HARRISBURG — Today, Republican Party of Pennsylvania Chairman Rob Gleason sent a letter to Pennsylvania Media Group Director of Content Mike Feely regarding the offensive column of Deputy Opinion Editor Matt Zencey.
“In an article, dated July 25, 2014, Deputy Opinion Editor Matt Zencey noted the announcement of the PA GOP’s new African-American Inclusion Director Ryan Sanders with the headline, ‘If this job works out, his next gig will be getting blacks to join the KKK,’” the letter states.
“To create an intentionally and maliciously false and callous link to a racist, domestic terrorist organization is libel and defamation per se and demands an immediate private and public apology to Ryan Sanders, African-Americans, the PA GOP and the tens of thousands of registered Republicans who counted on The Patriot to be better news organization than their actions show. Quite frankly, Mr. Zencey should apologize to all Americans, as his defamatory comments seek to racially polarize this nation.”
The full content of the letter, which was also sent to Pennsylvania Media Group publisher Lee Carson and The Patriot-News Opinion Editor John Micek and Deputy Opinion Editor Matt Zencey, is available below.
July 25, 2014
Mike Feeley
Director of Content
Pennsylvania Media Group
2020 Technology Parkway, Suite 300
Mechanicsburg, PA 17050
Mr. Feeley:
The Patriot-News and PennLive.com serve as a resource of news and information for readers in Central Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, the recent unwarranted and racially offensive attack against the Republican Party of Pennsylvania (PA GOP) and our African-American Inclusion Director Ryan Sanders have led me to question the direction and motivation of your organization.
In an article, dated July 25, 2014, Deputy Opinion Editor Matt Zencey noted the announcement of the PA GOP’s new African-American Inclusion Director Ryan Sanders with the headline, “If this job works out, his next gig will be getting blacks to join the KKK.”
To create an intentionally and maliciously false and callous link to a racist, domestic terrorist organization is libel and defamation per se and demands an immediate private and public apology to Ryan Sanders, African-Americans, the PA GOP and the tens of thousands of registered Republicans who counted on The Patriot to be better news organization than their actions show. Quite frankly, Mr. Zencey should apologize to all Americans, as his defamatory comments seek to racially polarize this nation.
This is not the first such incident involving Mr. Zencey. He has now displayed a pattern of unfairly attacking the PA GOP in regard to our work with the African-American community. On February 7, 2014, Mr. Zencey penned an opinion piece mocking the PA GOP for sending out a release commemorating Black History Month. That attack was unwarranted and demeaned our efforts to celebrate our nation’s diversity, as evidenced by his failure to mention the fact that the Pennsylvania Democrats chose not to acknowledge Black History Month at all.
As a Party, we have a diverse registration of people of all races, ethnicities, faiths and backgrounds. Our platform stresses the American principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all Americans. We are proud to have a central Pennsylvanian like Ryan Sanders serve as an African-American Inclusion Director. Ryan has worked with the African American Chamber of Commerce and sits in a position of trust at his church. Your content is an affront to those who know him and are listening to the message of opportunity that he is bringing to the African American Community. Mr. Zencey’s remarks, published by you, intentionally impugned the integrity of Ryan and our Party. Instead of participating in a constructive dialogue, The Patriot-News and PennLive.com have chosen to resort to creating a false narrative within intent to be divisive and demeaning
We insist on a written and published apology from The Patriot News and Mr. Zencey in both the print and online editions of the newspaper for these intentionally offensive comments. I am hopeful that with better judgment The Harrisburg Patriot-News and PennLive.com will not be the source of unfortunate incidents such as this in the future. We anxiously wait to see what actions you will be taking on this matter.
Sincerely,
Rob Gleason
Chairman
Republican Party of Pennsylvania
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