This week’s edition of the Lake Norman Citizen (or as I like to refer to it, LKN Tax the Citizen) once again demonstrates why it can accurately boast of being “the only experienced, professional, legitimate news outlet in the Lake Norman region.” If you’re an aspiring journalism professional who wants to learn how to get politicians to do what you want while still maintaining the pretense of being an objective journalist, you definitely need to read this week’s Citizen.
See, when you’re supposed to be an objective journalist just reporting the facts you have to work extra hard to maintain that pretense of objectivity so you don’t reveal to your readers that you have just as many biases as they do. For example, at the Citizen they have to work to hide their utter disdain for conservatives and their even greater disdain for any effort (usually) by conservative politicians to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. So when the Huntersville town board initially deferred a vote in April and then later voted 3-2 against the proposed revised agreement with the Carolina Rapids during the May 1, 2017 board meeting, the objective journalists at the Citizen went to work right away to ensure the vote went the way it was supposed to next time.
Lay the groundwork in the Horse’s Mouth section for how great the Rapids organization is and how a deal with them shouldn’t be about the money (remember, it’s Parks and Rec, not Parks and Revenue) after some board members had the audacity to ask questions about the proposed agreement during the April 17 board meeting. Check.
After the May 1 vote against the agreement, run a one-sided article highlighting all of the supposed benefits of extending the Rapids agreement without providing any perspective on how much it costs taxpayers to operate Barry Park every year or any information about how much revenue the Rapids reported on their Form 990 last year. Check.
The week before the May 15 board meeting, write a super clever editorial (and I mean like Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing clever) that people will think is about actually cleaning a house, but in reality is about cleaning house at Huntersville town hall, that attempts to accuse the fiscally conservative majority on the board of not acting fiscally conservative enough and cite the Rapids vote as an example. Check.
Then, when Commissioner Boone, one of the original dissenting board members, does the right thing and places the agreement back on the agenda for the May 15 meeting so the board can finally vote the right way – in the May 17 issue, run cover photo on the print edition with celebratory soccer players and text above the photo stating Town, Rapids back in business; credit Commissioner Boone as being the driving force behind saving soccer in Huntersville and quote him in not one, but two sections of the paper (along with a nice headshot in the print edition!); conveniently leave out that the other “fiscally conservative” board members also voted for the agreement to avoid any favorable print for them in an election year; and write a Leslie Knope-esque editorial as a reminder to other politicians that they better not try to cut any money from parks and rec again. Check.
Continue to rake in advertising dollars from parks and rec affiliated partners and area sports leagues (including the ones who engage in viewpoint discrimination which we just turn a blind eye to even though we’re journalists). Check!
And that’s how you journalism.
But hey, I’m just some guy on the internet so what do I know.
Eric