10.31.2006
It's News, Mr. Vincenzo!
The Plattsburgh (news)paper has been covering the financial problems facing the city, low funds and rising taxes. OK, no problem there. But then it published an editorial talking about an audit being withheld from the public that would clear up a lot of questions about how bad the situation is with the city's finances. The editorial, dated October 24, 2006, at one point comments:
"There could be another concern, which we've heard voiced several times around town: The employees of the Chamberlain's Office want to keep the audit from the public until after Election Day for fear tax-conscious [mayoral] candidate Donald Kasprzak will gain more support, be elected and react by cutting city jobs — particularly in the Chamberlain's Office.
"We have no idea whether that is actually the motivation for failure to disclose the information in the audit..."
Later on, the editorial states:
"There was no chamberlain at the time to certify what he was saying. James Buran had resigned to take another job. Now, we hear troubling reports that Stewart had been pressuring Buran to help him cover up unbecoming figures.
"We certainly don't know that to be true..."
Hey, this crap is no better than what I could hear on the street. The only difference is that the paper uses qualifying terms like along the lines of "we don't know if this is the real story, but..."
Sometimes qualifiers have to be used, but it would be better to skip the verbal hedging and deal with facts. Whatever happened to investigative reporting? Instead of repeating rumors, go out and find out if they have any validity. If false, then tell the readers. If true, then tell the public. But don't repeat scuttlebutt from the street. Hell, even bloggers can do that!
As one muckraking reporter vociferously explained to his boss, the purpose of a newspaper is to publish the news.
# posted by Stan Spire @ 5:30 AM 
