The Emporia Gazette

February 13, 2012

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RECENTLY, Chris Walker asked whether The Gazette’s readers felt that its staffers were failing to reflect community values. The fault line of the question, as it almost always seems to be these days, was the political fissure between liberal and conservative.

It was an interesting question, but I think Mr. Walker and The Gazette would do much better to go a few steps further and get to the root of what I believe to be The Gazette’s problem.

I understand that news and views of national interest are important to us here. I don’t mind reading Paul Campos or Leonard Pitts. I don’t share their political views, but I’m not offended by their columns. Nor am I offended by Patrick Kelley’s views, which almost always seem out of step with a goodly number of Emporians.

The question for me isn’t one of offense or liberal versus conservative politics. It’s prudence. One of the things that’s amazed me ever since I started reading The Gazette is that by focusing so little attention to problems here in Emporia. I sense the staff is trying to recapture the heady days of William Allen White, Pulitzer prizes, hobnobbing with Teddy Roosevelt and national notoriety.

Wouldn’t it be more prudent for The Gazette’s editorial staff to occasionally do a bit of digging locally to see what kind of skullduggery might be going on around town? Is it possible, or even reasonable, to assume that everything going on in politics here in town is absolutely pristine? Are there no conflicts of interest to explore? Are Emporia ’s slum lords so respectable and well connected that they shouldn’t be held to account? Has one of the highest poverty rates in Kansas become so acceptable that questions about the direction of economic development here can’t be asked?

Perhaps, in a world where billions and trillions dwarf what seem to be small numbers here in the Flint Hills, local issues seem very unimportant. Why focus on problems here when the really big numbers and problems are further down the road? Why not just assume that everything here is just fine and that the real problems to explore are on a grander, national scale? Why be adversarial or contrarian when one must rub elbows with the city’s high and mighty or well connected?

I believe it would be prudent for The Gazette’s editorial staff to do some digging, not just scratching the surface, but digging deep. In my military days I was told that the penalty for a shallow foxhole could be a shallow grave. If only my drill sergeant were around today to convey that to The Gazette’s staff.

Now I believe that journalism is an honorable craft. I’m sure that Gazette staffers are fine folks. They’re outstanding citizens. I also believe that a free and responsible press is indispensable to our national, and local, well-being. I’m not as concerned about whether or not they’re too liberal or too conservative. I just want them to do some digging here in town. I think if they do they just might find a few nuggets.

Journalists Lincoln Steffens and Ida Tarbell Baker shook up the status quo about a century ago. Steffens, who once said, “Power is what men seek and any group that gets it will abuse it,” exposed political corruption in St. Louis, Chicago and Minneapolis. Tarbell exposed a number of the corrupt business practices of Standard Oil and John D. Rockefeller. She was labeled a muckraker for her effort, but, in the end, all the digging she did was worth the epithet. In 1911, the Supreme Court ordered Standard Oil to divest its monopoly in New Jersey into small, independent companies.

While they were often vilified in their day, the muckrakers served a vital public service. The powerful came to understand they were being watched and held to account. The exposure to the light of day caused them to quiver and quake. The end result was a better America and better communities.

Do I believe that Emporia is a corrupt community? No! But I do believe there’s more than a grain of truth in Lincoln Steffens’ words. I believe that some digging is in order, as it always is. It’s a healthy exercise. I also believe that a good, curious journalist willing to dig deep could expose some of our long standing problems to the light of day. Rather than concentrating of liberal versus conservative politics, I think The Gazette’s editorial staff would do well to get out the shovels. It may not make them popular with the well connected, but, who knows, it may cause a bit of quivering and quaking and become the catalyst for positive change.