A Free Press in Philly,..but at What Price?

Well,.it finally happened. Brian Tierney and a group of local investors, purchased the Inkwaster and Daily Fishwrapper from Knight-Ridder and McClatchy.

Here's the good:

The local owners will keep the company, Philadelphia Media Holdings, privately owned. That means:

After all, in an era of Wall Street-backed media conglomerates, what Tierney was trying to do - take back hometown control of Philadelphia's two newspapers - was simply something that wasn't done. At least, that's what people thought - before they actually talked with Tierney.

No quarterly bottom line, no pandering to stockholders, just running a Philly paper the Philly way!

Now, the bad news:

I've always been an admirer of Brian Tierney. He's pushed his way through the bulls**t for years. So, it puzzles me that the local media, while constantly harping that he has ties to the Republican Party, got him to capitulate editorial control:

"How does this guy go from being our slayer to being our savior?"

Tierney, a longtime Republican activist, for years ran a public-relations firm that employed what reporters viewed as hardball tactics in representing the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and other major local institutions that were the focus of critical news stories.

But he said yesterday, over and over again, that, as the co-owner of The Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News, he would respect the editorial independence of the publisher, editors and reporters.

That promise, he noted, was written into the partnership agreement signed by the new owner-investors, which states that "no member shall attempt to influence" news articles.

Although media outlets are frequently accused of one form of bias or another, it is a basic value of American journalism that the newsroom should be independent of the economic or political interests of those who own it.

Tierney said that he and his partners recognized that the fastest way to hurt their investment would be to jeopardize editorial independence.


So,..Brian, as I understand it, its perfectly OK for a group of fifth columnists and Wall Street hacks to push a socialist agenda in our press media (the Inkwaster showered John Kerry with unending praise in the months leading up to November 2004. So much for objectivity, huh?), but rather than stick your neck out and push the two Philly papers back towards the middle ground, you've given your balls over to the same idiots who've ruined what's left of the press' journalistic integrity?? Get your testicles back from the unions who run the Inkwaster and I'll give you my 50 cents again!

'Nuff said!