It is important that our daily newspaper participate
It is important that our daily newspaper participate
The Herald continues to ignore the political campaigns. Nary a word about candidates - and we are just three weeks from the ballots being mailed. Yesterday Scott Ayers wrote on his blog about how he d
The Herald continues to ignore the political campaigns. Nary a word about candidates - and we are just three weeks from the ballots being mailed. Yesterday Scott Ayers wrote on his blog about how he does not feel like writing about "serious stuff" with this nice weather. He referred to "local politics heating up." Indeed, Scott is referring to his blog - but he may as well be referring to the print pages of the Herald. Four weeks after candidate filings, our daily newspaper has not started to cover the campaigns. I have heard the Herald will only start coverage a week from now - two weeks before ballots get mailed.
Methinks the Herald editors do not understand the basics of democracy. They view their job as informing readers of where candidates stand on issues and writing something colorful about who the candidates are. That would assume our political process is a static exercise. It is not. Candidate positions are forged and changed by the process of questions from citizens, reporters and their opponents. Issues develop and become live through reporting, challenges from opponents, forums with citizen involvement and the candidates themselves learning more about issues. Most readers of this web site have participated in many campaigns and know how dynamic a process it is. To reduce it to a two-week reporting gig is to demean what democracy is all about.
Perhaps the Herald is afraid to overwhelm us with too much political coverage. Perhaps they just haven't enough reporters to cover the news. I've news for Scott. The local political scene is not heating up. That is because the Herald has pretended it did not exist. To heat it up the media has to cover and stimulate the political process. Our nation is founded on the press being part of the process - government, citizens and the press. Without the press the dynamics of our choosing our representatives is reduced to advertising.
Lastly, I agree with Scott that this sunny weather is a hard time to pay attention to politics and serious issues. And I predict we will have the lowest voter turnout ever for the August primary election. Our state legislature - in its abysmal idiocy - created this summertime election. And the Herald never informed us of how this process went down as our state Senators and Representatives did the bidding of state Republican and Democratic party leaders. However we need to now make the process work as best we can. And it is important that our daily newspaper participate - all during the campaign season.
Methinks the Herald editors do not understand the basics of democracy. They view their job as informing readers of where candidates stand on issues and writing something colorful about who the candidates are. That would assume our political process is a static exercise. It is not. Candidate positions are forged and changed by the process of questions from citizens, reporters and their opponents. Issues develop and become live through reporting, challenges from opponents, forums with citizen involvement and the candidates themselves learning more about issues. Most readers of this web site have participated in many campaigns and know how dynamic a process it is. To reduce it to a two-week reporting gig is to demean what democracy is all about.
Perhaps the Herald is afraid to overwhelm us with too much political coverage. Perhaps they just haven't enough reporters to cover the news. I've news for Scott. The local political scene is not heating up. That is because the Herald has pretended it did not exist. To heat it up the media has to cover and stimulate the political process. Our nation is founded on the press being part of the process - government, citizens and the press. Without the press the dynamics of our choosing our representatives is reduced to advertising.
Lastly, I agree with Scott that this sunny weather is a hard time to pay attention to politics and serious issues. And I predict we will have the lowest voter turnout ever for the August primary election. Our state legislature - in its abysmal idiocy - created this summertime election. And the Herald never informed us of how this process went down as our state Senators and Representatives did the bidding of state Republican and Democratic party leaders. However we need to now make the process work as best we can. And it is important that our daily newspaper participate - all during the campaign season.
