|
|||||
|
|||
|
Surprise, surprise. David Starr, former publisher of the Union-News and president of the Springfield Newspapers, local corporate entity for the Newhouse media chain, continues to exercise huge influence on the civic life of that city through his control of the editorial page and news columns of the Springfield Newspapers. Sounds like dog bites man, to me. But that's the word in the latest issue of CommonWealth, a quarterly publication that is largely unknown to most citizens of the state and supported by a Boston think tank. Not only does Starr's newspapers report and comment on the news, but he rather enjoys making and shaping the news in tandem with various members of the Springfield power structure. Strictly, dog bites man so far. The article, titled "Starr Power?" was written by B.J. Roche, who teaches journalism at UMass-Amherst and whose free-lance articles often appear in the Boston Globe. In her CommonWealth piece, Roche writes that there is ..."a persistent sense in this city of 157,000 that the Union-News is less a watchdog of the local powers-that-be than a member of the club. Especially, when it comes to downtown development, critics say, aggressive boosterism on the editorial page and uncritical coverage on the front page of the city's paper of record combine to stifle public debate rather than stimulate it." The article cites, in particular, the strident editorial support for downtown landtaking that would have provided a site for a new stadium for minor league baseball, a pet project pushed strongly by Mayor Michael J. Albano, but ultimately killed last year by a Hampden County Superior Court judge. A similarly strong editorial campaign was waged a few years earlier by the Springfield Newspapers who, in league with Peter Picknelly, owner of Peter Pan Bus Lines, favored a waterfront gambling casino, only to be shot down by citizens' referendums. "Some say the paper's enthusiasm for downtown projects is just small-city boosterism," writes Roche. "The darker theory is that the paper's positions stem from its real estate interests, namely its downtown headquarters." And Starr and Picknelly seem joined at the hip, if not by the wallet, in many of their joint "civic" endeavors. Starr has been a lightning rod for controversy and persistent criticism since he arrived on the scene in 1977 to take over the leadership of the local Newhouse newspaper chain. Those of us with some background in newspapering have long believed that despite its enormous resources, the Springfield Newspapers have failed to produce much in the way of serious, committed journalism. When the going gets tough, the Springfield papers get soft, especially when it comes to cuddling whomever holds the political power at the time. This was notably so years ago when the Springfield Newspapers put on its blinders to the excesses and arrogance of District Attorney Matthew Ryan, who finally was driven from office by a the hard-nosed reporting of the Boston Globe.
Less persuasive than her take on Starr are the journalistic kudos Roche flings in her CommonWealth article in the direction of the Valley Advocate and its managing editor, Tom Vannah. Estimable though Vannah's column is, there is not much of journalistic substance in the increasingly homogenized Advocate, whose one size tries to fit all readerships in the length and breath of the valley. In the 1970s when the Advocate was locally owned and published several editions - one for the valley, another for Springfield, another for Hartford, a fourth in New Haven - it was on the cutting edge, cranking out stories about nuclear energy, deinstitutionalization, and the women's movement. Today's ad-fat Advocate, owned now by The Tribune Co. in Chicago after being purchased from the L.A. Times Mirror Co. conglomerate, is about listings, personal ads, and celebrating the good times in the valley. What about that no-holds barred analysis, for example, of the real estate machinations of Eric Suher, whose holdings in downtown Northampton threaten to concentrate too much financial power in a single property owner. Who is backing Suher? Follow the money. What would happen to those Advocate ads for Suher's Iron Horse Music Hall, Calvin Theater, Pearl Street nightclub and most recent purchase, La Cazuela Mexican restaurant, if the Advocate editorialistas were doing their job.
|
|||||
 |
 downstreet.net©2000.
All rights reserved.
|