Chafee on Ed Achorn: ‘virulent,’ ‘unethical’ and purposefully misleading

In a follow up interview about why he chose to release his full op/ed after a watered down version appeared in today’s Providence Journal, Governor Chafee called ProJo op/ed page editor Ed Achorn “virulent” and said the relatively new leader of the paper of record’s opinion page is “frankly unethical himself in his portrayal of different initiatives I’ve had here.”

Chafee agreed with me when I said he paper’s editorials can seem “purposefully incorrect” at times.

“Purposefully incorrect, I would agree with that,” he said.

Chafee said he complained to the publisher about the way he is portrayed in paper’s opinion page in 2011. “This irrational negatively is hurting Rhode Island,” he said he told the publisher a the time.

Chafee said his critique was  not meant for news reporters. But he did say “there’s a reflection down. I think the reporters pick up on a theme that comes from the upper floors.”

I also asked Chafee if RI Future was equally guilty of such yellow journalism (my word, not his)

You can listen to our full conversation here: