Lincoln mayor's office interfering with local journalists

[bkoenig]

Did anyone listen to Drive Time Lincoln today?  Apparently when Colleen Seng was mayor she tried to lean on 1400 KLIN to fire Coby Mach. 

Today there was a hit piece on Mr. Mach in the Urinal Star and there's speculation that it was encouraged by the Mayor's office.  A former Urinal Star reporter claimed today that the Mayor's office approached her several times in the past to do so.

[bullit]

As a member of LIBA I received a notice about the LJS "bagging on" how much Coby gets paid.  1) LIBA is a private organization so it ain't really anyones business, and 2) instead of discussing with LIBA, information was provided by the NE Dem Party (Huh?)
Lincoln politics.....Chicago style.

[Dan W]

I am not really surprised that A Dem mayor would target someone like Coby Mach.

I listen to his show a lot and I like his style, and he is hammering the Urinal Star on this.

[bkoenig]

The thing is, even though he works for a right-leaning radio station he's pretty balanced.  He gives both sides grief if they deserve it. 

Lincoln politics is full of crap like this.  Like when the firefighter's union gave the Democratic party $25,000 in the last city council election to attack John Camp.  And they spent it on flyers mocking his disability (he walks with a cane due to a childhood car accident).  Stay classy, Democrats.

And still, turnout was something like 20% in the last election because most people can't be bothered to turn off American Idol long enough to participate in their local government 

[Dan W]

If you read the Deana Winter blog, it appears that the Mayor's staff have been begging for a hit piece on Mach for sometime...

  http://winterized.org/2011/06/24/2566/

As to Mach’s questioning why Hicks went to Covalt – I think the answer is obvious. Over the half-dozen years I covered city hall, it was very clear that Mach and LIBA and Drive Time Lincoln were a thorn in the Mayor's side. More than once, a mayoral aide tried to get me to write a hit piece on Mach.
They felt it was a conflict of interest for Mach to head up LIBA and also host a radio show – plus occasionally act like a reporter by attending press conferences.

Apparently multitasking is not a problem for the Mayor's office...they can be both anti business and anti free speech at the same time. And let us not forget that the first amendment is a protection from government attempts at preventing free speech, especially political speech