We can be sure that somewhere this morning deep within the labyrinthine bowels of the down-low bunker, over decaf coffee and Eggo waffles, Team Gahan is laughing aloud at the News and Tribune's editorial.
Not because the editorial isn't correct. It is. But Jeffrey and the gang know it has nothing to do with them, because the newspaper will not practice locally what it preaches nationally.
Just imagine if the local chain newspaper's management team actually applied these bold sentiments not only in denunciation of the faraway president, but as a daily mission statement to monitor the persistent chicanery of local officials.
As I've noted time and time again, this same chain newspaper accepts all sorts of advertising dollars from City Hall. Then, when the proper questions of officials aren't asked, and the propaganda they ooze is yet again accepted at face value, the newspaper's leaders bristle at the obvious conclusion.
These are flowery words, guys, and to be sure, they're both merited and appreciated overall, but it's time for Bill and Susan to discard their delusional tendencies, adjust the newspaper's vision locally, and grasp that it's not only the president of the city council who needs to be examined more closely.
It's also the chief consolidator of shadowy local power, Mayor Jeff Gahan, serial dispenser of advertising largesse. To him, these taxpayer dollars constitute protection money to keep journalists at bay, nothing more. Begin demanding the truth from Gahan, and watch as he stammers.
That's because he cannot tell the truth.
Until the newspaper finally BEGINS scrutinizing Nawbany's Dear Leader -- not serving as fawning stenographers, but actually digging -- then these noble words simply are not being backed by real-life deeds. When it comes to Gahan's machinations, "dereliction of duty" is the newspaper's default setting. Scratching one another's backs cannot be characterized as "scrutiny" or "accountability," can it?
When will this deferential neglectfulness change?
OUR OPINION: We are defined by purpose, not the president
... The fallout from Trump’s media blitzkrieg is being felt in newsrooms across America — including this one. The negative comments have reached our ears. Some dismiss us out of hand, as if we were more annoyance than a partner in the community.
We remain committed, though, to delivering the news of the day — without sanitation — and information that but for our efforts would elude public scrutiny.
Our leaders — be they presidents of the nation or of the city council — do not get to choose to whom they are accountable. They are accountable to the citizenry.
We intend to hold them to it. To do anything less is dereliction of our duty.
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