J. TODD FOSTER: In Wake Of The Mitchell Affair, Readers Rally For Region

By J. Todd Foster
Editor / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: June 22, 2008

At 4 p.m. Friday, Opinion Page Editor Andrea Hopkins walked into my office. “Do you have your column for Sunday?”

“It’s up here,” I said, pointing to my head.

“In other words, you got nothing,” Andrea laughed.

SHE WAS right. I spent the last week immersed in vetting job applicants, siccing our lawyers on noble causes and fielding calls from New York media about the jailing of Giants running back and Super Bowl star Ahmad Bradshaw, a Tazewell County native.

So, all I can offer today are some of the best from more than 100 responses to my June 8 smackdown of NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell.

Mitchell was a close friend to recently passed Tim Russert, so there will be no cheap shots at her expense today. I’ll let readers do the talking.

The June 8 column was posted on the country’s most popular journalism Web site (Jim Romenesko’s blog at poynter.org) and scored thousands of hits from around the world.

I HEARD from several old colleagues in Portland and journalists I did not know.

Of the more than 100 written and telephoned responses from readers, only one was negative (for my “hatefulness”) while another was positive AND negative (for even acknowledging the existence of rednecks).

Here are the highlights, most of which will gratify you for living in Southwest Virginia:

* From a former reporter who worked 10 years inside the Beltway:

“That was quite a column you had in the Herald Courier. I was a journalist for 20 years, half of that spent inside the Beltway, and the rest spent in America. Andrea Mitchell has long had a reputation in Washington for being a sharp-elbowed, mean woman. Really mean. This dates back from the days before she married Greenspan and was still covering the White House for NBC.

“NOT TOO long after she left the White House assignment and was sent to cover the Hill, I was in a packed hearing room one day where the only seat I could find was one reserved for broadcast journalists. I was chatting up a couple of sound technicians from NBC, when I noticed their smiles disappearing and their eyes widening and focused on a point on the opposite side of the hearing room. It was Andrea coming through the door.

“She picked her way through the crowded room moving this way and that to get across to the table where we were sitting. I watched the faces of the two technicians as they traced her progress through the crowd like a pair of stranded surfers following the path of a big shark fin on top of the water.

“I guess I’m trying to make a handful of points here: 1. You’re a good writer. 2. You’re fortunate to be living in a nice place in Southwest Virginia. 3. If you find yourself in an elevator with Andrea Mitchell, jump out before the doors close.”

* From a lady in Williamsburg, Va.:

“ANDREA MITCHELL isn’t fittin’ to carry your manure-encrusted boots ... or those of any other decent, hard-working resident of your community.”

* A Miami reporter wrote:

“… [B]eing a native of Richmond myself, you may be interested to know where Mr. Greenspan and Ms. Mitchell wed – rural Virginia. It was in the Eastern part of the state to be sure, but it was somewhere in the Tidewater region, and not too close to the Beltway, either.”

* From an Atlanta reporter:

“I’m glad to see a medium-sized Southern daily make the top of Romenesko; it’s way too dominated by the East and West. As a recent transplant to the South from the Midwest, I can say that. Great column today! Dead on about SW Virginia, where I’ve vacationed a few times and threaten to retire to in 20 years if Yankees haven’t driven up prices too much.”

* From a man in the coalfields:

“If you were a Preacher here in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains of Southwest Virginia, delivering the sermon I just read in your commentary, this bright Sunday morning, your congregation would have stood on their feet and shouted ‘AMEN BROTHER AMEN!’ ”

* FROM A local woman who a few weeks ago lambasted me for being mean and tasteless for a column about purple shirts at Vance Middle School:

“This morning I would like to thank you for your commentary concerning Andrea Mitchell in yesterday’s paper. I appreciate your eagerness to defend our home. Your allegiance means so much more with the realization that you have lived all across our great nation. I hope I am not the only one to share my gratitude with you.

“Please know, whether I agree with you or am ready to dangle you from the back of my husbands pickup ... you are the first thing I read when I open my Sunday paper.”

* And one of the most touching, from Austin, Texas:

“Bravo for your column. I am a 67-year-old retired black reporter who recently moved back to Texas to be with real people. I too am tired of the collective caricature of Southerners as simple-minded, inarticulate knuckleheads.

“HAVING LIVED all over this country, I find the provincialism of so-called sophisticates beyond boring. I’m hoping Mitchell is dining these days on chicken-fried crow.”

Finally, a footnote. A few readers took me to task for last week’s column, specifically for using in a headline a derisive term in describing a rival newspaper.

These readers accused me of being a hypocrite for engaging in the same kind of name-calling that I condemned a congressman’s spokesman for.

Those readers were right and I was wrong. While I stand by the column and my defense of this newspaper, I apologize for the headline, which I wrote.

It was Andrea Hopkins’ fault, however. She knew it was over the top but hesitated to call out her boss. She’s promised not to ever hesitate again.

J. Todd Foster is managing editor of the Bristol Herald Courier. He may be reached at or (276) 645-2513.