And Newspapers Invented the Internet!

Today's City Paper editorial is another over-the-top harangue against the Mike Jameson's news rack bill. It comes begging the Mayor for a veto.

Aside from refusing to deal with the fact that hawking newspapers and their ads in a public thoroughfare is commerce, not free speech, the editors tell us that news racks are somehow responsible for bringing African Americans their civil rights in the 1960s. Forget voluntary associations like the SCLC, SNCC, and churches. Instead, African Americans owe their thanks to apartment guides in multi-colored plastic boxes glutting sidewalks.

Speaking of voluntary associations, the editors also refuse to accept responsibility for their negligence and the resulting blight that raises the concerns of neighborhood associations. Instead, they pass the buck to the Metro Police for not standing sentry over racks to deter vandalism and graffiti (embedded irony: a fellow newspaper wrote a promotional piece on local graffiti "artists" recently, even as police tell us that such vandalism is the most difficult crime to arrest and to prosecute). The CP believes that responsibility for the unkempt condition of their news racks lies elsewhere.

Speaking of lies, the editors continue to tell the lie that commercial sales of newspapers, not the act of writing the news itself, is a First Amendment issue. They also lie when they call themselves independent; they are beholden to the corporate owners and entrenched politicos who influence the news and reap the benefits of distribution.

[Photo credit: cdub]