Guest Blogger Says: News Media Needs To Dig Deeper
Posted Sun, 02/11/2007 - 4:12pm
Like most people reading this blog, I was eager to find out how the media covered Arms Across Northcross. The first place I looked was news8austin.com, and I was shocked at the slant of the story.
It's pretty amazing that more than 2000 people (many with kids) showed up on a cold Saturday morning to express their concerns about this unfortunate situation, but News8Austin couched it as "Responsible Growth 4 Northcross expected about 5,000 people to come out, but it's estimated less than half of that came out ..."
Factually correct, but stated in such a negative way. Why?
Personally, I made a showing on crutches in spite of my doctor's orders to stay off my feet this weekend, and everyone I talked with who stood on line showed the same kind of dedication even if it wasn't as obvious as my knee-high cast. This is a serious matter -- the impact on traffic alone should have been reason enough for this approval to be examined more closely and with input from nearby residents who will be affected, but the city chose to rush it through without comment.
News8Austin, why not do some investigating into how many times this has happened before and how to prevent it in the future, and get quotes not just from RG4N representatives but also from our city representatives who disagree with the way things have been handled, instead of just filling up airtime being snarky about how many people didn't show up?
From Guest Blogger Betsy Thaggard
It's pretty amazing that more than 2000 people (many with kids) showed up on a cold Saturday morning to express their concerns about this unfortunate situation, but News8Austin couched it as "Responsible Growth 4 Northcross expected about 5,000 people to come out, but it's estimated less than half of that came out ..."
Factually correct, but stated in such a negative way. Why?
Personally, I made a showing on crutches in spite of my doctor's orders to stay off my feet this weekend, and everyone I talked with who stood on line showed the same kind of dedication even if it wasn't as obvious as my knee-high cast. This is a serious matter -- the impact on traffic alone should have been reason enough for this approval to be examined more closely and with input from nearby residents who will be affected, but the city chose to rush it through without comment.
News8Austin, why not do some investigating into how many times this has happened before and how to prevent it in the future, and get quotes not just from RG4N representatives but also from our city representatives who disagree with the way things have been handled, instead of just filling up airtime being snarky about how many people didn't show up?
From Guest Blogger Betsy Thaggard
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