The Joplin Globe took another public relations hit Monday when it barred the public from attending the Joplin R-8 Board of Education Forum in the Corley Auditorium at Missouri Southern State University.
Offhand, I can think of three reasons why this action might have been taken and none of them speak well of the Globe and Editor Carol Stark.
1. The Globe has stepped beyond the role of a chronicler of events, an entity which has a main duty of making sure the public is armed with the knowledge it needs to make informed decisions and has decided to play the role of kingmaker. There can be little doubt that Globe coverage over the past few years has been heavily tilted toward active boosterism, particularly where Joplin R-8 Superintendent C. J. Huff and former Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr are concerned. The conspiracy theory folks out there (and I am not sure I am not one of them) see the decision to close the board forum, but swing the doors wide open for next Monday's Joplin City Council forum, as an effort to keep those who oppose C. J. Huff from making their presence known and allowing those who are upset with the firing of Mark Rohr to play a major role at next week's forum.
2. One thing I have not heard, and I doubt seriously it is the case, but what if the presence of certain candidates at the school board forum was tied to not allowing any audience?
3. It is quite possible that Carol Stark erroneously believed that there is far more interest in the Joplin City Council race than in the Joplin R-8 race. Considering that the Globe has whitewashed many of the school district's problems (it actually treated C. J. Huff's proclamation that the teacher turnover was due to spouses getting jobs in other locations as gospel) and has shown little or no interest in talking with teachers or parents about concerns with the way the district is being operated, it may actually have no idea just how important this race is.
Feel free to comment.
3 comments:
what people like carol stark refuse to acknowledge is that many people in this small community know much more than she thinks that they know. After hundreds of teachers and hundreds of city employees talk to friends and relatives via various social media there are thousands of people that know the truth about huff and rohr.
The globe has lost all credibility with large numbers of people. When you lie about one thing everything you say is suspect.
If the globe is able to convince enough uninformed people to vote for their candidates and sway the election nothing will change. Make sure everyone you know knows how dishonest and biased the globe is and do everything you can to defeat any globe endorsed candidate.
HUFF&PUFF
I do not live in the Joplin city limits or JOplin school district so this does not affect me. However, I am curious why anyone would hhold a public forum and not allow the public to participate.
Post a Comment