06/06/02  Canceling the Dallas Morning News

Officer M has the right idea in canceling his/her subscription to the Dallas Morning News.  
I did likewise some months ago: What a relief it is!

Indeed, "Boycott Belo" has a nice alliterative ring.

There is an element of almost sadness in this.  In the mayoral campaign, the words "world class city" were used by one of the questioners in a televised debate.  Such a debate, being a media presentation, is unlikely to evoke comments by the candidates on media issues. But we lack a world class newspaper, or even a decent one by US standards (big city or even small city).

In my opinion the Morning News is a sports tabloid (sans ads - check it out), wrapped in thick layer of fluffy filler (with ads), with an additional layer of agenda (or is that "Arena") driven rhetoric that does not even attempt to present a balanced - or even fair - editorial view of issues. The package is finished by applying a thin veneer of news. This layer is occasionally supplemented with stories picked up from the wire services of major US papers.

Such wire-service stories, while entirely useful and generally well done, serve best to direct the reader's attention to role that newspapers can - that is in other cities - play in the fostering a healthy democracy.

The Belo's blatant boosterism is smarmy at best, a disserve to Dallas at worst.

Dave Thompson