Joel Brand writes: > At one time the SW Journal was a comfortable community newspaper > highlighting the happenings and events in SW Mpls. Over the past few years > this paper has broadened its reach to a point where is really is no longer a > SW Mpls newspaper. A significant number of the articles (especially lead > stories) have nothing to do with SW Minneapolis.
I would challenge Joel to cite even one SW Journal article that has "nothing to do with SW Minneapolis." For example, here are our last 6 cover features: 7/8 Whether Brian Rice's Park Board contributions and $400,000 Park Board contract pose a conflict. One of the "pegs" for this story is a controversy over the Wirth House/Superintendant's House - in SW Minneapolis. 7/8 "The Neighborhood Way of Death." Profile of Paul Costello, who lived in Linden Hills and was a rallying point for his close-knit block. It's about how his neighbors remembered him - quintessentially SW. 6/24 "The McKinsey Report: What does it mean to SW neighborhoods?" Comments from every SW councilmember and SW neighborhood leaders are highlighted - local focus you won't find anywhere else. 6/24 Fountain Blues. About the trouble maintaining a gift to the Minneapolis Park System that was once slated for the Walker Art Center's front yard, but which wound up in Loring Park. Both the Walker and Loring are in SWJ territory. 6/10 Profile of the Teen Challenge program. They operate two major treatment programs in SW, one of which they hope to expand. 6/10 Burroughs Tile mural in peril. It's in a SW school in Lynnhurst, a SW neighborhood. 5/27 Profile of Dan Boivin, Mayor Rybak's appointee to the Metropolitan Airports Commission. Boivin is a SW resident, and airport noise is clearly a SW issue. 5/27 Park employee charged in Loring stabbing. Highlights gaps in the Park Board's background check system. Loring Park again, a SWJ neighborhood. <snip> > And, for whatever reason, the SW Journal has some bee in their bonnet and > appears to want to lambaste the Minneapolis Park system that works very > hard, with a minimal budget, to provide services to our residents. I suspect this is the real reason for Joel's hard feelings toward the paper. (He sent out the Park Board's response to Council budget cuts yesterday.) It's true, we've had several stories examining Park Board issues lately. But I would argue every one of those stories had merit, and in no case have we been challenged on the facts. We have also had several stories that I suspect the Park Board loved, including a great piece on fishing in city lakes, a profile of the person who programs Lake Harriet concerts (with a complete calendar!), leash policies that the Park Board needed publicized, etc. Our bee keeps company with a butterfly. > Every time a read a SW Journal I wonder how we could get the Sun Current > Newspapers to offer a replacement paper. Their newspaper is much more > community oriented, and filled with "happy news". For hard news I look to > the "real" NEWSpapers. This is a distinction I think few other readers make. I've lived in SW since the Journal started - as a reader, columnist and employee, and I've never had someone say "gee, could the Journal stop doing stories on city government? I'd rather just have the Star Tribune cover that." More often, people are immensely grateful there is another local paper that takes civic issues seriously. Also - and I suppose I protest too much - there's plenty of "happy news" in our paper. It's just that we cover a range of stories, not just cute kids and puppies. > The SW Journal needs to decide if they want to be a SW Mpls newspaper, or > the Skyway News. They most certainly, in my opinion (and I hear the same > from others) no longer represent SW Mpls. Actually, we want to be a SW Minneapolis newspaper AND Skyway News (which we also own). And, even though I'm not objective, I think we've improved Skyway's credibility immensely since we took it over last September. I hope it doesn't cause too much confusion if there's yet another "real" newspaper in town. David Brauer King Field Editor, Skyway News & Southwest Journal _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
