“If I had my choice I would kill every reporter in the world, but I am sure we would be getting reports from Hell before breakfast.” –William Tecumseh Sherman
We do not make the news, we report it.
And yes, that means, at times, gauging the “news worthiness” of a story. In the face of the Thapar VS. City Council gong-show, we at the Observer felt it apropos to gently remind our respected readers we report, we record, we print.
That’s it.
In this particular instance of the ongoing City Hall saga, we asked ourselves if we would travel the arduous path of covering the seemingly unlimited supply of accusations.
The answer was yes.
Basically it was we run it all, or we run nothing. That was, quite simply, not an option.
This newspaper is a record of the community and even if it makes our amazing little town look like it’s run by a bunch of bumbling infants, this publication could not ignore the fact a city councillor was accusing the mayor of stealing.
It was said in a public domain and repeated – a number of times.
This publication did not ignore council’s decision to censure Thapar on not one, but three occasions (the third being at last night’s meeting, see Friday’s Observer for more).
Had we ignored Thapar’s original accusation, we would have ignored his subsequent comments, council’s reaction and city backlash.
Not exactly an accurate portrayal of what’s happening, is it?
Are people sick of hearing about it?
Surely they have to be, but then tell them. They’re the ones creating the fodder. If at last night’s council meeting they decided to hug it out and move forward, we would have reported that.
Instead there were accusations, swearing and general ridiculousness.
If you think it makes the city look bad, tell them that. It’s their words, their actions, their responsibility.
We simply report.
–Autumn MacDonald, Observer