FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013 John B. Johnson Jr., CEO of Johnson Newspapers and the editor and co-publisher of the Watertown Daily Times, has announced he will step down from daily oversight of the companies.[Watertown Times]
4 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Although I know many of your readers have been critical of the Watertown Daily Times and its handling of the wind issue, any of us who have traveled widely and who love to sit and read an out-of-town paper soon realize that for the size of our community the quality of the Watertown Daily Times has no equal in the U.S.
It is a pretty good publication as small city newspapers go these days.
But I am a long way from giving the WDT a passing grade.
Their main failure for me has not been their editorial silence on the special value of the Thousand Islands (though that is bad enough.) Where they really dropped the ball editorially was in not speaking out on the need for clean government. They should have been all over the wind related conflict of interest matter as the dirty government scandal that it was (is).
The number one obligation of newspaper editors in a democracy, where they enjoy extraordinary freedom to speak out, is to speak out against dirty government.
In our system of government is not just the right, but the duty, of the press to point a finger at compromised public officials. The WDT failed in that duty with municipal corruption right under their noses. There is no way to excuse such a lapse.
I'm looking for a bolder WDT going forward. If they want to sell papers and advertising they had better become bolder.
I remember the days when the WDT actually did investigative type reporting. Take a look at a Steve Weed video of the Clayton Town Meeting. Watch the way a pro wind Clayton town Board member leans back and gives Jaegun Lee a recognition. Now ask yourself. Why was Lee even there? He did not report. The Thousand Island Sun did. We need more reporters that refuse to be intimidated by people like Taylor and his town board. Oh, and why did they cancel the meeting?
Good. Lets hope the next nut falls farther from the tree. The WDT cost is not worth what little biased information we get. They should forget their Monday through Wednesday editions. We are just paying for ads. Thursday through Saturday is not much better.
4 comments:
Although I know many of your readers have been critical of the Watertown Daily Times and its handling of the wind issue, any of us who have traveled widely and who love to sit and read an out-of-town paper soon realize that for the size of our community the quality of the Watertown Daily Times has no equal in the U.S.
It is a pretty good publication as small city newspapers go these days.
But I am a long way from giving the WDT a passing grade.
Their main failure for me has not been their editorial silence on the special value of the Thousand Islands (though that is bad enough.) Where they really dropped the ball editorially was in not speaking out on the need for clean government. They should have been all over the wind related conflict of interest matter as the dirty government scandal that it was (is).
The number one obligation of newspaper editors in a democracy, where they enjoy extraordinary freedom to speak out, is to speak out against dirty government.
In our system of government is not just the right, but the duty, of the press to point a finger at compromised public officials. The WDT failed in that duty with municipal corruption right under their noses. There is no way to excuse such a lapse.
I'm looking for a bolder WDT going forward. If they want to sell papers and advertising they had better become bolder.
I remember the days when the WDT actually did investigative type reporting. Take a look at a Steve Weed video of the Clayton Town Meeting. Watch the way a pro wind Clayton town Board member leans back and gives Jaegun Lee a recognition. Now ask yourself. Why was Lee even there? He did not report. The Thousand Island Sun did. We need more reporters that refuse to be intimidated by people like Taylor and his town board. Oh, and why did they cancel the meeting?
Good. Lets hope the next nut falls farther from the tree. The WDT cost is not worth what little biased information we get. They should forget their Monday through Wednesday editions. We are just paying for ads. Thursday through Saturday is not much better.
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