Posted on 10/08/2006 3:53:48 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
On Sept. 30, about 100 people carrying protest signs and handfuls of dirt rallied at the Alamo to protest Gov. Rick Perry's massive toll road plan. Perry's feisty challenger, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, spoke at the event, which was not covered by the Express-News.
Our no-show wasn't a judgment call. A reporter who was notified about the rally simply did not pass the information on to editors who decide what to cover and who will cover it.
It was a flub, primarily by the Express-News, but also by the organizer, the San Antonio Toll Party, which needs to be more effusive in its notification process.
That notwithstanding, the paper wasn't there, and last week Editor Robert Rivard and the hierarchy here heard about it.
"You cover garbage and sweep the important things under the rug," wrote John Hutson in an e-mail to Rivard. "How much are you being paid to not report opposition to toll roads?"
"It isn't your place to suppress the news but to report it," wrote Robert McKechnie.
Snowed by more than 50 e-mails, most of them harsh and sarcastic, Rivard responded:
"We missed an event which was staged with little notice to the newspaper, which is no excuse, since one of our reporters did know about it and failed to alert editors.
"What is disturbing is how quickly some of the anti-toll road forces have galvanized to conduct a somewhat shrill spam campaign against the newspaper, asserting that we have failed to cover the issue or that our coverage is guided by some pro-toll road agenda.
"That's simply not the case. We've covered the issue aggressively and in far greater depth than any other media."
Let's check the record.
Since the first story on Perry's ambitious Trans-Texas Corridor was published, on Jan. 29, 2002, the Express-News has published 101 mentions of it.
That includes 15 Page 1 stories, 17 on the Metro front, four on the business front and 17 on the editorial-commentary pages.
Meanwhile, since its first mention in the Express-News on Aug. 14, 2005, the San Antonio Toll Party has received 32 mentions, including four Metro front stories and three pieces in editorial-commentary.
There's no shame in that. That is a worthy record. Plus E-N transportation writer Patrick Driscoll is an active blogger on these topics (for those who fancy blogging).
Despite that, Terri Hall, the regional director of the Toll Party, gives the Express-News a C on its toll road coverage.
"There is massive, massive opposition. It's just not getting covered," Hall contends. As for the Alamo rally, she adds: "With people saying there is no opposition, well there it was. It showed up. And you didn't cover it."
Laura Dylla told me via an e-mail that some protesters "brought handfuls of their home-place dirt to tell Governor Perry that this was all the ground they were going to get from them without a fight."
She asked, quite civilly, why we didn't cover the Alamo rally. Here is what I told her:
Because there is always a potential for human error when groups are having an event ... it is good to speak with media people multiple times, ensuring someone will be there, giving them good numbers to reach organizers ... but don't assume that one phone call or news release will do.
There is a lot of information coming into this place. It isn't out of the question — as our slip-up Saturday proved — for things to get misplaced.
The Trans-Texas Corridor is a 50-year, 4,000-mile, hundreds-of-billions-of-dollars plan. Its quarter-mile-wide pathways will greatly alter the Texas landscape. It will turn over thousands of acres of private property to private road builders. It is not to be taken lightly, and more information is needed.
Toward that end, the Express-News will continue to probe, but it may not cover every event that showcases anger (or glee) or some politician.
Whether you're for toll roads, against them, or just curious, education is a noble goal — for journalists and for all Texans. This issue needs more light, less manure and less darkness.
Trans-Texas Corridor PING!
Yet only a hundred showed up for the rally in a city the size of SA.
This article/thread shows that few showed up, apparently in what was a major anti event covering 40 counties.
Says it all. It is just one lie after another with these anti-TTC groups, the facts be damned.
Ben, there were just a handful of people who showed up in that particular "bring a cupful of dirt" protest, because it simply wasn't well publicized. It had the potential to be a "major anti event" as you suggest, but only if it had been publicized.
I'm all over the TTC, and I didn't know about this demonstration until the last minute. I didn't go.
Don't let the slight turnout fool you. Look instead at the turnout across the state during public hearings this summer. Overwhelmingly negative, and, no, we were not heard.
Diddle, the TTC is getting some coverage now, true. The shame is that legislation and constitutional authority to build it was passed in cloudy legal language while the plan was still a secret.
Shame on us for our ignorance.
Seems like the Texas Constitution is amended every time we go to the polls. Hard to stay abreast of what's going on, and few vote with knowledge. Round One went solidly to Perry and the folks he works for -- not the people of Texas, by the way.
Voters simply didn't know what the Powers That Be had in mind. Too bad somebody didn't smell the stink several years ago and shine a light then on what was really going on.
I have just finished browsing thru google news and notice articles from many local newspapers and everyone that I saw had very, very light turnout.
As for turnout during the public hearings, I don't recall huge numbers protesting, especially if you consider that Grandma was using those as campaign events.
If you really want to see some big protests, try raising the gas tax a buckagallon to pay for these roads.
BTTT
bump.
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