MANIPULATIVE MEDIA

AURORA, the essence of Colorado’s once high-flying cities, is experiencing a budget shortfall (isn’t everybody?), so the Denver Post comes up with a story on 3/12/09 headlined “Hard times for Aurora libraries.” Unfortunately, the Post falls for the same old formula used by politicians to get what they want (more money) by threatening immediate cuts in popular services such as libraries (and filling potholes in the streets.) And like good little boys and girls the taxpayers will probably open their pocketbooks wide.

SPEAKING OF good little boys and girls, Ward Churchill’s tort lawyer has lots of so-called journalists in the region’s print and electronic news media pretty much wrapped around his finger. This case may have to go through the U.S. Supreme Court before we ordinary citizens find out if it is possible for a college professor to hide behind the First Amendment for committing academic violations for which he was duly tried and found guilty by his own peers.

TALKING ABOUT M&M (manipulative media), it looks like we’ve got a suspect ahead. Suddenly blossoming out with their own taxpayer-funded newspaper (isn’t that nice?), could it be that the members of Longmont City Council see an election lurking on the horizon? Possibly, but there may be something else going on here: the growing tendency of those who govern us, even at the local level, of wanting us to believe that we cannot exist or even live our lives correctly without their voluminous official information being poked down our throats in one way or another. As everyone knows, the City already has numerous communication avenues (most of which we can take or leave) including person-to-person, a Web site (which could stand some upgrading), utility-bill enclosures, two exclusive TV channels, weekly meetings, a local daily newspaper that's legitimate, and local FM and AM radio stations. But what better way to attract favorable attention than to control the content of and periodically distribute a newspaper to every mailbox in the city. Who is next to enter this costly publicity game? Will the Boulder County Commissioners soon be publishing their own newspaper, courtesy of the taxpayers and distributing it to us? How about the St. Vrain Valley school district? Shouldn’t RTD be putting out a newspaper also to communicate with us about FasTracks? Oh, and DRCOG and Gov. Ritter and the state Legislature, wow! Just think of all the possibilities. First thing you know our mailboxes will be stuffed with government propaganda -- just like the turkeys that we are.
P.