Yesterday's post about Emma Tropiano generated some expected replies. When I referred to an agenda at the Morning Call back in the day, people piped in with a 2020's point of view. Now we hear about left vs right, CNN vs Fox, fake news, etc.. Back then papers had local agendas, this mayor, that developer and this or that project.
The consolidation of the newspaper industry has certainly affected the Morning Call. Now a Tribune paper, it no longer has a building, office space or presses. The paper is composed in Chicago, printed in Jersey City and distributed in Allentown. The local reporters are, for the most part, young and new to the area. The editor's background is in digital production, which is not inappropriate in 2025.
In yesterday's post, I refer to a Bill White quote about Emma not having a new idea in forty years. Ironically, Bill is still the paper's columnist, and he's reprinting posts from forty years ago. The opinion page still has editorials from the same non-profit heads, writing about business in the valley. What they have in common is that none of them ever had a real job, and they're all gray now. However, the paper is a useful tool for the current local establishment, printing what they're given, with few, if any questions asked.
The only local thing I enjoy reading is this blog, because by the morning, I forgot what I wrote the night before :)
ReplyDelete“The only local thing I enjoy reading is this blog…”
Same here, since this is the one place where I learn (from both your posts and the comments that they spur) what’s actually going on in the city.
Thank YOU for what you do.
Ha!. one of the advantages of short term memory loss.
ReplyDeleteAnd isn't this exactly how Allentown has arrived at near ruin and become corrupted? The almost total lack of critical reporting for the past two decades on the part of the local media played a big part. Lacking a viable opposition party the only oversight of the local government is the press. Frankly I truly believe they wouldn't have a clue about anything I have written here.
ReplyDeleteYou are spot on...In the very early days of his corrupt behavior as Mayor, it was bloggers and informed citizens reporting on Pawlowski getting comped free meals at downtown restaurants, free vacations at the house in Key West and the free man cave fit out of his basement (without the necessary permits of course). The press never reported on any of it.
DeleteRight, sir, indeed!!! The Call never reported on it (and many other topics) till they were backed into a corner and had to fess up. Such a bunch of schnooks. AKA: lying by omission!!!
DeleteThere was a time when a local newspaper served as a watchdog to oversee government decision-making. It worked as an independent ‘check valve’ that investigated and monitored performance of those who claimed to work in the public interest. We BELIEVED in that protection and the information we read was considered accurate and trustworthy.
ReplyDeleteThe Morning Call today is something much different. It’s no longer bound just to report accurately and fairly, but to SHAPE what we see and believe. It carefully selects national and local content that fits its own heavily liberal, big government agenda. It censors our access to certain news and views that deviate from its own corporate agenda. That’s PROPAGANDA designed to deceive. I find this behavior insulting. I surely don’t want, or need, to pay for that.
You know, when the title of today’s entry used the descriptor ‘useful tool,’ I actually thought of Bill White.
Yes, Bill White has been mostly on the wrong side of things when he should be expressly situated in the absolute center to do his job properly, but he's always been a cheerleader and will continue in that arena. Glad he is semi retired.
DeleteThe Call, at this point, is useful only for the obituaries and that feature is diminished since they switched providers.
The ghost of the once valued Allentown Morning Call continues as no more than a haunting in its former market. No longer relevant, it has no opinion worth printing and is more like an advertising flyer from Ollies promoting ends of lots, castoffs or discounted surpluses. Oh well, I guess it's just another sign of prescribed political times when the useful idiots ascribe value to a useful tool.
ReplyDeleteI subscribed to the Morning Call until about 2010. I decided not to renew my online subscription as i really wasn't interested in it any longer.
ReplyDeleteI do value my subscription however to newspapers.com, which gives me access to the Morning Call archives, which gives me a lot of information about the Allentown of the past.
In fairness to Bill White, he is a convenient target for my complaints about the Morning Call. However, I have met many people who have enjoyed his columns for many years. I believe he remains popular with the subscribers.
ReplyDeleteI only get the Sunday paper delivered to my home. Each edition I marvel at the fact that nearly every letter to the editor is seemingly written by the Democrat party. Check the June 8 edition to see what I mean.
ReplyDelete