So today’s the big day, where Democrats in Burlington caucus and choose their candidate for mayor. If nobody was going to stream the event, I was going up there to do so for GMD, but since VPR is going for it (link), I’ll probably stay home.
But it’s also a moment of truth of sorts for Seven Days, the Burlington newsweekly. Seven Days garners a lot of its readership due to its political coverage, and that coverage of this particular race has, of course, brought about this disclaimer which has become a regular feature on its letters page:
Full Disclosure
State Sen. Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden), a candidate in the Burlington mayoral race, is the domestic partner of Seven Days publisher and coeditor Paula Routly. Routly is not assigning or editing stories or columns about Burlington politics for the duration of the campaign. Seven Days staffer Andy Bromage now has that role.
It’s always been a point of tension, made even more difficult by the fact that Seven Days works not simply to cover local politics, but tries to be provocative. It’s been an issue – and a point of much murmuring – with Ashe the city councilor, Ashe the state senatorial candidate, and Ashe the state senator. But Ashe the mayoral candidate was apparently the breaking point, of sorts, bringing forth a more comprehensive and ongoing disclaimer.
The truth is, it has always been more of a conflict of interest/editorial integrity issue than Routly and Seven Days have wanted to acknowledge. It’s more of an issue now than this small disclaimer can cover – after all, we’re not simply talking about a reporter, or even just an editor, we’re talking about a publisher in Routly. A founder. An owner.
I’m not bringing this up to beat up on Seven Days. Nor would I suggest that their coverage of the mayor’s race has been inappropriate – it’s been good, fair, and even-handed, so far as I can tell. I’ve both beat up on Seven Days and sung its praises in the past. In this case I’m doing neither. In fact, I feel for the folks up there and have no good sense of how they should handle this conundrum.
It’s hard to imagine Seven Days of all places simply choosing not to cover the mayoral race – or the State Senate. And yet, I’ll be dammed if I can come up with an alternative solution that satisfies the demands of basic journalistic and institutional integrity and not just in the abstract ethical context. In the concrete sense of the credibility of the 7 Days brand – everything and anything written that is positive or complimentary about Ashe in any political context on the pages of 7 Days is already looked upon with automatic skepticism by readers of all political stripes in my experience (and anything negative is likely questioned as well, in a reverse-psychological sense).
If it wasn’t already, that little disclaimer will be woefully inadequate should Ashe become the Democratic nominee for mayor today.
Should Ashe actually become mayor of Burlington, forget it – it’s virtually impossible to imagine any way Seven Days can cover Burlington politics with any credibility.
And I feel bad for them. What’s Ashe supposed to do, ditch his ambitions? What’s Routly supposed to do, ditch her career?
It sucks, but there it is (might be interesting for commenters to brainstorm solutions…).
It may not matter. Ashe is likely to start the voting with a plurality, but will probably not make it to the nomination stage due to the runoff voting system, which will allow votes of the other three to coalesce against him.
The fact is, Ashe losing today could well be the best thing that could happen to Seven Days.
Of course, he could then run as a Prog or and Independent anyway…
…Unless it is to say that the State of Vermont, and therefore Seven Days greater readership, is much larger than Burlington alone; much larger than Chittenden County alone.
For many of us, the Chittenden-centrique focus of the press could do with a little broadening. Should Ashe be the nominee, let Seven Days turn its attentions outward to consider the social and political dramas playing out in countless communities well beyond Burlington.
I remember once hearing art critic Clement Greenberg opine that any art that was going on more than twenty miles outside of New York City simply didn’t matter. He thought he we was standing in God’s right hand, but from my perspective, he was simply being provincial.
couldn’t Tim become a republican and 7Days do some kind of affiliation with FOX??? that would seem to solve all the issues and has been a well used tactic in the past????
like this is exactly the way to handle it. remind us what’s going on, and then go about the business of reporting. i have to say, i’m routinely impressed by the rigor of 7 days reporting. and this kind of open, obvious relationship troubles me much less–precisely because its open–than the endless murky dealings that often intertwine publishers and power structures.
and btw, what a small miracle that 7 days has managed to thrive even in an internet age, which has sapped most alternative papers around the country. they’re very good at what they do, or so it seems to this reader.
always has been and always likely will. Ever since Peter “The Bernie lover” Freyne wrote Inside Track. Peter used to call WCAX “GOP-TV” and complained about the Freep (more directly Gannett) for having a republican editor in Burlington. Political news isn’t the reporting of sports scores. It takes a level of media literacy by readers to judge the facts.
“the demands of basic journalistic and institutional integrity and not just in the abstract ethical context”
The emphasis is on “demands”. There isn’t a protocol for this kind of conduct. Even this article on Green Mountain Daily is part of that process.
Will Tim Ashe become the Berlusconi of Burlington? I guess we’ll see.