Local Newspaper Uncovers Sanford Affair ... After Sitting On it For Months

A guest post from Double X intern Meredith Simons:

Sara, I agree that the way the truth about Sanford's whereabouts unfolded underscores the importance of local newspapers. But said local newspaper's release of e-mails between Sanford and Maria, the mysterious Argentinian, complicates things a little bit. The State's reporter didn't go to the Atlanta airport on a hunch. The paper had known since December that Sanford was having a transcontinental affair. And they had a McClatchy reporter on the ground in Argentina Wednesday, knocking on Maria's door just as the news broke in the States.

This raises all sorts of questions: Why did The State wait so long? Would they have released the e-mails (and sent someone to Argentina) if Sanford hadn't attracted attention to himself by disappearing? It's counterintuitive to suggest that a news organization would cover up such a huge story, but it's very strange that they let things go on as long as they did. After all, they've known about Maria for more than six months, and they had no way of knowing that the press corps was about to get caught up in a game of "Where in the World is Mark Sanford?" So what were they waiting for?

Tags: mark sanford, the state

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Samantha Henig is the associate editor of Double X, and can be reached at samantha.henig@doublex.com.

Comments

Sitting on the emails

By: insocal | Thu, 06/25/2009 - 17:42

Thanks for talking about this. Yesterday's television interviews and coverage led me to believe that more than one person at the newspaper received these emails anonymously. Yes, they had to check them out, but it shouldn't have taken anyone seven months to do that. Was Gina Smith the only reporter who followed up on them?

I'm a big supporter of newspapers, believe they are vital to our democracy. And I want the world to continue to have professional journalists, the value of whose work is little recognized these days. I want reliable news sources, and I don't want to be forced to try to obtain the facts of any given situation from the coalescence of online opinion -- whatever place that opinion may have of its own.

That said, it's hard not to think about how things might have been different if The State had not held back. If Gina Smith hadn't persisted, we might not know what really happened to the governor. I hope other journalists will be persistent, and continue to ask the editors at The State why it took so long to follow up on the tips they were given months ago.

I'm thinking

By: Ok so | Thu, 06/25/2009 - 09:05

The State did not release the emails because there was no way to verify at the time that the emails were authentic. PLUS a governor having an affair is not really news(Unless it's closet gay sex or with a prostitute) considering that lots of folks in that statehouse are getting some on the side too. Would it have made for great tabloid fodder? Sure, but better to have it when you really need it, like when said governor lies about where he's going and drops off the map for a week resurfaces and in a televised conference gives verfication of the affair...Just my thoughts.