Here’s my Register Watch™ post for the June 12th issue.
Apologies. It’s seldom that the Register publishes an apology or a correction. (The Register may avoid corrections so that they don’t have to print a second edition of the paper, a day after the first.)
There is, however, an apology that appears on the front page of the June 12th issue. The Register notes that
Some of our readers may receive their paper late this week due to an electrical failure with our printing press. We apologize for the delay. Thank you for your patience and faithful readership.
Perhaps someone neglected to change the AA batteries over at the Southern Lakes Printing Plant and Command Center.
When the Register thanks subscribers for their “patience and faithful readership,” shouldn’t they really say “for the patience it takes to be a faithful reader?”
Main Story. I wish all the graduates of our high school the very best. They have the chance, if they seize it, to make this a better community than it is now.
In the meantime, the rest of us are left with one Register cliché after another. Big, small, left, right, or center, there just aren’t a lot of newspapers where the first paragraph includes, “It was as if Mother Nature herself wanted to smile.” It’s possible to defend a line like that, but the same people who’d do so would likely defend Pauly Shore as a great actor.
City Manager. The headline reads “Brunner Passed Over for Oshkosh Position.” The sub reads, “He’s not disappointed at all.”
One important point – I don’t believe that Dampier understood when she wrote this story that Oshkosh, unlike Whitewater, has a mayor, council, and city manager. She writes in her first paragraph that Brunner interviewed to take over Oshkosh’s “top spot.” Oshkosh has a directly elected mayor, and the mayor holds the leading executive position in that city.
I was initially surprised to see that Brunner was quoted as saying that he was “not disappointed at all” in not receiving the Oshkosh city manager’s position. I found this especially surprising in light of the eager and enthusiastic interview he gave to the Oshkosh Northwestern about the position only days before his interview.
(I will have more about that Oshkosh interview, and what it reveals about our city manager’s view on government and leadership, in another post.)
I was sure that the cheerful interview Brunner gave in Oshkosh was accurate, as the reporter there is known for good, solid work. Why, then, a seemingly different take in the interview with the Register only days later?
I contacted some knowledgeable bloggers from Oshkosh, and asked if the Register‘s quote seemed to make sense. The quick and helpful reply was that it did make sense – that Brunner was probably happy with how it all turned out.
What’s missing from the Register story is why Brunner was happy with how it all turned out. That’s a predictable and useful question – why do you feel a certain way? If someone traveled to interview, gave an enthusiastic newspaper interview, and was part of a candidates’ forum, what changed his mind? That’s a question about public office that would be useful and relevant to governing in Whitewater.
Either Dampier didn’t ask that question, or didn’t bother to publish the answer that she received.
That’s why the story is more like a favorable, welcome-back press release than real journalism. I am a commentator, and not a reporter, but I can see that – in so many cases – it’s what the Register doesn’t or won’t ask our public officials that speaks the loudest.