The fifth sentence of the Journalist Credo written in 1906 states;
“I believe that suppression of the news, for any consideration other than the welfare of society, is indefensible.”
Many of the facts surrounding the resignations of two very public figures involved in regional business development (Maury Dobbie and Robert “Rocky” Scott) were not covered by local media we believe in deference to personal relationships. That suppressed news along with Chad McWhinney’s mega yacht fundraiser with the former Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on August 6, 2009 for an anti-tax group are covered on the homepage of LovelandPolitics.com today.
The national news media has focused attention on corporate bonuses for AIG, General Motors and others that have been bailed-out by taxpayer funding. Like those companies, McWhinney is a heavily subsidized entity that relies on local taxes and bonds to finance their Centerra operation. Through phony “urban blight” designations for agricultural land McWhinney’s projects don’t pay the same property taxes other property owners must pay. Time after time McWhinney has come on bended knee to ask the Loveland City Council to, in essence, transfer even more wealth from the taxpayer’s of Loveland into their Centerra development.
Both McWhinney and the NCEDC (Northern Colorado Economic Development Corp.) are creatures dependent on government donations or entities to compete and survive. The public has a right to know who is working there and what are they being compensated from tax dollars (if any).
There is nothing inherently wrong or improper about a person of opulent wealth entertaining friends on a mega yacht off the California coast. There is something inherently wrong when Loveland taxpayers are being asked to bail-out that same person’s delinquent financial commitments to the city.
Loveland City Council recently voted to allow McWhinney to take $490,000 out of the escrow account for improving the I-25 and U.S. 34 interchange to meet commitments they already made to crossroads. The council believed McWhinney was unable to pay the matching funds they were OBLIGATED to pay so the transfer was approved. After the vote Chad McWhinney explained McWhinney will not be funding the landscaping anytime soon of the intersection for the I-25 and U.S. 34 as previously agreed.
Personal relationships aside, local reporters have an obligation to their readers to gather the facts and report them. Unfortunately, they failed to meet this standard when reporting (or not) on the events mentioned above.
The point is well taken – the local print “news” media have gone further downhill in terms of providing objective reporting. There are several problems. The most important is that the publishers themselves are more businessmen and poltical activists then they are honest journalists. This is evident in the amount of political spin and slant in the articles and their headlines…slant which closely mirrors their editorial positions. As business-first people, they care only about the amount of ad / inserts revenue they can get; so they cozy up to businesses that will help them get it. Hence their love of the big-box developers and McWhinney in particular. Lots of ad revenue.
The other part of this is that they will not pay for experienced journalists, preferring “cub” reporters who’ll do the gruntwork but don’t have the experience to recognize the important facets of a story, much less ask the important questions or the knowledge or time to solicit counterpoint.
But this 2nd problem is really related to the 1st one, which is that the publishers themselves do not concern themselves with telling the truth (the truth, nothing but the truth..); they merely want just enough “content” to mix among the ads. And former reporters who HAVE tried to tell the whole story have said that the editor would cut out the important things and rewrite to fit the desired spin.
RE. the story about the yacht, etc. I also agree with your point: there’s nothing inherently wrong with wealth.
And there’ll always be debate about whether there should be a social safety net; and if so, how much coverage it should have and in what circumstances, etc.
But one thing I think almost every rational, decent person should be able to agree is that corporate welfare for millionaires – would be billionaires – is way over the line, ethically and practically speaking. And these so-called “public-private partnerships” that McWhinney , his proxy City Manager Williams and McWhinney’s Council proxies gush about, are nothing but corporate welfare. i.e. the costs are spred to the Public , but the developer PRIVATIZES the profits. Tax the (shrinking) middle class- and give to the uber-rich.
Someday I’d like to see the final tally for what this Council (and past members) consented to give away to McWhinney, and how much it cost the public, and how they will be forced to cover those costs. Now THAT would be real news, if we had an honest press besides Loveland politics.com
“. . .if we had an honest press besides Loveland politics.com”.
Such sycophantic remarks, I’m curious to know what your definition of ‘honest’ is.
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