We are a small town, without a good newspaper published within the city limits. There are some fine papers that provide limited coverage of Whitewater, but the city lacks a solid, responsible paper of its own. The Whitewater Register — part of a newspaper consortium — is sickeningly uncritical of real problems in the city, and as poorly written as a high school newspaper. I’ll devote another post to a discussion of the Register, but for now, let me describe the remaining papers that cover Whitewater.
The Daily Jefferson County Union. As its name suggests, it’s a daily paper. It’s not far away, and not bad. Still, the Daily Union has Fort Atkinson, Jefferson, and other cities to cover, so Whitewater will never dominate its pages. It offers a fair amount of stories about Whitewater, though, and it’s a paper with a moderately developed website.
The Janesville Gazette. The Gazette is farther away, but also bigger, than the Daily Union. One of the few newspapers willing to publish honestly about some of the problems in Whitewater, most recently the disgraceful matter of our municipal judge. It says much about how cautious — almost cowardly — press coverage of Whitewater is that the Gazette was nearly alone in publishing public information about criminal charges against Steve Spear. The Gazette also has a good website (free registration required), but as with the Daily Union, Whitewater will never be the paper’s main focus.
The Week. The Week focuses on Walworth County, and not merely Whitewater, but fortunately it’s a paper, and accompanying website, willing to report on a story without boosterism. Coverage of the Whitewater Police Department in the Star Packaging raid was even-handed, with the Week at least willing to quote opinions critical of police conduct.
The Whitewater Banner. Jim Stewart’s online ‘news and sports’ site. It’s not a site for journalism — I would be surprised to find any critical reporting — but it’s probably the best listing of happenings in town. Stewart’s not a journalist, and his site is as much community calendar as anything. It’s an online print publication, but it would be unfair and misguided to hold it to the same standard as as an established newspaper. For its role as a community calendar and bulletin board, it’s better than the websites of the Daily Union, Gazette, or Week. (Again, I will address the Register later, but I will note quickly that the Whitewater Register‘s website is stale, and amateurish.)