The Sentinel's shadow: Wake up and smell the ink (Page 1 of 1)

July 25, 2007
By: Knoxville Voice

By J. David Buckwalter

“Sentinel”: one who stands and keeps guard over important interests.

But how often do we stop and consider just whose interests are being guarded by our local sentinel? For whom does our News Sentinel stand?

As a high priority, our only daily newspaper should stand for the fair and vigorous practice of local democracy. Yet democracy seems curiously lost in Knoxville, with single-digit turnout in the last city election and most races uncontested this year. For a number of reasons — many contrived — local democracy is far from vigorous.

Local democracy is also far from fair. Effectively hidden in the shadows, most of the unfairness is difficult to confront. As a first step, citizens need to wake up and realize low-voter turnout actually serves some powerful and entrenched interests quite well. In Knoxville, voting and the vital practice of local democracy are quietly undermined and actively diminished.

Which brings us back to our particular sentinel — the Knoxville News Sentinel. Clearly, our only daily newspaper makes many contributions and wields substantial influence in the affairs of our community. Due to its considerable stature and impact, we must pay attention to whose interests it serves and where its shadow falls.

A front-page article in the Sentinel's June 21 Local section reveals some subtle yet effective ways our city election process can be manipulated and undermined. The headline read: "Not many candidates join up for city races.” At the time of its printing — the last day to qualify as a candidate for city mayor, judge and four council seats — only one challenger had qualified to run against any of the incumbents. Not many candidates, indeed.

Below the headline is a smiling color picture of council incumbent Joe Bailey, but no picture whatsoever of his challenger, Ray Abbas, the real newsmaker referenced in the headline. Abbas, the lone contender to "join up," is named in the article only three times. It is not big news incumbent Bailey is running, yet he is named in the article no less than 13 times — more than four times as often as challenger Abbas.

Because a picture is worth at least a thousand words and name recognition is critical to a campaign, this kind of bias and disparity does real damage to the fair and open practice of local democracy. When the News Sentinel pimps an incumbent with such lopsided "reporting," is it really any wonder there are not more challengers?

If the Sentinel wishes to endorse a candidate, it should be done properly, on the opinion page, not with sly favoritism in a news article. Such covert and unfair coverage seriously degrades the integrity of local elections. Over time, it undermines and diminishes not only individual races, but also the whole process of local democracy. Sensing much unfairness, potential candidates stay away, and voters stay home.

The article concludes with expert testimony, citing the usual excuses for scarce interest and few challengers. What goes unmentioned is the kind of biased, manipulative reporting we find in this very Sentinel article — the one purporting to explain it all to us! Such irony would be humorous, were the damage not so real.

Another problem is the Sentinel's generally meager coverage of city politics, which does not come close to their coverage of Britney, Lindsay or Paris. And make no mistake: Citizen involvement in local elections is influenced, for better or for worse, by the quality and breadth of our daily newspaper's reporting.

Readers would do well to consider which publications really do support the fair and open practice of local democracy and which of them are part of the problem. Due to E. W. Scripps Co.’s recent purchase of Metro Pulse, ownership of the News Sentinel, and a number of other local publications, we ought to be wary and be paying close attention.

Citizens should identify and expose biased reporting that serves special interests at the expense of local democracy.

It is foolish and irresponsible to ignore city politics. By failing to participate and vote in local elections, we passively serve the powerful and entrenched interests of the individuals who manipulate and undermine local democracy; we perpetuate their control and the huge political and economic advantages gained by it all.

Working in partnership with other media interests, our daily newspaper uses the motto "working together for you." Rather than feel reassured and take this at face value, it is time for citizens to wake up and smell the ink. It is time to wake up and seriously ask, "working together for whom?"

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