Sunday, May 03, 2009

What's The Point . . .

. . . to what will be a series of articles in the O-D about Utica's "Sin City" days?

Bean, the Haverford College dean of academic affairs, said the national focus on Utica was harmful to the city’s economy, just as it was rebounding from the loss of textile mills

“Certainly, ignoring wrong-doing is not acceptable no matter what is at stake, but dragging Utica into the center of the national spotlight was unnecessary, disproportionate (because other places deserved to be pilloried, as well) and lastingly injurious,” Bean said. “I think that casts an unfortunate, irreversible shadow over the achievement that was the awarding of the Pulitzer.”

People on the street have long felt that the Observer-Dispatch has been instrumental in Utica's decline, and the statement above corroborates this belief.

If the reporting then was "lastingly injurious" to Utica's economy, why is the Observer-Dispatch dredging up all this old material now, when it is no longer news . . . or relevant?

What motivates the Observer-Dispatch's periodic dredging up of Utica's mob-plagued past?  We were just "treated" to this bullcrap last September. Is it Ethnic bias? Anti-Utica bias?

Perhaps the series of articles about Utica's past is intended to distract from, and the statement above is an excuse for, not exposing what is going on in New Hartford and Oneida County.  Or perhaps the O-D is simply being lazy, repackaging an old product, content to stake it's current reputation on 50-year-old laurels -- which are starting to stink.

Whatever the O-D's purpose, it fans the prejudices of the past, preserves the status quo of the present, and gets in the way of moving forward with Greater Utica's future.

9 comments:

clipper said...

STARTING to stink? Maybe if Donovan's lived in Sauguoit, we might get some decent reporting and exposure of the garbage going on in NH politics. As long as Donna and Jerome are "pillars" of the NH community, they will not poop where they eat. They might not receive invitations to the cocktail parties if the OD were to expose the crap and corruption to it's fullest.

When Jerry took his place in the inner circle of NH Politics, I gave up any fantasy that the OD would ever give us any fair unbiased reporting on the issues in NH.

Terrace said...

I thought the O-D was in trouble and on the verge of closing recently? What happened with that?

Here in Syracuse, the Post-Standard has shrunk in page count, and may shrink further after all is said and done.

If these newspapers are going to keep shrinking, I would hope that they would at least go rogue on some of these "pillars of the community" since they have less and less to lose. C'mon guys, cash in some of those chips.

Prosciutto said...

Strike,

I too, would like to know why the O.D. is not reporting on the "mob" mentality of Earle Reed, Town Supervisor and all the allegations of illegal activities going on?

Part of this scenarios appears to be that of our Oneida County District Attorney who fails to investigate and/or prosecute the misdeeds of the New Hartford Town "Mob?"

Let the O.D. get their story straight.

I am offended, being of Italian heritage that such crap can be published.

clipper said...

I just posted that same basic sentiment to the OD comment section. We will see how long THAT lasts before they take down the comment section.

clipper said...

Hmmm, The comment section lasted about 5 minutes. LOL.

Anonymous said...

The reason for the series is the anniversary of the OD's Pulizer Prize award for the "Sin City" exposures in 1959. So, it's basically a pat on the back to itself.

Strikeslip said...

As Mom used to say, "S.P.S." --
Self Praise Stinks!

clipper said...

I guess if nobody else will give one praise, self praise, out of desperation is better than no praise at all.

Hell of a thing when they have to go back to 1959 to find something noteworthy and positive that they accomplished.

Are they scraping the bottom for news or what?

Anonymous said...

Great post! Absolutely no reason to dredge this up. There are many wonderful people in this community who quietly work hard to make this area a better place to live. The OD is shamefully self-promoting and now engages in the politics of personal destruction. We need a new newspaper.