>>Valley Patriot>> |
When Lawrence School Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy was accused of assaulting School Committeeman Amy McGovern (in a tug of war over an office door) Fox25 News and several Boston so-called "news" organizations rushed to Lawrence with their satellite trucks. Drooling with excitement they reported the accusations, complete with reminders of Laboy's testing troubles and Lawrence's difficulties with previous superintendents, just to remind people of how terrible Lawrence is. Then a court magistrate found legal cause to charge both McGovern and Laboy in the tug of war incident, causing the Associated Press to send the story across national news wires to the rest of the country. And of course, tabloid trash media outlets (which now pass for mainstream) across the country picked up the story and joined in on the fun of ripping on Lawrence, Massachusetts. While American servicemen are fighting Usama Bin Laden's terrorist network in Iraq and Afghanistan, a vacancy on the supreme court, Iran posing a nuclear threat, congress considering revisions to the patriot act, and illegal aliens invading the border daily, the Associated Press wants us to believe that two school officials having a tug of war over an office door passes for national "news" in the year 2005. Sure, it was a big news story locally. And, since the taxpayers of the Commonwealth are footing the bill for all this foolishness, one could make the case that the Boston press was justified in reporting it as a side story. At least on a slow news day. But the scope and size of the story was certainly not news-worthy on the national level. Does anyone in Auburn, Alabama really need to know that McGovern and Laboy had a tug of war over a door? That each accuses the other of assault and battery? Does anyone really believe a family in Plano,Texas "needs to know" about Wilfredo Laboy? What's wrong with today's news media is what they selectively choose to celebrate on the airwaves and in print. But, what's even more harmfull than the select stories they cover is the fact that great news stories go unreported to make way for idiotic "national" stories like this. When Wilfredo Laboy and Michael Sullivan held a press conference with Dr. Tom Sharkey, (Principal of Lawrence High School) to announce that Lawrence High had regained accreditation, the story was hardly mentioned in the Boston press. The national media ignored the story completely, even though the loss of accreditation in 1997 was covered ad nauseam by the national media. A few months ago, tens of thousands of people celebrated three days on the Lawrence Common at the Hispanic Week festivities. There were no arrests, no violence, no conflict, and of course, no satellite news trucks rushing Lawrence, despite the fact that it was a great story. I know, I know, good news in general doesn't sell and the media gives the public what they want. But news media organizations (especially TV and print) elevate themselves on a moral pedestal and declare themselves public servants. How many times have we heard reporters extol the public's "right to know?" Well, don't we have the right to know the full story? Don't we have the right to know the context of each report? A follow up story when facts turn out to be different than originally reported? By their own definition, shouldn't they report a little more than a carefully scripted snapshot which leaves the news consumer with an impression that Lawrence is constantly burning to the ground? Shouldn't they at least pretend to be responsible? I mean, given the fact that Lawrence (and in particular Hispanics) are given priority air time and ink when someone is killed, assaulted or involved in a tragedy, one would think that such liberals in the media would provide a little balance. In the grand scheme of things, Laboy v. McGovern was hardly legitimate "news" to anyone outside of Massachusetts. Yet, there it was on the AP newswire, along with stories about President Bush, the space shuttle, Lance Armstrong and Saddam Hussein. AMAZING! Is there any wonder why former "legimate" news outlets look more like the National Enquirer these days instead of the Wall Street Journal? *Send your questions
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