CHAPEL HILL – GOP Chairman, Claude Pope, called for columnist, former U.S. Senate candidate, and host of N.C. Bookwatch on UNC-TV, D.G. Martin’s public television show that has no political aspect to it to be pulled because of a column written entitled “Egypt, Nazi Germany, and North Carolina.”
“I don’t think it will have a lot of impact on the way I write,” Martin said in an interview on the WCHL Saturday Morning News. “I love the opportunity to share my views and to make friends through the writing of the column.”
***Listen to the Full Interview***
“We’re arguing about whether or not the controversy has legs, I do know that a lot more people have read my column this week than usual,” Matin said.
Martin said Pope likely regrets his decision to say these things as it has brought attention to a column Martin was referring to in the piece that says North Carolina is a great state, but asks where is it going.
“By accident, the Republican party chairman has caused wider circulation of a column, not the things that he disagreed with,” Martin said.
To read Martin’s column Pope refers to, click here.
In an article on WRAL, 259 commented as of 6:45 a.m. Saturday both for and against D.G. Martin’s and Claude Pope’s comments.
The article states that Pope demanded an apology for his words, which he did. However, he said he stands by his comments in his column.
“If anybody feels like I called them a Nazi or said that they’re like Nazis or something like that, then I do need to apologize, because I didn’t intend that,” Martin said.
D.G. Martin is an asset to NC much appreciated for his thoughtful analysis on his radio and TV programs and his column. The analogy he made was enlightening and valid.
Agree. Also, Martin has a right to his opinions under the First Amendment to our U.S. Constitution. And he need not apologize for his remarks albeit they stirred peoples’ emotions. Pope needs to reexamine his own views and policies–it’s always wise to check for slippage! He may not realize how he’s coming across to the public/state he claims to support.
Peter Zenger
D.G. is a class act, and he’s been a huge support of North Carolina writers. It’s absurd to ask someone who shines such a positive light on the literature of our state to step down.
Pope has no right to dismiss Martin–this is a threat to Martin’s well being and livelihood. It’s atrocious behavior by Pope who may think he can override our Constitution. Sad, very sad for Pope.
Peter ZengerZenger case in history[edit source | editbeta]
In the later part of 1733 John Peter Zenger began publishing a newspaper in New York to voice his disagreement with the trivial policies of newly appointed colonial governorWilliam Cosby. Upon his arrival in New York, Cosby plunged into a rancorous quarrel with the Council of the colony over his salary. Unable to control the state’s supreme court he removed Chief Justice Lewis Morris, replacing him with James DeLancey of the royal party. Supported by members of the popular party, Zenger’s New-York Weekly Journalcontinued to publish articles critical of the royal governor. Finally, Cosby issued a proclamation condemning the newspaper’s “divers scandalous, virulent, false and seditious reflections.”
On Sunday, November 17, 1734, Zenger was arrested and charged with seditious libel. After more than eight months in prison, Zenger went to trial defended by illustrious Philadelphia lawyer Andrew Hamilton. The case was now a cause célèbre with public interest at fever-pitch. Rebuffed repeatedly by Chief DeLancey during the trial, Hamilton decided to plead his client’s case directly to the jury. After the arguments for both sides were finished, the jury was retired, only to return in ten minutes with a verdict of not guilty.
To better understand the significance of this historic case, it is important to examine an actual issue of the New-York Weekly Journal prior to Zenger’s arrest. Here we see a typical attack against the government in Zenger’s original newspaper as it originally appeared more than 260 years ago. Page one of this issue dated February 25, 1733,[5] carries an article under the pseudonym “Cato”. This article gave its readers a preview of the same argument Attorney Hamilton would present 18 months later in the government’s libel case against Zenger: That the truth is an absolute defense against libel. In successfully defending Zenger in this landmark case, Hamilton established the precedent that a statement, even if defamatory, is not libelous if it can be proved, thus affirming freedom of the press in America.[6]
Cato writes:
What wrong w/ asking funding be pulled or Martin excised from UNCTV? Why that is the standard call when any republican strays “over the line” on hate speech.
Why EVEN a democrat like Paula Dean gets taken to the wood shed for LESSOR acts….
As far as Mr Martin Nazi comparisons…he forgot Godwin’s law… AND who was in control of NC during the 75 years of forced Sterilization and euginics…(to which this republicans party just passed compensation….)
sorry for de typos…I’ve grits on my fingers