyone who does will be impressed with the earnestness of the effort. And who knows how many tourists that will ultimately influence?
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