Censorship
Last week the Journal Gazette called my home. My wife gave me the name and phone number and told me they were doing an article on the at large candidates. Against my better judgement, I returned their call. The JG asked some questions and I replied. We spoke for about ten minutes. I read the article this morning on line because I just can not bring myself to spend good money on such a rag of a paper that censors the publics information on candidates.
Here is what they printed.
“Also on the ballot are three Libertarians: Doug Horner, in his first race for public office; William Larsen, who has unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination for U.S. representative; and Michael Brightbill, who has been absent from campaign events.”
Wow, a total of 38 words, or 213 characters. How many words did they use for other candidates at large?
44 words - Denise Porter-Ross
123 words – Marty Bender
123 words - John Shoaff
151 words - Thomas Essex
210 words – Liz Brown
1113 words – John Crawford
In 2006, I received 35% of the vote in Allen County. You might think that this means something, but it does not. The Journal Gazette appears to be of the same caliber as the Republican party, we pick and choose what candidate you hear about and if others want to run and challenge the good O’boy network, we will make it as difficult as possible.
America is supposed to be about free speech, freedom of the press and political expression is one if not the most sacred right we have. However, the Journal Gazette has proved to me once more that they are not there to report the news or present information that voters need to make an informed decision, but like the Republican Party censor the candidates.
Based on what I told the Journal Gazette, they do not find the following topics news worthy:
- Harrison Square
- Tax Incremental Financing Districts
- $214 Million unfunded Police and Fire Pensions
- $500 Million yet to be planed separation of the storm and sewage sewers
- They cut $3.1 Million from the budget in order to give a token indication they care about high property taxes, yet when will they bite the bullet to pay for pensions and sewers?
If you feel these issues are newsworthy, maybe you need to let the Journal Gazette know this. If you do not like your news censored, then let them know this as well. If you think the choice for city council at large is up to you and not then, then let them know this as well.
While they say they feel our pain over ever-higher property taxes, they speak with fork-tongue and support greenways, North River Development, Harrison Square and more, all of which costs money.
I only hope the Internet puts newspapers like the Journal Gazette out of business.
posted by William Larsen @ 8:05 PM
2 Comments:
Most of the problems with the Fort Wayne Newspapers (especially the Journal Crapette) are, I believe, due to plain old laziness, rather than an agenda to manipulate readers. However, that's not always the case.
Recently, they stated that voters should not base their vote on how the incumbents voted on Harrison Square and the smoking ban. These issues are settled, and we need to be progressive and look to the future. Yet it was this very criteria that they used to endorse Crawford and to not endorse Shoaff.
I see, it's OK to consider past voting record, if I'm for H.S. and the ban. Yet it's not wise to use these same criteria if I happened to be against those proposals.
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If I didn't need the paper to line my birs cage, I'd probably cancel my subscription.
Phil,
You make an excellent point. Past voting records should not be used to judge the candidate, yet they brought up my unsuccessful run for US Representative, 3rd district. If voters are not to take into account their past voting record, then what criteria do voters use?
I wonder if the JG has performance reviews? What were your accomplishes last year? Oh you mustn’t base my review on what was, but what could be.
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