An bold “Sunshine Week” editorial in this week’s Newton TAB touts the virtues of transparency in government, the public’s right to know and the essential need for an unnumbered, free press.
We do get the government we collectively deserve, which is why your ability to know and to understand the functioning of your government and your leaders at all levels — local, state, and national — is so crucial to our democracy. It’s why the very First Amendment to the Constitution enshrines not only the freedom of religion and of speech to all, but of the press, and to your right to peacefully assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. There are no exceptions or qualifications among those words.
It’s an important editorial, which has never been more true or vital.
The problem is, this very same edition of the Newton TAB does nothing to demonstrate the principals that editorial tells us we must defend.
Nothing.
Except for a submitted column written by the mayor’s office, this week’s TAB does not contain one article about our local government or school system. Not one story. No meeting coverage. Nothing about the City Council’s marijuana moratorium. Nothing about the the folks who’ve been without power, downed trees, snow removal or the cost of storm cleanup. Nothing about the school committee’s proposed plan to shorten the high school day. Nothing about city workers joining the teamsters. Nothing about what Land Use or any other city committee is deliberating,
And of course we have nothing about the things we don’t know about but depend on reporters to tell us about.
Not one thing.
This week’s edition of the TAB also doesn’t include a single local letter to the editor. There is not one local opinion column.
Not one. Zero. And none of it is because the government infringed on the paper’s constitutional right to free speech.
“It’s more important than ever that you have access to the “facts” of how your government makes its decisions and how it functions,” the editorial concludes.
If only our paper of record were to practice what it preaches.
The sad downward spiral of newspaper economics in the age of “information should be free” continues. Journalists also need to eat! Which may mean Newton folks who want fair reporting will have to start paying for their paper (or find some dedicated Village 14 volunteers they trust).
Greg, you listed many issues. Here is another one: Korff is negotiating a settlement with the Washington Place abutters. The building is now in the 3rd stage of downsizing. The final result
requires an amendment to the Council Order which may mean future public hearings. Too bad both the city leaders and the Planning Dept. failed to represent their constituents property
rights and this ended up in front of a judge or jury.
The harsh reality is that Village14 may be our best place to get local news. It’s a great community, but this is a volunteer driven blog that doesn’t have journalistic controls.
I really wish someone would find a way to provide quality community reporting. If it’s not cost-effective in a wealthy city like Newton, how’s it ever going to survive anywhere else?
©Bryan: Absolutely spot on
The lack of a strong newspaper in this city was part of the reason City Councilors felt emboldened to block the voter approved cannabis law. It’s not so easy to steal a vote when you have a newspaper looking over your shoulder.
This blog is not a local new source at least in any traditional sense. It is however a regulated forum for generally uniformed opining by an infinitesimal sliver of Newton’s population (referred to me as “crackpots” by a friend). The members of this group tend to be pushing agenda items (e.g., pot, trees, development, high school start times, bikes, small elementary schools) that are of little consequence to the vast majority of people in the city and should never, ever occupy the limited time of our elected officials OR are of some consequence however the conversation here on said topics is misguided and would result in policy that negatively impacts the vast majority of the population of our fair city.
And yet, here you are among the crackpots, Elmo.
I guess one person’s engaged citizen is another person’s crackpot. Thanks to all who keep Village14 interesting!
Since the recent re-org that resulted in Andy Levin’s departure, the Tab (and its Facebook page) consists more and more of generic, semi-local content generated by Gatehouse media. As far as Facebook goes, the same content is posted on all of their pages, and I’m sure the same is happening in the printed editions. It’s quickly becoming another piece of junk mail.
BTW, this is the first time I’ve seen the Tab without any letters to the editor. I guess publishing those letters requires more manual labor than Gatehouse is willing to spend on. I don’t claim to know what would make an economically viable local newspaper, but this worries me a lot.
@Jon Bassett – Elmo’s not the first person who thinks this place is filled with crackpots.
@Newtoner: This week’s opinion page, in conjunction with Sunshine Week, was from the Worcester T&G and run in every Wicked Local (GateHouse) weekly. Greg’s point couldn’t be more on the money. During the time I was at the TAB, even during slow summer weeks, there were at least a few letters, usually more than a few. I guess this week those were put on the back burner.
On a brighter note, former TAB reporter Jonathan Dame recently won a New England News and Press Association award for the investigative work he did following up on the Day Middle School anti-Semitic graffiti incidents. It was well deserved.
Hey – Here’s a thought. How have we not yet asked Andy to join V14? I know he’s done writing about Newton politics as a full time job, but surely he would be a great addition to our whenever-you-feel-up-for-it posting schedule?
Great post, Greg. Frightening times we live in.
It seems that the only individual who would be able to make the Tab great again (no pun intended) given the present realities would be a John Henry/Jeff Bezos type. Someone with lots of time and money, and a willingness/ability to expend both. And even in Newton that’s no guarantee of success.
I too was dismayed to see this week’s. Letters and op-eds are the first thing I look for, and to see none only reinforces my fear that no one is really in charge. Will letters and columns reappear, or are submissions just going into a black hole? Who do we even ask?
There is an avalanche of stuff going on at City Hall, and no way one reporter can cover it all, let alone the rest of what’s going on in the city.
Just one example: Monday night at Finance there was a long discussion about criteria for bidding city contracts, prompted by the mayor’s request for $500K without a competitive bidding process, for a consultant for Washington St public outreach & zoning (a discussion on which followed the general discussion).
It turns out, in response to a request by Lenny Gentile for more info on no-bid contracts, there have actually been a total of $6 million in no-bid contracts in just the last two years, and he only asked for contracts over $50K, and NOT including schools, to keep it simple. You can see the list in the Finance Agenda attachments here: http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/documents/88267
The audio is still not up on the city website, but you can read the speed-reading, hopefully mostly accurate and complete, live-tweet version at twitter.com/newtonvillages
Troubling as well, are the types of events that Julie decides to cover. Last Sunday she covered a controversial event attended by 40 people at Post 440 which had been rented by an allegedly anti-Muslim group. A controversy had ensued about whether or not the Post should allow such a group to be at the Post. By contrast, on Thursday night there was an Interfaith panel discussion at the Library examing the three Abrahamic religions – with three women exploring Christian, Jewish and Muslim perspectives. This well-attended event received no coverage.
Perhaps Julie could recover by covering the Play at the Library on Tuesday – “Unveiled” -A one-woman play written and performed by award-winning playwright Rohina Malik. This event is sponsored by a host of local caring Newton organizations.
Back when Patch first came to Newton (2011?) I thought they actually did a much better job than the TAB with community news. They were more on top of breaking news in Newton and they highlighted interesting community stories, like kids doing cool things in the community. Patch went downhill pretty fast, unfortunately. At the time, I believe Patch was part of AOL – so if a big company like AOL couldn’t make it work, I’m not sure what will. A sad time for local media indeed.
@MMQC – AOL hasn’t managed to make anything work in many years, so I don’t think their failure to succeed at something means anything for its feasibility.
@MMQC: The 2011 Newton Patch was excellent due to the strength of its single staffer, Melanie Graham, who had been a TAB reporter before then. She was a talented writer and worked tirelessly — she’d post at 12:30 a.m. about the happenings at a school committee meeting that had ended a few hours before, and then she’d cover a morning event and quickly post on that too. Somehow she kept it up for a couple of years, and I was quite sad to see her go!
It’s not necessarily Julie who decides what to cover. There must be a boss/editor somewhere. And with just one body to cover Newton, and one to cover Brookline, they’re probably trying to figure out what is most newsworthy, and/or what will get the most hits online (if local articles are even making it to the website?).
I personally wish there were more coverage of city government, but at least at the Lowell Sun, local government and meetings are not usually what gets the most hits, unless there’s a misbehavior aspect.
Agreed, Steve, Melanie was excellent. Waltham had a very good Patch editor around that same time – Ryan something-or-other? And they had paid columnists and reporters that lived in the cities that they wrote for I think Patch had a good thing going.
Meredith, I’m not saying that it should have succeeded necessarily because it was AOL, but it was something that actually had money behind it.
@Brian: Andy Levin has been invited to post on Village 14 any time. I hope it will be soon and often.
@Julia: I believe Julie Cohen is empowered to choose her assignments but you are correct in that meeting stories do not always get the best web traffic.
However, as I noted above, it is hypocritical for a news organization to demand transparency in government, the public’s right to know and the essential need for an unnumbered, free press on its editorial page and then not exercise those rights.
@Steve and Mary, Mary: You’re right, Melanie Graham, was astonishing. She used to scoop the TAB all the time (and you can bet Gail Spector and I were not happy about that). Patch’s current Newton reporter, Jenna Fisher, is doing the same thing now, although her beat covers multiple communities so she has less time to devote to Newton.
Great discussion, folks, and never think that people who opine about local issues in Newton are an isolated bunch of crackpots. Even though my op-eds in the Tab are only a modest contribution to the cause of democracy, people have stopped me to talk about my pieces not only in Newton but also in remote places far from here!
Julia and Greg are right that the main task of a local newspaper should be to cover local issues and air local opinions, revolting though they sometimes seem to be. I also felt that the editorial pages this week seemed generic and regional at best. Oh, well.
The business model…free papers paid for by advertisers…are not really free after all. If the content and intent are honest enough, I believe that the educated public will PAY to read the news. The problem…the fractionalization of news into print, the internet, radio and TV. I still read the Wall St. Journal, the internet versions of CNN, Fox, CBS, Reuters and the AP. Somewhere in their words are facts that I consider when seeking the “truth”. The Tab, until now, has delivered a vital, locally sourced set of reported facts… unbiased, self-correcting when not! Village 14, with its million views (probably mostly from me), doesn’t reach enough of the non-cognoscenti. If you’re sophisticated enough to be reading this, you already know everything you need to know! About politics in Newton anyway…or where to get corned beef and cabbage on St. Paddy’s Day.
I know I would pay for a subscription to a solid hometown newspaper (even if only available online).
“is” not really free…
@Bob Jampol– I always enjoy reading your opinion pieces in The TAB. You offer a wonderful perspective on all things Newton.
Hear, hear!
I sent my letter of complaint to the Newton Tab today. What a disappointment the Tab was this week. I am perplexed by their priorities. Gloria and Larry Asquith are an adorable couple and its a nice story, but is it really front page news? If they wanted to do a “Sunshine Week” piece it should have been a special insert not usurp all the local news. @Susan, I did not know about the the controversial event attended at Post 440 so that must not have made the printed paper either.
On the subject of transparency, a post I recently put together re: Newton’s Human Rights Commission:
Agreed by most, human rights – the basic rights and freedoms that belong to all persons, regardless of stature or status – make our world, country, and community a better place. However, many of these rights, such as the right to life, food, and education without discrimination are in decline. For example, in Newton, from 2014 to 2016, hate crimes increased by more than 400%. In Newton, from 2015 to 2016, opioid related deaths increased by 142%. In Newton, over the past five or so years, school children living below the poverty line increased by more than 77%. In Newton, according to the last housing discrimination audit publicized by the City, within private, non-subsidized rental housing, evidence of discrimination in the form of differential treatment was found 67% of the time. In other words, in Newton, human rights are being violated at a particularly high rate.
To combat discrimination and ensure that all residents are treated equally, like the vast majority of other municipalities, Newton’s City Council (then Board of Aldermen) created a Human Rights Commission and afforded it strong statutory powers to initiate investigations into the existence of unlawful discrimination in the city. Included in these powers is the right to subpoena witnesses, compel their attendance, administer oaths, serve written interrogatories, take testimony of any person under oath, and require the production of any evidence and/or answers relating to any matter in question or under investigation before the commission. Under former Mayor Setti Warren, Newton’s Human Rights Commission was effectively rendered powerless and, as far as the record reflects, it took little to no action to investigate the high level of discrimination that exists in Newton. Furthermore, Newton’s Human Rights Commission was given such low priority under former Mayor Setti Warren that per the latest meeting minutes on record – which reprehensibly date back all the way to July 2016 (where are all the meeting minutes from 2016 to date?) – he only appointed five of the statutorily required nine members to the Commission, which effectively ensured that the Commission was powerless because nearly 100% of the time there were too few members to meet quorum. In fact, I cannot find a single record of the Human Rights Commission investigating any instance of discrimination in Newton. If you care about human rights, you are likely to find this deeply, deeply concerning. Regardless of your political persuasion, residents of Newton deserve better.
To combat discrimination and ensure that all are treated equally, Newton’s Human Rights Commission is badly in need of reform. To improve outcomes on equity and inclusion, Newton’s new Mayor, Ruthanne Fuller, released a report that found “New appointments and newly revitalized Human Rights Commission” are key. True to her word, Mayor Fuller is taking action, the first step of which is to interview members for appointment to the Human Rights Commission. On Wednesday, I’ll be interviewing for one of these important positions. If appointed by Mayor Fuller, in my first of three years as a Human Rights Commissioner, in addition to everything that the Commission traditionally does, I’ll work hard to:
• Encourage the City Council to decree Newton a “Human Rights City,” which would demonstrate a firm commitment to the protection and promotion of human rights;
• Create yearly, detailed oriented “Work Plans,” which will specifically enumerate the goals of the Commission, steps it need take to achieve them, and accountability standards throughout;
• Host a regional “Human Rights Summit,” where the best and brightest minds on human rights issues will come together to share action-oriented ideas about how Newton can do better;
• Create and implement a “Know Your Rights Campaign” to ensure that current and prospective residents 1) clearly understand their rights and 2) clearly understand how to file discrimination claims;
• Aggressively investigate claims of discrimination;
• Launch a Summer Food Service Program or similar initiative for the hundreds of Newton school children who don’t have access to food security during the summer months;
• Evolve the Mayor’s Summer Internship Program into a paid summer jobs program for Newton’s most vulnerable children, which would legitimately help tackle economic inequality; and
• Ensure that the Commission is comprised of a broad and diverse set of residents that legitimately reflect Newton’s composition;
Let’s make a difference. A real difference.