After the publication of a story from Chattanooga Times Free Press reporter Joan McClane about a confidential memo detailing a data breach with a Hamilton County contractor that potentially compromised the financial information of more than 14,000 people, County Mayor Weston Wamp took to the air waves to do what too many in the GOP are doing: attack the media.
“I don’t think there has been confirmation of a breach, but what we do have confirmation of is a leak and continued unethical practices from the newspaper of record in our community,” Wamp told WDEF television last week.
Our GOP U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who was invited to a local town hall over the weekend, recently went after the newspaper as well. In preparation to cover the event, Times Free Press reporter Sofia Saric sent some basic questions last week to the senator.
Instead of answering routine questions, Blackburn decided to turn it into an opportunity to rile up her base.
“It is absurd that the (Times Free Press) would reach out requesting comment on a sham ‘townhall’ that is being organized by radical left wing activists without disclosing that one of the organizers is a former reporter at the same outlet,” Blackburn said in an X post in which the senator attached a screenshot of Saric’s email. “Political stunts like these are why trust in the media is at an all-time low.”