City Councilor Henry Bousquet's letter to the Standard Times

Dear Standard Times Editor,

I find it tragic and extremely disappointing that your newspaper, the regions only daily, thinks that “news” of every kind should be reported on with extreme bias. The people who subscribe to the Standard Times deserve better. As a communications major in my early twenties I took a journalism class with a former reporter/editor for the Providence Journal. His remarks on our writing always led simply to one truth. News is the reporting or retelling of the events that have taken place and the people of the time. Emotion, perspective, opinion, and hearsay had no place in news.

Given the academic standard that news reporting be impartial, tell me why is it the Innovation schools debate goes virtually un-debated in our “source for news”. Where is the attempt to hear what the union and the teachers themselves have to say? Why is it when as a city councilor, I issue a press release about my social media outreach to constituents I get a curt “just politicking” negative article, and when the Mayor issues a similar release a week later about his twitter account its above the fold front page news? Why is an article about this “community compact” begin with calling our dedicated officers of the New Bedford Police department killers and their unfortunate victim qualified simply as “mentally disturbed”.

I find the disparity in editorial approach an insult to our citizens. Should you poll a cross section of your subscribers you might find I'm not the only one who has noticed.