Here’s my coverage, entitled Register Watch™, of Whitewater’s local link in an area newspaper chain, the Whitewater Register. In this post, I’ll cover the September 4, 2008 edition of the paper.
Front page. On the front page, there are three principal stories, all of them truly local in nature. (The Register‘s idea of local sometimes means anything that happened elsewhere in Walworth County.
The first story is about survivors of ovarian cancer, the second about improved safety at a local crosswalk (recently the site of a tragic motor vehicle accident), and the third is about the prize-winning lamb of a Whitewater resident.
On any given week, these might be the sort of local stories one might reasonably find in a local weekly – tragic, hopeful, happy. The important question is whether local is truly local, and whether the stories of the week are the true top stories in town. If we were a true dream town, rather than the pretend one municipal officials boast that we were, we’d have more stories of hope and happiness.
We’re not, and so realism suggests that our headlines will be, as we are, something different.
Inside the paper. Inside, readers will find a Page 3 story, under ‘Community,’ entitled “Now or Never for Whitewater Street.” There are two questions: (1) What are the merits of the Whitewater Plaza proposal, and (2) is the project one of ‘now-or-never’ urgency?
There will be time to consider the merits of the Plaza concept, which answers the question about immediate, urgent consideration. There are few meaningful things that present meaningful urgency – accidents, surgery, and warfare are among them.
I have no reason to think that the Plaza proposal is among them. I understand that TIF (Tax Incremental Financing) is set to run out, but it’s not set to run out tomorrow. Or the next day. Or even, a week or two from now.
This may be a fine idea, but there’s no reason for an independent newspaper to channel the urgency of proponents and municipal officials. Instead of presenting a balanced assessment, the Register‘s Editor, Carrie Dampier, channels the proponents’ claims of urgency: “It’s now or never.”
(Dampier refers to this now-or-never urgency as Elvis channeling Whitewater officials from the grave, but I think she means Whitewater officials channeling Elvis. Elvis is dead; he’s not channeling anyone.)
My point is not that the Plaza isn’t a good idea – it’s that the news story is lazy in adopting an uncritical, almost fawning stance.
Whitewater Street could use improvement – the council member believing otherwise is mistaken — but what and when need not be rushed. In any event, a better story would have been less breathless. Stories with a tone of manufactured urgency serve no one, include proponents of the Plaza.
The Register continues with its headings to categorize stories: ‘Community,’ ‘UW-Whitewater News,’ ‘Opinion,’ ‘Sports,’ etc. The first two categories reflect a deeper rift than mere categorization might suggest, and the third category is far too small for a paper that telegraphs its opinions in paragraph after paragraph of story after story.