Monday, March 09, 2009

Mayor's Pet Reporter Nips at Mike Jameson's Heels Again

Nate Rau is at it again. The sniping Southcommer seems to lack any grasp of the possibility that a credible and principled Nashville leader--one of the Metro Council's best--might dissent from the almighty judgment of Mayor Karl Dean.

We see what "Analysis" at the City Paper means. It means defense of the Courthouse ruling class against any criticism.


UPDATE:  After giving Rau's article a second and third reading, I'm just thunderstruck that he essentially announces CM Mike Jameson's death sentence. How else should we interpret Rau's rather presumptuous opening sentence?
Mike Jameson’s political hill on which to die is a 17-acre plat of public land on the east bank of the Cumberland River.
What in the heck does that even mean? This is the same reporter who gave Eric Crafton another day to live defeat after defeat on English Only; and he is seriously suggesting that CM Jameson's political career is over if he opposes changes that the Mayor wants to make to the community-influenced plan on Riverfront development? Who does Rau think he is anyway? Some kind of kingmaker? A reporter pronouncing political death where one is not clear is inordinately assuming, given the tenuous lives that journalists must be experiencing with newspapers failing left and right. The sheer audacity amazes me.

4 comments:

  1. I attended Saturday's meeting and thought this was a fairly written article. It does not come off to me as being pro-dean in the least (actually it bloodies his nose a bit). Not sure what your personal issues are with Nate, but this article presents a good assessment of the situation.

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  2. Assuming I have "personal" issues with Nate Rau is a rather large assumption on your part.

    I don't know him personally, and so I've always judged him on his slanted and predisposed journalism.

    So, it looks like you would agree with Mr. Rau's epitaph of Mike Jameson's political career.

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  3. I was in a meeting today where Mr. Jameson publicly stated he was willing to write his own political obituary over seeing this through. I by no means think that this will be bad for his political career (only if he were somehow hoping for an appointment in Dean's office - which seems highly unlikely)- so I'm wondering if Rau actually heard Mike say that at Saturday's meeting (or something to that end) and included it as an intro hook.

    I think your take on the tone of this article was as slanted severe - just thought I would make an observation. Kept wondering if we were reading the same article.

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  4. Wait a minute, assuming you're the same anonymous who wrote above (this is a reason why I don't give anonymous commenters too much attention), you said that you were there and witnessed the whole thing. Did Jameson say it then or not?

    You're entitled to see me as slanted, although my next question is, "So, what?" I'm not a journalist. I take slants. Journalists are supposed to adhere to a code of objectivity. By editorializing his view of the Mayor and council, Rau's slant falls outside of that code. If Rau wants to blog or just pitch the Mayor's official lines, then he should stop being a pro journalist.

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