Many busy people grab their news by reading the headlines and first few words of a story and moving on...using this little bit of information to shape opinions that influence those they come in contact with during the rest of the day, the week -- maybe even the rest of their lives.
What headlines resulted from Monday evening's first Council conference meeting, the first according to Council President Blanco to be "devoted specifically to crime since 1979," as the Ledger reports?
"Gangs, narcotics torment Plainfield" -- Ledger.
"Crime result of systemic failures, officials tell Plainfield residents" -- Courier.
Who could blame casual readers if they felt the result of Monday night's Council conference meeting was to give the media license to resume portraying Plainfield as a city down on its luck and without any prospects worth mentioning?
Who could blame the teachers of our youngsters among those casual readers if they decided after reading about Monday evening that the best thing to do was to throw up their hands and leave for better-paying, less-hassling assigments in the leafy exurbs?
Who could blame business people among those casual readers if they concluded after reading about Monday evening that no one would ever come to Plainfield to spend a plugged nickel, and the best thing to do was to shutter up the shop and move on to some trendier spot with a frisson more of chic?
Who could blame the homeowners of Plainfield among those casual readers if they thought after reading about Monday evening that the best course of action was to stick the 'For Sale' sign in the lawn immediately and cash out before home prices fell completely flat?
Who could blame, after reading casually about Monday evening, the thousands who quietly toil in the vineyards as good neighbors, upstanding citizens, community-minded volunteers, wise and patient mentors, and even -- God forbid! -- boosters, if they decided the game was not worth the candle?
Some might argue that readers should dig deeply, gather lots of information, challenge statements, check sources, set stories in a larger context -- in short, do all the things that reporters are supposed to do. But isn't that why we have reporters, so that casual readers don't have to do all this?
And if what the reporters report doesn't suit the officials who set things up in the first place and don't like the way the coverage reports things, what part of the blame falls on the way things were conceived by those officials?
Yes, a clarion call is needed. But is this the one? Is this the way?
-- Dan Damon
Keywords: Crime
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