Argus Woes, Part 2 (Or Is It 3?)
Last week, I ranted about the sheer arrogance constantly displayed by our daily paper, particularly in a series of editorials that lectured us to support a new Arena yet used the exact same criticisms leveled against the project to forcefully tell us we’re crazy to even consider a east-west corridor.
Consider today’s rant part two.
This past Sunday’s paper included yet another reader spanking. This time, the naughty people are anybody who dares to say or think anything that could be considered negative about T. Denny Sanford. He’s a saint, after all…a man above reproach.
Bullshit. Anybody has the right to have any opinion, positive or negative, about any citizen, regardless of their wealth or social position. Respect is to be earned, not purchased.
Across two pages, the Argus repeated over and over the greatness of Mr. Sanford. Once again, we heard that he absolutely did not want the hospital’s name changed. C’mon, give me a break. If he’s so publicity shy, why is it that every building he donates a chunk of cash to ends up with his name on the marquee? Maybe it wasn’t part of the contract, but there’s no way that there wasn’t some sort of wink-wink agreement.
My favorite portion of the blowj…I mean editorial was the assertion that anybody who says anything not positive about him is “jealous”. Jealous? That’s the sort of cheesy comeback you see on online message boards. In fact, just the other day I was hanging out on Paltalk, an online video program, and some no-name that felt he wasn’t being treated in the manner he thought he deserved said we were all jealous. That was his entire comeback.
If the word “jealous” doesn’t work in an e-fight, then it certainly doesn’t work on an editorial page. But let’s be real – anybody who criticizes him is not doing it because they’re a “hater”. They are asking tough questions because they need to be raised. There are issues surrounding Sanford’s professional and personal life, and we need our local news professionals to ask these questions.
(By the way, a google search on Sanford’s name led to an extremely interesting website. South Dakota Judicial Watch features some interesting details surrounding his second divorce in 2005.)
Will any tough questions ever be asked of Sanford or the hospital bearing his name? Nope, and that’s the main issue I have with the media in this city. With all the money that non-profit facility throws into advertising on all three local news programs, I have no doubt that nobody will ever ask a tough question. The biggest scandal ever could hit our town, and they’d simply ignore it if that name was attached.
But as a person with high regard to the newspaper industry, I always held out hope that despite their share of the hospital’s advertising dollars they would never allow it to affect their news department. A good friend of mine that works at the paper even recently tried to assure me that they would never ignore a story. After Sunday’s oral…I mean editorial, I’m not so sure.
Consider today’s rant part two.
This past Sunday’s paper included yet another reader spanking. This time, the naughty people are anybody who dares to say or think anything that could be considered negative about T. Denny Sanford. He’s a saint, after all…a man above reproach.
Bullshit. Anybody has the right to have any opinion, positive or negative, about any citizen, regardless of their wealth or social position. Respect is to be earned, not purchased.
Across two pages, the Argus repeated over and over the greatness of Mr. Sanford. Once again, we heard that he absolutely did not want the hospital’s name changed. C’mon, give me a break. If he’s so publicity shy, why is it that every building he donates a chunk of cash to ends up with his name on the marquee? Maybe it wasn’t part of the contract, but there’s no way that there wasn’t some sort of wink-wink agreement.
My favorite portion of the blowj…I mean editorial was the assertion that anybody who says anything not positive about him is “jealous”. Jealous? That’s the sort of cheesy comeback you see on online message boards. In fact, just the other day I was hanging out on Paltalk, an online video program, and some no-name that felt he wasn’t being treated in the manner he thought he deserved said we were all jealous. That was his entire comeback.
If the word “jealous” doesn’t work in an e-fight, then it certainly doesn’t work on an editorial page. But let’s be real – anybody who criticizes him is not doing it because they’re a “hater”. They are asking tough questions because they need to be raised. There are issues surrounding Sanford’s professional and personal life, and we need our local news professionals to ask these questions.
(By the way, a google search on Sanford’s name led to an extremely interesting website. South Dakota Judicial Watch features some interesting details surrounding his second divorce in 2005.)
Will any tough questions ever be asked of Sanford or the hospital bearing his name? Nope, and that’s the main issue I have with the media in this city. With all the money that non-profit facility throws into advertising on all three local news programs, I have no doubt that nobody will ever ask a tough question. The biggest scandal ever could hit our town, and they’d simply ignore it if that name was attached.
But as a person with high regard to the newspaper industry, I always held out hope that despite their share of the hospital’s advertising dollars they would never allow it to affect their news department. A good friend of mine that works at the paper even recently tried to assure me that they would never ignore a story. After Sunday’s oral…I mean editorial, I’m not so sure.
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