Bad News Bears

An interesting take on who issues bad or good news in a community.

Garry Haas' letter to the editor, published today, made the point:

"...city managers are always giving interviews."

Garry Haas

"...past and present mayors and council members give interviews when they have good news and if it is bad (they) have the managers do it...it's time for the mayor and council to get a backbone and take over all interviews regarding the city, good or bad news."

So, bad news is released by unelected people who work for our politicians.

Good news is discharged by politicians.

And so is good corporate news, referring to Coldstream mayor Garlick's gushing of Tolko's proposed pellet plant in Lavington.
The jobs will be good news.
So will the eventual tax bill from mayor Garlick after the tax-holiday called revitalization.

Then there's org-based (biased) news, if it can be called news.
On fracking--the widely used term for hydraulic fracturing--a Sierra Club member of their Halifax chapter announced "...fracking has caused a 62-per-cent increase in sexually transmitted infections in rural communities linked with unconventional resource development."

Huh?
When there's no news from politicians or their managers, organizations fill the void.

"Sixty-two percent increase," questions Kia, wondering about urban numbers."

As reported in the last paragraph here, "...the best thing the Government could do is acknowledge all of the very serious concerns engaging the public, learn from them and make discernible changes in the current style of governance. Bad news has a longer shelf life than good news and all the airtime (or press) in the world, commandeered or not, will never change that."

It's all spin.

With taxpayers being spun.