Attacked in a political ad
This is something that probably doesn’t need to be said, but all the same, I feel like I have to say something:
There’s a political mailer from “Citizens for Honest Government” showing up in mailboxes around Hesperia that, in addition to attacking one group of city council candidates (it’d be a lot easier if this wasn’t a non-partisan race, so I could refer to them by name as Group X or Group Y), accuses us of taking sides in the race because we are beholden to real estate developers:
We have attempted to inform Hesperia voters about many issues using the Daily Press and HESPERIA STAR, by using letters to the editors and regular articles. These newspapers (part of Freedom Newspapers) will not print our letters and viewpoints. Their intention, we believe, is to silence us so that their major advertisers (DEVELOPERS) will continue, perhaps with $100,000’s (sic) worth of newspaper ads.
Well, yes, we do, in fact, have real estate ads from developers, who see the newspaper as a vital way to sell houses. (Thank you, developers.)
This doesn’t translate into us taking editorial direction from anyone. I cannot speak for other journalists, but in my 14 years in journalism, I have never, ever been told to write a story or to not write a story because it would be good for an advertiser or because it’s the political ideology of our paper. And, frankly, if I had been told that, the answer would have been “no.”
Oh, and if someone doesn’t get their letter to the editor printed in the Star, it’s because we goofed up and it got lost in the shuffle.
If you’re angry at a story in the Star, you’re angry at us, not any developers or politicians or other shadowy puppet masters. Write us an angry letter to the editor calling us bozos, and we’ll run it.
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Sometimes when a side is losing, they get desperate. It could be worse. The Republican candidate for governor out here suggested that electing her democratic opponent would cause more white women to be raped in parking garages by black men.
I have never known you to be biased except on issues concerning Blizzard Bumsuckery.
Comment by Dmitry the Wizzy — October 27, 2006 @ 18:38
You HAVE to admit that at least the Daily Press is developer propaganda. Last year, every week they would run a story on how great the housing market is and these builders are doing God’s work, etc. Now that the market is TANKING in the Victor Valley you barely hear a peep. And what about the slimey hit piece on the Vogler “possibly” breaking the law based on the massive amount of evidence which consisted of Jim Lindley saying they “might” have. What’s it like there..”Lindley called and says the Voglers may have broke the law. Stop the presses!!!”
Also, as one who enjoys conspiracies, the comments section for your Lindley article conveniently is not accessable. Hmmmmmmm……
Oh and one more thing about how biased the DP is. California Charter Academy!!!!!! Free pass to all of these crooks. I am sorry, but even the OC Register would not sit on their hands for these AHOLES. I think I will call KFI. What ever happened to investigative journalism.
Another conspiracy. What if Al Vogler had been part of the CCA??!!?!?!?!?!? I want to join Citizens for Honest Government now!
Comment by Henry Hesperia — October 27, 2006 @ 23:29
And another thing that makes some of us wonder. When are you going to run your profile of Elena Campos? It is obvious that Glen Aylor and Elena Campos are part of the Lindley/Postmus machine. Yet we the citizens have to find this out by looking up their campaign finances. Why does Tad Honeycutt finance Elena Campos? I know that Aylor is there just to attack Vogler so Lindley doesn’t look like the AHOLE that he is. These guys all go to the same church right?
Comment by Henry Hesperia — October 27, 2006 @ 23:39
You’ll see the Elena Campos articles you’re looking for this weekend in the Daily Press and next week in the Hesperia Star (20 candidates in three races meant a big, big pile-up of articles at the end there). I’m pretty sure the Sun has one coming, too.
As for the comments section on the HesperiaStar.com site, I wish I knew what was going on. On some articles, you can see the comments running down the side, which isn’t supposed to happen either. The site’s running on old and will-eventually-be-replaced software, so for now, I (and you) will get to experience some of its fun eccentricities. (The site’s always had the ability to do comments and categories, but it took a loony with a blog to ask if we could turn them on.) Never blame a conspiracy when ineptitude on my part is a more probable solution.
And, as I recall, Pack and Smitty go to the same church, as do some of the others. Not sure about the Voglers and Lindleys.
Comment by Beau — October 28, 2006 @ 1:00
As for the Daily Press, the Star runs (essentially) independently and we’re not part of their daily editorial meetings. I’m not sure what the process is for a story being approved or killed, so I can’t really speculate, sorry, and don’t foresee ever moving over to Victorville.
The moment someone is willing to talk about CCA, I can assure you that you’ll read about it in the Star. The silence isn’t for a lack of questions being asked, it’s just that those in the position to add anything new to the discussion are being very tight-lipped for now.
Comment by Beau — October 28, 2006 @ 1:04
You guys are better than the DP and that is why I am a big fan of The Hesperia Star. The Daily Press shocked me yesterday. Did you see the article on Lindley and Pack having $115K a piece in campaign contributions from developers. They finally just reported the truth. Typically they would have just reported that Lindley and Pack broke campaign funding records. What was good here is that they reported where this money came from, Taxpayers for Good Government, which they reported as a home builder PAC. Leaving out this important truth would have constituted a biased article in my opinion. The only thing they left out is that they are 75% funded by Empire Land which owns Frontier Homes. So you can see how many people think that Lindley and Pack are bought off by Frontier Homes. What’s funny is Lindley saying the group just wants “good government”. Yeah, good goverment == crap load of homes.
Comment by Henry Hesperia — October 29, 2006 @ 9:29
Empire Land is owned by the father of the man who owns Frontier Homes, but the two companies are not related. While they may have related business interests (both being big players in the real estate market), I suspect James and Jimmy Previti would be the first to say they don’t march in lock step.
Comment by Beau — October 29, 2006 @ 12:20
Publisher of The News in Christiansburg asked us to write editorials in support
of his favored Republican candidates. Since I needed my job (and was already
in hot water for “moonlighting” for another publication) I could not exactly
refuse. Not something I would do now, that’s for damn sure.
Comment by Kelly — October 30, 2006 @ 7:15
Wow, was that after I left? Who was the paper’s owner at that point? Media General or someone else?
Comment by Beau — October 30, 2006 @ 8:10
I think you were still there. Can’t remember who owned the paper at that point.
The unfortunate fact is that smaller newspapers (including the one I currently work for) are more beholden to advertisers than larger papers are. News is news, and we’re going to be as objective as possible, but on the other hand, I can’t write a food column because the editor knows I won’t lie if food sucks and we can’t afford to lose a restaurant advertiser.
Comment by Kelly — October 30, 2006 @ 8:37
That must have been when I got stuck covering that election after our fellow reporter (who will go nameless) got caught ghost-writing for the Republican candidate for the state assembly and pulled off the political beat at the end of the race.
Comment by Beau — October 30, 2006 @ 9:08