Vermont’s largest online news outlet, VTDigger, announced on December 7th (probably some irony there in the day that will live in infamy) that they brought on Gaye Symington to be the organization’s board president.
Symington, of course, was a Democratic representative for twelve years and served as Speaker of the House from 2005 to 2009, responsible in that role for delivering the Democrats’ legislative agenda.
In 2021, Emerge Vermont, which describes itself as having “a proven track record for getting Democratic women elected, offering training programs that deliver the skills, tools, and network necessary to run and win,” named Symington the winner of their Governor Madeleine M. Kunin Achievement Award.
Symington will helm a team led on the field by Editor in Chief Paul Heinz – who used to be Congressman Peter Welch’s communications director. So, there’s that, too.
If VT Digger ever really set out to be a fair and balanced news source, they are no longer trying. There’s no attempt to even hide it. “News in pursuit of Truth”? Yeah, right. More like “Propaganda in support of achieving the policy and electoral goals of the Democratic Party.”
In the press release announcing Symington’s appointment, CEO Sky Barsh praised the new president’s … “unfailing commitment to fundraising.” Given Symington’s political background and pedigree, we can guess who she’ll be hitting up for big bucks and what those donor’s politics are.
Also worth noting, the press release discusses other changes at VT Digger, including a shift in priorities to “more reporting firepower on flood recovery, equity, substance use disorder, broadband deployment and the social safety net, among other topics. Not, you will observe, our economy, taxes and state spending, the housing crisis, the cost, quality, and safety of our education system, rising crime, energy policy, or even climate change policy – a good example of bias through omission.
Digger should be embarrassed to have a partisan politician leading their board. Their readers should be appalled. Are there enough grains of salt to take with their reporting as we enter a critical policy year for the legislature? Let’s hope more Vermonters start looking for alternative sources to get their information. To that end, please….
