Here we go again… Somebody at the Arizona Daily Star wants to be mayor, but didn’t have the guts to run

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Here we go again… Back in April of this year, The Arizona Daily Star published gratuitous Tucson bashing in an opinion ironically captioned Tucson needs you to quit carping and get involved calling upon the citizenry to please, oh pretty please, run for mayor of Tucson. We don't like our candidates.

My response was to issue a challenge: Blog for AZ issues a challenge: If you think you can do a better job of running this city, then you run for office and let the voters decide:

I have had enough of the constant bashing of the City of Tucson by its local daily newspaper, the Arizona Daily Star. Ever since Lee Enterprises bought what was once a great local newspaper, the Star has degenerated into a rag resembling Rupert Murdoch's New York Post. It is gradually drifting towards becoming the Weekly World News (of "Bat Boy" fame).

The systematic destruction of a once great local newspaper should be considered a crime in a country that enshrined the media as the only business expressly given constitutionally protected rights in the U.S. Constitution. The editors and publisher of the Arizona Daily Star are abusing this sacred trust.

The problem as I understand it from speaking to people familiar with the operations of the Arizona Daily Star is "Metro Team Leader" editor Joe Burchell, and his boys frick and frack: "news" reporter Rob O'Dell, whose reporting contains so much editorial commentary it belongs on the opinion page, and "opinion" columnist Josh Brodesky whose column runs in the news section instead of on the opinion page where it belongs. The Star has erased the traditional firewall between news content and opinion content — following the FAUX News Fraudcasting model.

These three individuals hold a mighty high opinion of themselves and believe that they can do a better job of running the City of Tucson than anyone else. Well, Blog For Arizona issues a challenge: If you think you can do a better job of running this city, then you run for office and let the voters decide. Resign from the Star and file to run for office on Monday morning. Seriously. Let's hear your solutions instead of your constant sniping from the sidelines. Face the voters.

Of course, no one at the the Arizona Daily Star had the guts to quit their job and run for office to present their solutions for Tucson to the voters. They are too good for that. They think too highly of themselves to subject their solutions to the test of the voters. "Piffle! What do the voters know anyhow?"

Now that we have held a primary election and the voters of Tucson have made their selections, the Arizona Daily Star is back again today with one of the most condescending looking-down-their-nose patrician editorial opinions I have seen since – well, April. It's almost as if George F. Will sitting in his ivory tower wrote this for them. Mayoral hopefuls would do well to understand the job. Some dripping with condescension highlights:

• Good grief, do these two understand the role of the mayor?
• All well and general. But exactly what downtown projects do each of you support? What should the city do to make them happen?
• We don't mean to be too harsh at this early point in the general-election campaign. Tucson needs better leadership and bless these candidates for stepping up.
• But please, gentlemen, long before Nov. 8 show us that you understand the job of the mayor and have a detailed vision for the future of our city.

The fact that anyone at the Arizona Daily Star deems him or herself more qualified to be mayor of Tucson is a joke. These people can't even manage to run a newspaper, let alone a city government. Is the Arizona Daily Star headed for bankruptcy?:

Today the Tucson Weekly reports Layoffs at the Arizona Daily Star | The Range:

The long-standing financial woes of Lee Enterprises trickled down to the Arizona Daily Star, and in a big way. [[Today] the Arizona Daily Star finally confirmed that the newspaper cut 52 people in all departments — posting a story on its website in its business section.]

* * *.

Lee, based in Davenport, Iowa, has been in the midst of major money woes for the last few years. It is in the process of attempting to realign a massive debt payment due in April of 2012, but has refused numerous options involving junk bond proposals in hopes of a better deal. If the company can’t come to terms, bankruptcy looms as a very real option. Sources involved in Lee negotiations suggested that possibility was on the table as a result of meetings with creditors that have occurred over the course of the last two weeks.

Lee stock has tumbled from near three dollars in March to under a dollar in July. On July 8, the New York Stock Exchange warned Lee that delisting looms if it can’t consistently get its stock price above one dollar in the next six months.

The Arizona Daily Star editors would do to the City of Tucson what they have done to a once great local newspaper… run it into the ground. So why should anyone listen to what they have to say?

Before the Arizona Daily Star selectively points out the splinters in our mayoral candidates' eyes, they should remove the plank for their own eye by firing the individual who keeps writing this drivel.