Our Newspapers Are Burning (Their Credibility)

With the election of Chris Coleman on Tuesday as Mayor of St. Paul, the media-political industrial complex continued to strengthen in the Twin Cities. Joining the conflict of interest in-laws from Minneapolis (RT Rybak and his sister-in-law Debra Caulfield Rybak from the Star Tribune), we now have the new Mayor of St. Paul, marching into office, merrily escorted by his brother and sister-in-law. Yes, it's Nick Coleman and Laura Billings, who just happen to be the lead metro columnists for the only two daily newspapers in town.

This level of easy access and built-in sympathetic favor from the press is any politician's dream come true. And it should be any citizen's nightmare. Politicians with ambitious agendas in control of vast resources of the public money and the primary agents of information we rely on to assess their performance are populated with busom blood relatives. Joseph Pulitzer must be turning in his grave (assuming he's dead).

And with their first beaming columns out of the box regarding their beloved brother's triumph, we get a taste of what the next four years might be like. Not just fawning coverage of St. Paul's Mayor elect, but nearly identical fawning coverage.

From His column:

Chris Coleman has what it takes to be a great mayor and serve his city with distinction.

From Her column:

In the next four years, Chris Coleman could do great things for this city - I hope he will

From His column:

If he does, you won't hear a peep from me, and that is as it should be: I took no part in the politicking and I won't take part in the horn-blowing. But if he screws up, all bets are off: Ink is thicker than blood, and I can take him to the woodshed, if he needs it.

From Her column:

... but it won't be my job to praise him. Of course, if he screws up, piling on is part of the job description.

In between heaping praise on the new Mayor of St. Paul, they assure us they won't be in the business of praising the new Mayor of St. Paul. Well that's a relief.

But, to take a wild hypothetical, if they are tempted to tell us how great he is, was, or will be, what will happen? From Her column:

If he makes me proud, my ethics policy prevents me from saying so.

A policy, we're saved! I'll assume that ethics policy goes into effect sometime before she writes her NEXT column about him.

Of course, just in case that policy is delayed further (or indefinitely), we consumers of news will need to digest their commentary on anything related to St. Paul with the utmost of skepticism and critical analysis. Alas, another burden for the reader. Yet another filter we're forced to utilize in our attempts to get objective information from the news providers in this town.

There is one alternative. For the real, objective truth of what the future of St. Paul will look like, I recommend Sisyphus from Nihilist in Golf Pants.