Two Important Election Stories The Standard-Examiner Has Neglected to Print

Query: What's up with the Standard's spotty election coverage, people?

To kick off today's discussion, we're going to take a novel approach this morning, and focus on two important 2009 municipal election stories which have not appeared in the Standard-Examiner. During this off-year election, and in the face of demonstrated voter apathy (primary election turnout was around 9%), it seems us that the Standard-Examiner ought to be doing everything possible to heighten the awareness of its general readership concerning public events occurring during this election cycle. So far, in our view however, the Std-Ex's performance has been spotty at best. Here are a couple of examples of what we're talking about:

1) On October 5, the Standard prominently announced the Weber County Women's Legislative Council Meet the Candidates Night, which was held on October 6. Weber County Forum did its part in post-event reporting of course, with this article, published the very night of the event, which provoked a robust discussion within the comments section, of the numerous interesting revelations which emerged during that entertaining and informative public meeting. By contrast, the Std-Ex has yet to publish a single word about this event, even though we know Scott Schwebke was in attendance, scribbling pages upon pages of copious notes. Oddly enough, the Std-Ex now seems to have dropped this story entirely; and we'd like to know why. Perhaps Std-Ex publisher Lee "Gondola Boy" Carter didn't want to report that Boss Godfrey Ticket At Large "B" candidate Phipps was the only candidate among the eight who was dumb enough to admit considering Boss Godfrey's Gargantuan $143 mil Condo/hotel/Golf Course Boondoggle to be still "on the table." Maybe the Standard didn't want to report that our council, which has been recently and regularly accused by the Standard-Examiner of "obstructionism," actually votes in favor of Boss Godfrey proposals 98% of the time. Perhaps the Std-Ex editors thought Councilman Garcia's revelation that the $800 thousand annual subsidy which Ogden taxpayers fork over to the airport dwarfs the purported $250 thousand annual shortfall at the Mount Ogden Golf Course (the only public subsidy Boss Godfrey ever complains about) would be too painful for its taxpayer readers to take.

2) Despite the fact that well informed local political wonks have been aware since October 2 that the eight council candidates have agreed to hold a legitimate debate on October 14, at a mutually-agreed venue, with agreed ground rules, the Standard-Examiner hasn't said word one about it to its general readership. Whereas the Std-Ex has devoted barrels of ink to report on the (justifiable) refusal of the majority of council candidates to participate in Boss Godfrey's wholly bogus Channel 17 Dog & Pony show, the Std-Ex hasn't breathed a word about the scheduling of the October 14 debate.

We've criticised the Standard for its lop-sided coverage of 2009 election stories over the past months; and we believe our criticism has been mostly well justified. On top of that however, we believe we must consider those important stories the Standard doesn't write about; and we need to ask why these stories are being neglected.

We believe the Standard's omission of these stories serves as a particular disservice to its print readership, for whom our home town newspaper is virtually the only source of election news. Demographically, the Std-Ex readership tends to be a little longer in the tooth than internet readers; and yet older voters are the most reliable voters of all. Even the most reliable of voters can't make rational decisions however, if they're deprived of crucial election-related information.

So once again we ask our readers... why is the Standard neglecting those stories? Is there a hidden agenda to suppress the November General Election vote? Is there some reason the Std-Ex is reluctant to get the voters charged up in an election which could tip the balance of council power? Is the Standard-Examiner, which constantly rails on its own editorial pages about "voter apathy," nevertheless wilfully sending mixed messages? Or alternatively, is our home town newspaper simply not paying attention?

The world-wide blogosphere is sitting on the edge of its seat... waiting to find out what our gentle readers think about this.

Who will be the first to comment?