HITS: HEARD IN THE STREET. . .
'DEATH THREATS' INVESTIGATION? -- Who'd a thunk it? PT's gossip post of last Friday -- "Heard In The Street: Death threats on Mayor?..." -- seems to have kicked up a dust devil.* What PT did was report on some gossip and link it to PT's repeated respectful requests in its posts for the Administration to speak out and reassure the public that something is being done about the wave of murders and shootings which we have experienced in Plainfield. There was a followup post on Wednesday -- "PT on griddle over 'death threats' post?." Did PT think there was a credible death threat? No. Would PT have reported it if so? Yes.
PT is guilty, though, of using irony.** The language used stated in an exaggerated way the sorts of responses authorities would be expected to take if there WERE death threats. It also said that if an administration didn't take necessary steps AND inform the public in such a case, it would be open to accusations of reckless disregard or incompetence. Well, of course!
But I have trouble thinking there may be any credible death threats against the Mayor. Why? Well, what has she done that would provoke such a thing? Ruling out, of course, her teeing off of the Seniors over their plans for their new Center. PT can't think of a thing.
PT was in City Hall for eight years working the public information beat. Under Mayor Al McWilliams many, many actions were taken that might provoke threats: drug busts, prostitution busts, termination of employees for cause, etc. many times over. And I do not recall any death threats against Mayor McWilliams. (Nor does Mayor McWilliams, with whom PT checked.) He did not have police guarding his person or his home -- with the exception that when his home was broken into once while away, police thereafter would check the house out periodically if the family were out of town.
I will be sitting down with a detective from the Plainfield force later today to give a statement in this matter. I am more than happy to discuss what I wrote and what I meant.
Sources is another matter. People who speak to journalists have a right to expect that their identity will remain confidential. There are limits, of course, as the investigation of reporters' roles in the Valerie Plame investigation have shown. Basically, that means sources are not revealed except as a result of either a subpoena or a direct order by a judge. Informants have a right to expect their identities will not become known willy-nilly by those whose interest may be in retaliation.
More on all this as things unfold...
LITTER: YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK -- Many have written to comment about the mailing piece on the City's anti-litter efforts. Let's take this in two bites: the CONTENT, and the DELIVERY.
CONTENT first. The mailer identifies the material as a "press article" that was recently released. Do you recall seeing it in the papers? No? Neither do I, and I spend hours every day scouring the papers for Plainfield news great and small. Why didn't it get any play?
Were I an editor, my first question would be: What's the news value here? What is being done that is new? or different? or better? Every mayor wants their town to be clean and presentable. What makes this item worthy of precious space in my paper?
The key words are new, different and better. Cooperation between the PMUA and the city's DPW and Inspections divisions has been a fact of life for dog's years now. The papers have covered it before. What is different about this year's effort? There is nothing in the release that says ANYTHING is different. What exactly is better? Read it again and you draw a blank on the BETTER front. So why would an editor give it any ink? You get my drift...
As for DELIVERY... we have the matters of cost and of production values. On the cost front, the postage (apx $2,200) and lettershop services (apx $600, for folding, wafer seal application, labeling, sorting, delivery to post office) are the bulk of the expense. The printing would cost another apx $500, probably no more as the paper is of a 'throwaway' grade. So, your tax dollars -- about $3,300 of them -- were put to work spreading this important messsage throughout the community.
A better-tailored press release, one that actually included NEWS value would have saved the taxpayers the entire expense. The website and PCTV-74 would have cost nothing either. That's where public information professionals earn their keep. Supposedly.
PT will not belabor the APPEARANCE of the piece. If you're gonna take the time and spend the money, why not goose it up a little bit and make it compelling enough to want to open and read? There isn't even a return address. (And no, Mr. Postmaster, PT will NOT report you to the authorities for having allowed the piece to go through the mails in violaton of the postal regulations.)
The effect of the mailer seems mostly ironic (there's that word again!), as one reader who lives on a busy corner reports to me with some exasperation that she did NOT receive a copy in the mail, but is quite tired of picking it up off her yard as litter, thank you very much!
WEBSITE: SOMEONE IS PAYING ATTENTION -- As for the city's website, you DO need to check it out. Somebody actually seems to be paying attention. Well, SOME attention.
You still can't find a City Council schedule -- right, wrong or otherwise. Or at least PT could not. If it's there, please let me know and I'll get my white cane out and stroll by again.
However, you will note the Mayor's letter on the welcome page HAS been tidied up. It was the missing apostrophe, as the many respondents to PT's grammar challenge all noted. And, since not a single one named a charity to which they wanted their $1 contributed, PT is making a contribution of $25 to the LITERACY PROGRAM at the Plainfield Public Library. Geeignete Maßnahme, nein?
*Dust Devil: A miniature whirlwind strong enough to whip dust and leaves and litter into the air
**Irony: A form of speech in which the real meaning is concealed or contradicted by the words used.
DISCLAIMER: In the interest of fairness, any person identified in a HITS post who believes he/she has been portrayed unfairly or that the information about him/her is untrue will have the opportunity to respond in this space.
-- Dan Damon
Keyword: HITS*
1 comment:
You are kind in your assessment that the Mayor’s letter has been tidied up. If you read it again, you will notice that the use of the comma is glaringly absent. The obvious error has been fixed, but it is by no means written with correct punctuation in mind.
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