I am distressed about the way some reporting is being handled at the News Tribune.
On May 15, an "Overheard" was published on the Opinion page. The collection of quotes from Duluth Schools Superintendent Keith Dixon was billed as "straight from the superintendent's mouth" and the result of "a quite-candid, nearly two-hour conversation," during which we "hit him with everything. ..."
This supposed hard-hitting journalism was the work of the editorial board, an entity one would expect to possess skills to produce truly in-depth reporting.
On May 17, a column was published ("Parents cry foul over ouster of beloved St. James principal") of about 800 words, written by Chuck Frederick of the News Tribune editorial board, the same board that produced the earlier piece on Dixon. The column addressed a staffing issue at a small, private school where, apparently, Frederick has at least one student enrolled. The piece was afforded about two and a half times the space a letter to the editor is allowed and a third more space than the News Tribune usually allows for professional or specialist points of view columns. Clearly, the extra space was allowed because Frederick is editorial page editor.
My point is that the person or the people who own the printing presses are the ones who decide what is news. This is elitist and manipulative; it preserves the power for the powerful and leaves the majority with a minority voice.
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This is not the first time this charge has been leveled at the News Tribune, and I hope that somewhere, sometime, this will be corrected. The News Tribune is the only daily newspaper we have in Duluth, and, as a community, we rely on the News Tribune to provide focused, meaningful and balanced news, important to the whole community -- not just to those with the power of a press.
Cheryl Stotesbery
Duluth
