Mayors fire volley at newspaper

Dear Editor:
As the mayors of Alcoa, Maryville and Blount County all three of us have seen our home here in Blount County change and grow. We have obtained most of our local news from The Daily Times over the past 60 or so years of our lives. First of all, let us say that we whole-heartedly support a free press and the concept of a “fair and balanced” local newspaper. Unfortunately, the term “fair and balanced,” in our opinion, has declined so much over the past two or three years at The Daily Times that it is almost now non-existent.
A home-based, responsible and involved daily newspaper is a valuable asset to any growing community. It is an important part of that community’s identity. We have watched with sadness and alarm as the journalism and news decision-making at The Daily Times have taken a series of disturbing turns. When what was once upon a time a wonderful hometown daily newspaper starts to resemble a daily tabloid, it is time to speak out. We have become cautious of giving interviews because of the distortion that has come out of those interviews. Accordingly, the message has to be disseminated through other trusted news sources because your negative and unfair reporting has put us all in a foxhole mentality.
We saw early signs of a change in the paper’s reporting when news reports of local government meetings began taking non-controversial issues and skewing the articles to make them sound controversial when factually they were not. The first real wake-up call came with the tabloid-style front page Pat Summitt divorce headline and story. This confirmed to us that the paper had indeed veered off in a strange and foreign direction. What Blount County resident has reflected better on our community than Pat Head Summitt? How would it make any of us feel to see our divorce as the front-page headline of our local paper? What would that make us feel about our community and its values? That proved not to be an aberration as it was followed by a series of articles that presented very one-sided stories on Judge Dale Young, who, along with his father, Chet, before him, has had a distinguished career of public service to our area. The Daily Times has yet to print the other facts we know exist relative to this matter. Why?
The paper’s latest target is one of our best and brightest corporate citizens, Ruby Tuesday Inc. This local company, in the cyclical nature of business, is facing tough challenges in its market sector. The economic news of stock reductions for all casual dining restaurants, including Ruby’s, seems to have shone a light of opportunity for sensational news centering on that company. Ruby Tuesday has served this community well and its employees are wonderful and dedicated people who are making Blount County a better place. To have solicited negative comments, as The Daily Times did, is appalling.
The Times soliciting written “feedback from readers on what Ruby Tuesday can do to ensure success in coming years” took e-mails from readers, edited the comment, and published the edited comments. Twenty-four responses were published. In their edited form nineteen were almost wholly negative toward the company. There was no effort on the part of The Times to solicit a balanced view of this issue by seeking out and publishing the views of many satisfied and loyal customers of the company. The message and theme here is that good news apparently is a lot less interesting than bad news or sensationalized news.
When opinions are solicited in a broadly circulated periodical on any issue who will be most likely to respond? You hear from people who have an axe to grind because the ones who are happy are not motivated to make any comment. For that reason the only responsible thing for The Times to have done would have been to seek out balanced views from the many people who are really happy with what is going on at Ruby’s or to print the good things said by folks who did respond and not just the negative comments. Or why even write such an article in the first place? What community purpose or news purpose did it serve?
We are very comfortable in advising you that the vast majority of the folks to whom we have spoken, both on a solicited and unsolicited basis, are deeply troubled by the downward slide of your paper. We are mostly saddened, sometimes angered, often shocked, and always troubled by The Daily Times and by our relationship with The Daily Times.
This kind of reporting is not worthy of our fine community nor the legacy of The Daily Times. Ruby Tuesday makes its home here. Its employees wake up to page after page of criticism and second-guessing of decisions when the vast majority of people here are more than satisfied with not only the great quality and atmosphere of the restaurants but also the many benefits we derive from the great things they do here directly or indirectly.
Blount County has become one of the most desirable places to live and work in the country because it has been built with an eye to the future and an appreciation of its past. Teamwork within our county has helped us recruit companies starting almost a hundred years ago with ALCOA. As public officials representing the three major governmental entities we cannot and should not sit silent and watch our major source of news become a destructive force without making comment.
Perhaps The Daily Times should seek public comment on its direction and fulfillment of its charge to be a balanced observer of events in our county. We, the mayors, are making our unsolicited opinions known here.
Sincerely,
Jerry G. Cunningham
Blount County, Mayor
Don Mull
City of Alcoa, Mayor
Joe Swann
City of Maryville, Mayor