Robertson has seen other unflattering articles in The Virginian-Pilot, such as his claim to leg-press 2,000 pounds, the “equivalent to lifting a full-grown Clydesdale horse.”
If you can’t beat ‘em, buy ‘em out. That seems to be Pat Robertson’s policy for press criticism.
After decades of operating a faux-news operation from his “700 Club” perch at the Christian Broadcasting Network, Robertson is now expressing interest in purchasing The Virginian-Pilot, a real news organ that has offered critical coverage of the TV evangelist.
Robertson might consider himself a Renaissance man of sorts, albeit one seriously anchored in the Dark Ages. Beyond founding a broadcasting network and other business ventures, Robertson has spent years building an empire and dabbling in educational, political, philanthropic and lifestyle ventures.
Robertson ran for president in 1988, and from the ruins of his campaign, built the Christian Coalition, a Religious Right lobbying group that held enormous political power in the 1990s. He created Regent University, which includes a law school, and he claims to have sent lots of graduates to work in the Bush administration.
Robertson also launched the American Center for Law and Justice, a lawyers’ outfit devoted to enshrining fundamentalist Christianity in the public square, including the public schools. He runs Operation Blessing, a charity supposedly dedicated to helping the world’s most impoverished.
Along the way, Robertson’s projects and pratfalls have attracted plenty of media coverage. He hasn’t appreciated much of it, especially the coverage emanating from The Virginian-Pilot, his community’s daily. After learning that the newspaper’s parent company, Landmark Communications, was contemplating selling its assets (which include the Weather Channel), Robertson immediately expressed interest, The Washington Post reported.
“Although the price for The Weather Channel is a little rich for my blood, I am considering a potential bid for the Pilot and have asked my attorneys to look into it,” Robertson said in an e-mail sent by his assistant, G.G. Conklin. “It would be particularly helpful to provide internships for Regent University journalism students.”
The Virginian-Pilot reported that The Weather Channel might fetch as much as $5 billion, but no figures have “been floated” on the newspaper’s worth. The Post noted that The Virginian-Pilot’s most recent seven-day audited circulation is 186,489.
“Robertson,” The Post observed, “has objected to articles in the newspaper that he said unfairly characterized him and his activities.”
The Virginian-Pilot has indeed trenchantly covered Robertson’s growing empire.
How could a newspaper avoid covering a local televangelist who long ago became a national figure and the focal point of heated discussion?
Besides popping off with controversial comments, such as claiming shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that “God Almighty is lifting his protection from us,” Robertson frequently claims that God personally provides him with predictions of the future. Robertson said God once told him that President George W. Bush would easily win his re-election bid and that a nuclear attack on American soil in 2007 would result in “mass killings.”
The newspaper has irked Robertson over its coverage of his Operation Blessing and Regent University’s law school. For example, in 1997, The Virginian-Pilot reported on comments from two Operation Blessing pilots who flatly said that the charity’s missions to Zaire were anything but humanitarian. The pilots told the newspaper that three of Operation Blessing airplanes were largely used to ferry heavy equipment for a Robertson diamond-mining venture.
This past summer, the Hampton Roads-area newspaper offered a lengthy, but even-handed, report on Regent Law’s reputation. The newspaper highlighted the work of Monica Goodling, a Regent Law graduate who got caught up in the Justice Department’s scandal over firing federal prosecutors. Goodling was called before Congress and questioned on her role in the scandal and admitted that she had “crossed the line” in using political criteria to hire government lawyers.
The article was a fair examination of the school’s reputation, especially since Robertson has enjoyed boasting that 150 Regent Law alumni have served in the Bush administration.
Robertson has seen other unflattering articles in The Virginian-Pilot, such as his claim to leg-press 2,000 pounds, the “equivalent to lifting a full-grown Clydesdale horse.”
The 77-year-old televangelist might not be able to pony up $5 billion for all of Landmark’s ventures, but grabbing a newspaper that he sees as a thorn in his side surely must look enticing.
But for the readers of The Virginian-Pilot, the thought of a Robertson-run newspaper can’t be terribly appealing. It’s unlikely that a majority of the newspaper’s readers are clamoring for a print version of “The 700 Club.”
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