On the heels of the presidential candidate's "testy exchange" with a New York Times reporter last week, Politico talks to some Arizona journalists who describe "a sometimes pugnacious politician whose media strategy is a far cry from joking asides and backslaps around the barbecue pit." Former Arizona Republic national editor Tina May, who now edits the Monterey County Weekly, recalls a Republic story on McCain's temper in 2006 that led to her reporter being kicked "off the bus." She tells Politico it's "a perfect example of how McCain people treated the Republic differently than the national media," which has, in exchange, often flattered the Republican senator. Politico says that Phoenix New Times' Amy Silverman -- "one of McCain's most persistent critics" -- documented the romance between McCain and the national press in 1997's "prescient" story, "The Pampered Politican."
"The focus of daily journalism, where I have spent my entire career, has changed dramatically, especially in the past few years," writes May, who comes to the Weekly from the Arizona Republic. "Many daily newspapers have become increasingly corporate and less focused on printing stories that right wrongs, question the establishment and tell readers what they really need to know. Newspapers like the Weekly fill that void and prove that readers do have an appetite for a good story." She replaces Eric Johnson, who left the paper earlier this year.
