Arkansas paper tells Sarah Huckabee Sanders there's 'plenty of room' for op-ed after being called out for bias

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (ADG) published an editorial responding to the fierce criticism from GOP gubernatorial candidate Sarah Huckabee Sanders over what she alleged was liberal bias in favor of her Democratic opponent. 

In a piece titled "Plenty of room for good guest columns," the ADG editorial page addressed Sanders directly about her Twitter thread calling out the paper for printing an op-ed written by her rival Chris Jones but declining one she had written in February.

"It said we in the ‘liberal’ media were doing you wrong. We thought our offer had this worked out with your campaign, but we know how things fall through the cracks," the editorial column read. "Speaking of which, we somewhat remember your campaign pitching us a guest column way back in February, during the primaries. And speaking of primary, the primary editor in this shop for that kinda stuff was out that week. So those of us left were called upon to give our two cents and, we decided the column sounded too much like an advertisement. So we turned it down."

The ADG editorial acknowledged the Sanders campaign's inquiry as to why the paper chose to run Jones' piece but not hers was a "fair question" but it was always "willing" to give her "prime real estate" for a column and "still are," proposing an upcoming Sunday column.

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"We understand fighting with the media makes for politics. Sometimes it makes for good politics. But we really are trying to be fair," the editorial continued. "Maybe next time, a phone call? Because we miss a lot of stuff folks post on Twitter." 

Sanders campaign spokesman Judd Deere fired back, telling Fox News Digital in a statement, "Sarah exposed the liberal bias of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette editorial page, and now they are trying to spin their way out of it. Their so-called explanation today fails to explain why Sarah’s education column was ‘too campaign-y’ and rejected, but her Democrat opponent’s education column which attacked Sarah by name was not and perfectly acceptable to print."

"The paper’s editorial page was caught lying, their liberal bias was exposed, and they know it," Deere continued. "Sarah will continue to go around the liberal media and take her message of fighting back against the radical left and empowering Arkansans directly to the people." 

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David Barham, the editorial page editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, told Fox News, "We have admitted that our op-ed page made a mistake back in February when we didn’t take her offer to publish her column. We tried to make it right by giving her an op-ed now. We made that offer more than once since last Thursday. Our offer still stands. Folks in Arkansas know that the Democrat-Gazette’s editorials on our editorial page are mostly conservative. And many of our editorial stands are in line with Sarah Sanders’, and we endorsed her in the Republican primary. But whereas the editorials on our editorial page express the views of our newspaper, our op-ed page offers views from all sides, some of which where we may strongly disagree. That is because we believe in the free marketplace of ideas, including those of liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, and those of Sarah and her opponent."

In an op-ed published by ADG last week, Democratic candidate Chris Jones accused Sanders of being "absent" on the subject of education and raising the pay of teachers. 

"When I released my plan, I invited Sanders to participate in this important statewide conversation. Unfortunately, she's still an unexcused absence on education at this time," Jones wrote Thursday. 

Well, according to Sanders, the ADG did not afford the same opportunity for her to lay out her education plan, telling her Twitter followers there's a "reason Americans don't trust the media. 

"This February, I reached out to @ArkansasOnline to publish a column outlining my education priorities as governor. They refused," Sanders wrote Monday. "The reason? Discovered on an internal email accidentally sent to my staff… They said it was too ‘campaign-y’ and wanted me to purchase an ad."

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Sanders then shared a screenshot of ADG editorial page editor David Barham, who told a colleague, "I dunno. Should I tell her to buy an ad?" later adding, "This seems very campaign-y. But I don't know if we've done this sort of thing before on Voices."

In a separate email shared by Sanders, Barham is seen telling the campaign, "Thank you for considering us. But because Mrs. Sanders is a candidate for office, this wouldn't work for our Voices page," suggesting to reach out to Voices editor Brenda Looper for questions about the paper's policies. 

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"Americans know the liberal media has one set of rules for Republicans and another for Democrats… But they can’t - and won’t - silence me or YOU," Sanders tweeted. "That’s why I’ve taken my campaign straight to the people - meeting with thousands of Arkansans in all 75 counties. I'll never sit back and let the liberal media peddle their bias and double standards and get away with it."

Sanders, daughter of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, is eyeing to become the state's first female governor.

She became a national figure when she served as White House press secretary during the Trump administration. Sanders was also a Fox News contributor.  

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She will face off against Chris Jones, a physicist and minister who will have an uphill battle defeating his GOP opponent in a deep red state like Arkansas. Like Sanders, Jones would make history if elected in November, potentially becoming Arkansas' first Black governor.