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| The "Spirit" has been rapidly sliding into irrelevancy |
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Augusta, GA
By Corporal Gripweed
"Augusta's Independent Voice since
1989"
Metro Spirit.
I've lived in Augusta all my life. And when
The Metropolitan Spirit first showed up on the streets of town in 1989, a lot of
Augustans were excited. Finally an alternative paper appeared to give voice to
those who wanted to read local issues not covered, or worse, covered poorly by
the daily of record.
Through different publishers and editors the paper has managed to stay
in print , notwithstanding a few weeks when it was shut down last year. It soon reappeared under the stewardship of former publisher Joe White.
I've been a mostly loyal reader. I'm from the old school. I like to have a hard
copy in my hands rather then spending all my time tied to a computer screen, so
when I could I'd pick up a copy to thumb through; it became a part
of a weekly routine.
This week I've had enough. It's time to say
"when". When I saw this weeks "Insider" column I knew then that the
time had come. Not just because of that column, although it was
the straw that broke the camel's back for me. It's been a long time
coming. It's no secret that the Metro Spirit has become increasingly irrelevant
in recent years. It went from being an in depth, investigative paper from the days of original publisher David Vantrease and editor Tom
Grant's tenure, to being nothing more than a fatter "Verge", or a
skinnier Chronicle, without the good comics
So
why even bother anymore?
Cases in point. The New York Times crossword? Big deal. The
"hippy-dippy horoscope?" I can get it online. National political
commentary? Let's just say the columnist who has been trying to do THAT the
last few weeks has been sophomoric bordering on the idiotic. I won't further
embarrass him by naming him, but his byline states that he was ,"once the
most un-intimidating bouncer at the Soul Bar". Okay….If I want to listen
to those kinds of rants I'll just watch MSNBC for a few minutes.
Downtown
happenings? A map in the centerfold with a bunch of pictures and arrows ain't
cutting it either. Austin Rhodes? While I'm a conservative and generally agree
with him, I can listen to his show to get his take on things, rendering the
Spirit irrelevant yet again. Even the whines have lost their luster. They've become mostly redundant bemoaning things like the smell in south Augusta and the number of fat women in local bars. Yeah, that's original, and obviously
indicates the overall drop in IQ points of the average Metro Spirit reader.
But what really turned me away was, as I mentioned earlier, this weeks
Insider. In the old days you could count on the Insider (or at least the paper
in general) to be of the sort of advocate that spoke truth to power. Goodness knows Augusta
needs more of that these days.
Those days are gone. It has
become apparent to me and many of us at CityStink.net and Augusta Today, that
publisher Joe White and, in particular news editor Eric Johnson have obviously
decided to take a different tack: That of ridiculing those of us who only ask
for transparency and truth from public officials.
They have once again taken aim at our own Lori Davis in an attempt to
paint her, and by extension, the rest of us, as rabble- rousing nut jobs who
should just let Billy Morris, Paul Simon, Deke Copenhaver, Fred Russell,
Margaret Woodard and half the Commission continue to run the city as their own
little fiefdom. Obviously Joe and Eric think that the Morris/Simon Consortium
knows what's best for Augusta than we as average Augustans do.
A part of me can understand their frustration. They haven't broken a hard
hitting story in years. Instead, they've had to rely on people like us to do the
dirty work to which they then report on the aftermath. So there probably is a
bit of "journalistic jealousy". That, combined with the undeniable fact that print media is dying and
they are firmly in the crosshairs of that impending reality. But
to continue to call themselves an "independent voice" is laughable.
As I said, print media is dying and I'm going do my part by not picking up the Metro Spirit
anymore. The death of this publication can't come quickly enough for me, nor can
it come quickly enough for those of us in Augusta who want the REAL truth. Maybe another publication will come along soon to fill the void and give us that truth, not
the truth as seen by Joe White and Eric Johnson. ***
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