I have been absent for a couple of days here at the ‘Grok as I have been spending time with my “other ‘Grok”. That would be GilfordGrok that covered only issues that affected my home town. With Doug going into political retirement, it was all I could do to keep up with this site, so GilfordGrok, over the last couple of year, turned into my abandoned red-headed step-child version of a blog-site (pretty much, all I did was post up video of the meetings of the Budget Committee).
Sidenote: every town needs a ‘Grok to do the work that the mainstream press can’t or won’t do. And what we see happening in DC, what happened in Concord, happens everywhere including your town or city. And with the passing of that conservative firebrand Andrew Breitbart, we ALL need to be Breitbarts!
Given that it is local town election season here in NH, things have very much heated up in my town and along the lines of those who wish to “protect the quality of life” in town (and freely spend other people’s money) and those crotchety, flint-hearted Conservatives who refuse to spend it, and in fact, wish to spend less, in order to increase the quality of life of those in town who are on that ragged financial edge due to Obama’s Recession.
On the School Board side of the election, the Past Chair and Current Chair of the School Board are running for re-election. And Doug Lambert is running to take them on (and replace one of them) on that board. And one of the defining issues is: why does the School Board continually refuse to ignore the actual votes by residents in the school district governance? In this case, the town voted to NOT implement full day kindergarten – and the School Board implemented it anyway. And the local town paper, the Gilford Steamer (P. 3), decided to “puff piece” and gave a glowing report on how full day kindergarten is doing so much for the kids. I have submitted the following to that paper:
While our form of Government has three branches (i.e., Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches) there is also the “fourth estate”: the Press. The Founders knew that the purpose of a free Press was to objectively inform the citizenry of the news and events of the day so that when the times come, they can make the important decisions. They also intended this “fourth branch of Government” was to act as a watchdog on the activities of Government – to shine a flashlight into the deep dark corners so as to “afflict the powerful and comfort the powerless”, for who is more powerful than those that can tell us how to run our lives or use our property? They depended on the Press for that specific purpose.
Thus, imagine my dismay when I read about the controversy concerning the School Board disregarding the vote by Gilford residents to not implement all day kindergarten on the front page, but then on page A3 was an above the fold puff piece on the kindergarten program: “Look what we are doing for the children”.
News is made by what is reported (and not); what is reported can also be used to shape public opinion. In this case, my first thought was “well what a fawning piece – it sounds so nice! Nasty people who would want to take this away from the children simply because of vote that was disregarded”. The message that is sent, however, is that Government is primarily good and thus, no over-watch is needed. I don’t recall any investigative reporting by the Steamer on the School Board’s decision and “afflicting” them to hold them accountable – do you? Where was the Editorial Board, demanding answers? Where was the editor, during the story assignment, asking “talk to the School Board members – what about that vote? When does cost outweigh votes? What is the legal proof that this action was valid?”. And then run down those answers, using that flashlight, to check those answers. Instead of rolling over.
The “powerless” – while the ballot box is the ultimate process of accountability by the people, where was the Steamer in fulfilling its Constitutional mandate for the times between the elections, informing the electorate of malfeasance – and to embarrass those in charge until the wrong is righted?
Watchdog? Nay, I think lapdog is a better moniker. And in this case, laying on top of Government’s bed?
In watching Meet The Press, it came home hard how the liberal media covers for the liberal (re: Democrats, Progressives) on issue after issue (the current one being the HHS mandate of Government overriding the First Amendment when it comes to supply contraception) – and using the tactic of selective reporting and redefinition of the English language (re: since when did “access” come to mean “you all have to pay for me!”).
