Last updated on 2015.01.31
The Watertown Public Opinion's latest editorial hardly warrants comment. Discussing the sales-tax initiative and the proposed referendum on Governor Daugaard's education reforms, the editors vaguely assert that the Governor and Legislature are smarter than us common citizens. They reduce HB 1234 to "the Governor's bonus program" and wishy-wash it away:
...if the teachers aren't sold on the bonus program, and if the voters agree with them, then maybe it's time to pull it back and take another look at it ["Education Referendums Raise Questions," Watertown Public Opinion, 2012.03.12].
Two ifs, one maybe, and take another look... how's that for a recipe for punchless prose?
But then I get to the bottom paragraph and find the WPO editors can't even commit to facts about the November ballot:
Neither of the two petition drives has enough signatures at this point to get on the ballot. But if one or both succeed, voters will need to pay close attention because their decisions in November will affect South Dakota for a long time to come [WPO, 2012.03.12].
Say what? Sure, petitions to refer HB 1234 haven't hit the streets yet (you'll hear from the Madville Times the moment they do!). But the proposed extra-penny sales tax for education and health care is most certainly on the ballot. Supporters submitted their petitions with 34,000 signatures last fall. Gant certified the petitions, and the sales tax is most definitely on the ballot as Initiated Measure 15.
Are you kidding? When did the PO get to be so ignorant?
I used to live sort of in that neighborhood in the late 70s and got the PO, even though I lived much closer to Brookings. The PO was a much better paper than the Register then. Apparently, there have been some ch-ch-ch-changes.
The ch-ch-ch-changes that happened at the WPO are the same ol’ same ol’ that have happened to most of the other once distinguished daily newspapers in this country. See: (http://rapidcityjournal.com/article_c61293f5-6456-5805-93ae-4aaa0a9dcb9f.html)
The last competent, interested, generation in the family business looks around and says, "whoops, we forgot about, or decided against, training the next generation of owners, whether or not they were related to us." Then they cashed in and sold to corporate America. I like to think that for the last ten to twenty years there’ve been one or two former owners’ family members tossing and turning at night, seeing what their decision has done to their community, and to the tradition of excellence they devoted their lives to. Or did they just disappear to the Caribbean?
And yes, I know part of their trouble is the new media age, but that was NOT the first, nor the last, bullet.
I might gravitate toward the theory that the new media are not a cause of the decline of newspapers, but a response thereto. (By the way, when is some corporate honcho going to come buy me out? $-) )