Following is the Public Editor column from Sunday, July 22, 2007:

Is John Edwards' haircut news? Yes, say N&O readers who see a $400-haircut lifestyle as not consonant with a presidential campaign built on an anti-poverty platform.

"One of the major obstacles that John Edwards has had to overcome thus far is squaring his concern for the poverty-stricken with his personal wealth and opulent lifestyle," writes Mark Piper of Wilson. "To the extent that his ridiculously expensive haircuts have contributed to his credibility gap, they are newsworthy."

Nay, say other readers who see the haircut story as a media obsession with the trivial that detracts from coverage of serious election issues.

"The 'news' coverage of Edwards' haircut, both in The N&O and elsewhere, seems just another quasi-news event engineered for the purpose of marginalizing a legitimate candidate and diverting attention away from actual issues relevant to the campaign," said Pete Rau of Durham. "Frankly, I think it beneath a serious news organization to give this sort of thing much coverage at all."

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07/23/07 at 14:39
Ted,

You have to be smart enough to see the irony here. You are perpetuating the story the same time as you are saying to move on. You are correct: people should stop feeding this distraction from the important issues. But that includes you.