Newspaper Page Text
THIS WEEK’S ISSUE:
NEWS & FEATURES
RAISE HELL
Financial pressure has caused the Banner-Herald publisher
to ban controversy from the paper's editorial pages, to avoid
the possibility of offending advertisers, politicians or anybody
else. Thus does he offend the whole community by abrogat
ing his newspaper's duty to "print the news and raise hell"
Printing the news is vital but is not enough. A newspaper
serves its town by^raising important issues and speaking to
them, and it's not enough to sanitize the paper while surrepti
tiously introducing a chorus of malevolent commenters online
as the paper looks the other way.
The abdication of the Banner-Heralds core journalistic
responsibility hobbles Athens' civic life and emboldens those
who advance their own agendas to the detriment of the com
munity as a whole: the rampant growth of medical buildings in
the Prince Avenue area, the continuing proliferation of student
housing, the WalMartization of downtown, the balkanization of
our political boundaries, the encroachment of the university,
proposals to siphon our meager public school money into pri
vate academies, senators and representatives whose first alle
giance is to the other, rural communities that surround us.
One could of course be grateful for this silence, since there
have been so many times in the past when the Banner-Herald
has led the charge for all of the above, but at least it had a
voice. The present eerie silence
means that a powerful beacon has
been switched off, leaving deals to
be done in the dark.
_ Though we try to keep our pages
open to anyone with something to
say, Flagpole's editorial stance is
unabashedly liberal. The absence of a counterpoint from the
Banner-Herald can make us sound shrill and one-sided.
We tend to forget that newspapers are also businesses and
that a publisher, who is a general manager responsible for the
business as well as the journalism, always has a balancing act
Few publishers will err on the side of letting the journalism
harm the business; usually it is the other way around, though
there are some notable exceptions like the Washington Post
curtailing its advertising to keep its news pages strong during
World War II, when newsprint was scarce.
Until the present economic downturn, we were more famil
iar with the pattern of newspaper chains buying their com
petition and putting them out of business, the sad meetings
in the newsroom to hear the announcements that it was all
over, that the hardworking reporters and editors were out of
their jobs, not because they didn't do them well, but because
their owners had sold them out. (It happened here back in
1967 when the Morris corporation, which had just bought the
Banner-Herald, forced the locally owned upstart, The Athens
Daily-News, to sell out—though Morris continued to operate
both papers.)
Now the Morris corporation, because of similar though much
larger deals air over the country using borrowed money, can't
meet its debt obligations and is leaning on all its newspapers
for money to prop up the parent company. Hence the Banner-
Herald publisher's desperation, because no matter how much .
he squeezes out of the Banner-Herald through layoffs and
cutbacks and a timid editorial policy, the Morrises continue
to demand more. What used to be the strength of the Banner-
Herald, the Morris corporation behind it, is now its weakness.
And that weakness means that the dark forces in our com-
City Dope 5
Athens News and Views
A dramatic vision for the redevelopment of Athens’ Jack R. Wells Homes, and the
same old plan for state Republicans.
Athens Rising 7
What’s Up in New Development
We need to shift our baselines for imagining the potential of our natural
surroundings.
7; ;; a gwiw j'@
Art Notes .9
Out of ATHICA
Director Lizzie Zucker Saltz relinquishes the helm of the nonprofit.
Movie Pick 11
About a Girl
Margaret my not be perfect, but it’s daring filmmaking nonetheless.
MUSIC
Threats & Promises ........... 12
Music News & Gossip
Pilgrim announces Indie GoGo campaign! Athens PopFest is no more! Live music
and fun on the Broad River!
SXMX: American & Mexican Music.. 15
Opening the Borders within Athens
Matt Hudgins brings country music and Latin culture together.
LETTERS
4
THE HEAP
... 13
CITY DOPE
....5
SXMX
....15
CITY PAGES
6
THE CALENDAR!
....16
CAPITOL IMPACT
7
BULLETIN BOARD
....20
ATHENS RISING
....7
ART AROUND TOWN ....
....21
FARMERS MARKET
....8
COMICS
....22
ART NOTES
....9
REALITY CHECK.......
....23
MOVIE DGPE
...10
CLASSIFIEDS
... .24
MOVIE PICK
...11
CROSSWORD
....25
THREATS & PROMISES..
...12
COMMENT
....26
CROOKED FINGERS
...12
EVERYDAY PEOPLE
....27
EDITOR ft PU8USHER Pete McCommons
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR A PUBUSHER Alicia Nickles
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Lany Tenner
MANAGING EDITOR Christina Cotter
ADVERTISING SALES Anita Aubrey, Melinda Edwards, Jessica Pritchard
MUSIC EDITOR Michelle Gitzenrat
CITY EDITOR Dave Manr
CLASSIFIEDS, DISTRIBUTION ft OFFICE MANAGER Jessica Smith
ASSISTANT OFFICE MANAGER Sydney Slotkin
AD DESIGNERS Kelly Hart. Cindy Jerreil
CARTOONISTS Cameron Bogue, Lee Gatlin, Missy Kulik, Jeremy Long, David Mack, Clint McElroy
ADOPT ME Special Agent Cindy Jerreil
CONTRIBUTORS Caroline Barratt, Tom Crawford, Chris Hassiotis, Derek Hill, Melissa Hovanes,
John Huie, Jyl Inov, Gordon Lamb, T. Ballard Lesemann, Jodi Murphy, Drew Wheeler,
Donald £. Wilkes, Kevan Williams
CIRCULATION Charles'Greenleaf, Ruty Kendrick, Jesse Mangum, John Richardson,
Will Donaldson
WEB DESIGNER Kelly Hart
CALENDAR Jessica Smith
ADVERTISING INTERNS Fiona Nolan, Amy Chmielewski ^
MUSIC INTERNS Carolyn Amanda Dickey, Erinn Waldo
Printing the
news is vital but
is not enough.
munity have more room to expand. Our Republican legisla
tive leaders, for instance—Senators Cowsert and Ginn and
Representative McKiUip—are freer to continue their attacks on
our governmental integrity, to continue subdividing us, split
ting our community of interest, our political cohesiveness, our
geographical boundaries, the support of our public schools—
because they do not represent Athens. They can only get re
elected by pleasing the people in the outlying counties. They
show those folks their loyalty by stepping on Athens.
With the Banner-Herald silent or supportive, an improving
economy will mean our community is up for grabs by develop
ers, the university, the hospitals, as well as our politicians—
everybody who stands to gain by subverting the safeguards
that protect the integrity of our town.
Flagpole will continue^fighting for our community. It would
be good to have more help.
Pete McCommons editor@flagpole.com
STREET ADDRESS: 112 Foundry St., Athens, GA 30601
MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 1027, Athens, GA 30603
EDITORIAL (706) 549-9523 • ADVERTISING: (706) 549-0301 ■ FAX: (706) 548-8981
ADVERTISING: adsOflagpole.com
CALENDAR: calendarOflagpole.com
COMICS: comicsQflagpole.com
EDITORIAL editorQflagpole.com
LETTERS: lettersOflagpole.com
MUSIC: musicOflagpole.com
NEWS: newsOftagpole.com
WEBSITE: webOflagpole.com
Flagpole, lac. publishes Fhgpote tbfpztno weekly and distributes 14,500 copies tree at over
275 locations around Athens, Georgia. Subscriptions cost $70 a year, $40 for six months.
Q 2012 Flagpole, Inc. Alt rights reserved.
VOLUME 26
ISSUE NUMBER
60
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MAY 16,2012 • FLAGPOLE.COM 3