I must have missed the offical declaration, but this would seem to be "Kill the Messenger" month, or "Blame the Event on the Media" week, or something along those lines.

As anticipated, nobody was thrilled with last issue's news report on the September 13 RIRA Common Council meeting in which a handful of Councilors joined Patrick Stewart in skewering another member, while another handful pleaded with them to grow up and get on with the proceedings.  Both "sides" in the altercation expressed unhappiness with the report, each calling it unbalanced in favor of the other "side."

As a rule, journalists feel they've hit the balance when attacked by both contending sides of a story.  In this case, that's no comfort; it was painful reporting such disarray and anger in RIRA's Common Council.

Meanwhile, Prof. Richard Wade has put out a gently chiding broadside headlined The Main Street WIRE Goes Haywire Yet Again – a declaration complete with not one, but two, exclamation points.  Wade is apparently miffed that The WIRE opted not to publish one of his recent letters to the editor.  It was lengthy, and as I explained to Wade in an even longer note declining the opportunity to publish it (and pointing out several inaccuracies), it was much too self-referential.  That is, it was a letter about a letter, about a letter, about a meeting.  We like to do things in thorough depth around here, but that's going too far.

For the most part, as I wrote to Wade, letter-writers get their shot and, if writing on something controversial, they can expect return fire.  But letters turning in upon themselves in an Escher-like recursion would soon leave bored readers nodding off.

Meanwhile, Patrick Stewart (lead story) has extended his "resignation" from The RIRA President's Column (which he stopped supplying in January) by refusing to supply even a statement about his new-this-week candidacy for a third term as President of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association.  Just to make it firm and final, he circulated his refusal to all of the RIRA Common Council.

Stewart isn't the first politician to call a newspaper with his voice quavering in anger.  He won't be the last.  Mostly, politicians (perhaps not Stewart) think they are on a holy mission and that the press should report it that way.  But politics and politicians being what they are, there's always another side with equally pure credentials wanting it to be told their way.

No newspaper is perfect.  At The WIRE, we do our best and we try to be fair.  But it's not surprising that some otherwise solid citizens would want – figuratively, to be sure – to kill the messenger in reaction to the message.

On a much more pleasant note...

This column wouldn't be complete without welcoming Robert Laux-Bachand (Tex Allen feature) to The WIRE's roster of contributors.  A resident of Manhattan Park, he is, in "real life," an editor at The New York Times and we're immensely honored to have him aboard.

DL