Lest we think that the Telegram is always right

(Proquest links, click here first)

Last Monday, Congressman McGovern spoke at a panel discussion regarding the People’s Rights Amendment at Clark University.

The Telegram didn’t see fit to cover this event.

That’s well within their rights — after all, they did report on an event in which the Worcester County sheriff caused a kid to vomit, so they pretty much covered all the newsworthy events for the day.

But the Telegram didn’t cover the event with actual reporting, but did see fit to refer to it in an editorial cartoon and a lengthy editorial against the constitutional amendment.

Let’s leave aside that statements like “The U.S. Constitution is not a document to be trifled with. Those swept up in the enthusiasm of the moment … should pause to consider whether they are truly wiser than the Founding Fathers and the U.S. Supreme Court” conveniently ignore that those Founding Fathers legitimized slavery, only allowed property owners the right to vote, and left women as second-class non-citizens.

Let’s even leave aside that I probably lean towards the Telegram’s perspective on this particular issue (rather than Congressman McGovern’s).

If you’re going to editorialize not once, but twice, about McGovern’s views, then it might be worth attending and covering the event in which he expresses those views.  It’s okay to ultimately disagree with those views, but the public deserves an impartial observation before the editorializing.

Best of Worcester Nominations are open

WoMag’s Best of Worcester nominations are open today, and for the third year (I think) there’s a category for Best Local Blog.

The first winner was, of course, our friend Jeff Barnard.

The second winner was Dave McGrath.

Now, when one thinks of blogs, one often thinks of one-sided accounts, vicious attacks, and anonymity.

With all due respect to Jeff and Dave, neither of them lived up to the full potential of that side of blogging.

So, I think there is only one local blogger worthy of winning the title this year.

And that blogger is…

The Worcester PD.

Yes, there’s another press release out today.

Hector Pineiro the younger has been arrested on a violation of the conditions of his bail.

Wasn’t Pineiro the same person Judge Kenton-Walker released “back [on]to [the] street” just a week ago?  (It helps in this case if you have the WPD dictionary: “back to street” = “house arrest” in WPDese.)

And how did the probation department know “that Mr. Pineiro violated his terms of release by leaving his residence without authorization”?

If you relied on the WPD’s press releases for your news, you’d think the probation department only hired psychics.  They’ve never mentioned that Mr. Pineiro — rather than being released “back to the street” — was on house arrest with a GPS monitor on.

(update, 3:12pm — according to the Telegram, “Mr. Pineiro’s lawyer, Joan Fund, disputed the allegation in court today and said she had three witnesses who were prepared to testify that Mr. Pineiro was home the entire time. Ms. Fund accused prosecutors of engaging in a “smear” campaign against her client that she said was designed to taint the local jury pool.”)

And you never would have known that perhaps there are some bad feelings towards Judge Kenton-Walker because she decided “to bar [Nga] Truong’s interrogation from any upcoming jury trial.”

For all these reasons, and many, many, more, I would like you to join me in nominating the Worcester PD as Best Local Blog.

…

On a more serious note…

Sunshine Week 2012 is March 11-17.

Sunshine Week focuses on government transparency, and various activists have proposed items in the past.

This topic will be discussed soon on 508, and we’d like readers and listeners to make recommendations for changes the City of Worcester could make to improve transparency/community participation.

If you have recommendations, please leave a comment here or on P&C.