Last night I engaged in spiteful, unfounded and plain mean yellow journalism- by reporting that the Dayton Daily News editorial board was getting the axe:
it looks like we won’t have to listen to the editorial board of Ellen Belcher, Martin Gottlieb and Scott Elliott anymore.
If you watch Fox news, you should be used to this kind of BS. It’s not my style, nor my desire to spread mis-truths or libel people doing their job (however, when they don’t do their job- and they are receiving public funds- look out).
I wish I could say that my intentions were fully for the common good and not just me gloating on my soapbox, but, after years of getting treated like shit by Ms. Belcher and Mr. Gottlieb- I let my guard down and let them have a taste of their own medicine. It was stupid.
That all being said, there should never be a monopoly on editorial opinion. That’s part of the reason this site exists, and even if my readership is still a fraction of theirs, it doesn’t make my positions necessarily less worthy of consideration- it just gives the community the ability to have a semi-informed conversation about the two or more sides to every story.
That’s the part that’s been missing from their endorsement articles- without opposition candidates, we don’t have a reason to even hold elections. Because I or Gary Leitzell decided to throw our hats into the ring doesn’t mean we don’t have the credentials to run- or win (we met the requirements for turning in 500 signatures on petitions correctly filled out) it means that citizens have a choice. For a democracy to exist- we must have contested races for each seat- just as we have to celebrate and support opposing views. The Dayton Daily News editorial board has mocked challengers, questioned if there are worthy candidates still living in the city (note: none of the editorial board writers vote in Dayton) and generally, scared people away from running with their overly crappy assessments of challengers (and half- hearted “endorsements” of incumbents at times).
So, even though I question the value that they add to the paper daily, I’m happy to announce that we’ll still have their misguided mojo to banter about on this site and others for at least the near future. Yep, getting rid of the local editorials would be a “strangely bad” [2] idea, even for a dying industry.
Commentator Jeffery was entirely right about the need for local opinion pieces, even if we do have to suffer these columnists uninspired prose. But, you shouldn’t ever see unfounded crap on this site- or plain reckless attacks again. Hopefully, I’ll have learned from this mistake.
My apologies.
David,
I commend you for recognizing the fact that your post was unseemly and unworthy of what some of us have come to know of you. Better still is your quick realization of that fact and apology for the same. It speaks of well of what I know of you and what I hope will be your continued willingness to expose mendacity in all the areas it lurks.
I don’t watch Fox or CNN for that matter. Disappointing to say the least.
Eh, I didn’t think your piece on the DDN editorial management cuts was all that bad. Wishful thinking, perhaps, to have concluded that particular people would no longer have jobs. Given the state of newspapers in general and of the DDN in particular, no one at the DDN should be counting on a job there as a long-term career choice.
@David L. – as much as the DDN chaps my backside at times, I really don’t want to see it fail. The many other local MSM outlets are worse than DDN. And at least DDN has a view towards covering local developments other than crime.
Who said Marty Gottleib and Ellen Belcher aren’t miracle workers? In an equivalent of an act of Old Testament proportion, they have united two distinct and opposite groups. Because it doesn’t matter if you’re a David Esrati liberal or an Ice Bandit libertarian, we can all agree on our dissatisfaction and dislike of the DDN’s editorial page. Fact is, newspapers have been in a death spiral ever since Marconi became the first disc jockey and could deliver the news as happened, and could enunciate the wishes of the media’s most important customer, the advertiser. So in fact, newspapers are just the latest casualty in the ongoing evolution of information gathering. We should no more lament nor weep for the DDN’s nemise than we did when somebody hit the plunger on the old Rike building downtown. What El Bandito found curious about the DDN’s editorial attitude was it’s disdain for its’ own readership. DDN readers were constantly told they were not capable of making their own decisions. There was no tax the DDN didn’t like, no heavy handed law they felt unecessary and no infringement of freedom they didn’t cheerlead. Your apology, dear David, seems sincere but one sided; they certainly had no reservations about portraying you as a gadfly, flake and buffoon………
As long as you still have Fox News to bash.. right?
@Patrick: Doesn’t Fox News practically beg to be bashed? Poor oppressed Fox News, the contradictory clips from which Jon Stewart’s Daily Show crew has to make up from scratch in order to misrepresent them because really Fox News tries only to be fair and balanced? That Fox News?