WRAL Publishes ‘Gotcha!’ Piece on Republican DPI Head/Teachers March – Except There’s No ‘Gotcha!’

RALEIGH – On May 16 thousands of teachers took the day off, leading to dozens of closed school districts, to march on Raleigh and demand higher pay and education funding from Republicans. It was all powered by the Left to push their agenda and smear Republicans in an election year.

That made the handling of the teacher walkout a tricky task for Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson, who is a Republican.

WRAL, the flagship station of Capitol Broadcasting Company (You know, the company that compared Republican-run NC to North Korea in an op-ed?), published a lengthy investigative piece Thursday to reveal all the dirty damning secrets revealed by their careful analysis of thousands of Johnson’s emails and texts during the lead up and aftermath of the teacher walkout.

The headline, ‘Emails, texts reveal NC superintendent’s internal discussions about teacher rally,’ give the impression that WRAL’s review of these communications provided them with ‘Gotcha!’ material.

So what did Johnson say in these emails and texts?

“In the weeks leading up to the rally, State Superintendent Mark Johnson sought advice from three public relations advisers about how to explain to the public why he didn’t support the rally and wouldn’t be attending. He worked to highlight ways he has supported teachers and pondered where he should spend the day on May 16 as thousands of educators descended on downtown Raleigh.

[…]

The records revealed he received both praise and criticism from the public for his decision not to attend the rally. Some thanked him for refusing to support an event that “hurts the kids and has caused undue hardship,” while others viewed his refusal to participate as a “lack of support” for teachers.”

The big ‘Gotcha!’ is…Johnson approached his messaging regarding the teacher walkout and his not attending in a reasonable and measured way, seeking advice from advisers, and *GASP* some people agreed with his stance and others didn’t!

What? Is that it?

Why on earth someone would waste 2500 words on what set out to be a hit piece, but packed no punch at all, is beyond me.

The most surprising part of the piece is that WRAL actually printed accounts of teachers praising Johnson for his position while the expressed their own opposition to the marchers, the NCAE, and the Left in general.

Rehashing the teacher walkout issue by publishing this piece can only be an attempt to stir the pot in favor of Democrats again by bringing the heat to a Republican. It’s the same story, just on repeat.

Read the rest of this piece yourself to see just how much of a dud this bombshell ‘internal discussions’ revelation really is.