Balanced When They Want to Be

During 2004 this area, along with many other parts of the country, witnesses very focused voter registration drives. I spent a considerable amount of time volunteering at county fairs, stock car races etc. registering voters, and we went to great lengths to ensure the registrations were valid.
The N.C. Board of Elections discovered that at least one liberal group, the NC Public Interest Research Group, submitted fraudulent registrations. The group quickly blamed the problem on low-level staffers.

The N&O ran an updated story on 26 April, and to appear to be "balanced" they focused first on the NC Republican Party, then on the Wake County Republican Party, and only then on the liberal group that caused the problem. As you might expect, they referred to NCPIRG as a nonprofit rather than a liberal advocacy group.

I have not seen any claims that Republican or conservative groups submitted blatantly fraudulent registrations, so why not act like a good investigative paper, run a story detailing who the NCPIRG is, who funds them and how they will be punished for violations of federal law. Trying to drag Republicans into a story on liberal fraud is not balanced, it's unethical.