Does the Journal Times highlight the tragedies in our town to sell more newspapers? Would a focus on the positive make Racine more positive? Does blogging/making comments on these events do anything other than eat up server space?
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3 comments:
The Journal Times emphasis on the negative is their business. (I mean that in both senses - with the inflection on "their" and "business".) I really don't consider them part of Racine, anyway - Lee Enterprises does not give a damn about any of the cities that their newspapers are located in other than as markets for peddling product. If the newspaper were locally owned and operated, you might see some genuine concern for this community. As it stands, the Journal Times' number one priority is the Journal Times - never forget that.
What bothers me, though, is the hypocrisy in their editorial stance and hand-wringing over the violence in Racine. They actively promote the garbage to sell papers, but then print condescending homilies condemning their bread and butter. Have the courage to become what you are, Journal Times. Yellow journalism and fear mongering have a long and proud tradition in America, and many people have become rich off of it. Remember, money justifies everything.
I think if we stop talking about it and sweeping it under the rug, we are condoning that this is normal acceptable activity we tolerate in Racine. I, for one, don't want this violence and shooting to be (SOP) standard operating procedure.
Have you ever called the police about a robbery, an assault, whatever? You get a dead pan police officer who comes, writes down some information...usually gets it wrong and you can expect to never hear anything more from them.
I don't want murders to be included into that scenario. I want to read about them. I want to be disgusted. I want the community to be enraged. If we aren't, nothing will ever change.
We all know the reason why The JT reports in a sensational fashion: to sell more papers. It would be nice if it didn't have to have the spin, but that is marketing and business. The nightly news does it too... "get the widow on the phone, is the head dead yet? We need dirty laundry..."
Rather than just reporting it, they should be editorializing.
Where are the critical editorials?
Why does JT readily condem Federal and State politicians, but NEVER seem to criticize Becker or our Alderman?
We seem to be the only voices condeming the actions of the Mayor.
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