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The Ping-Pong Match Continues
On Nov. 6,
voters of the town of Surfside and the city of Miami Beach will
vote on different ballot questions. It is rather ironic that
Surfside Mayor Charlie Burkett keeps busy sending letters in a
failed attempt to berate and humiliate me for being an active
and concerned citizen [Letters, “Firing Line: Recording Misses
One Shot at a Time,” published Oct. 25], while Mayor David
Dermer of Miami Beach submits a letter addressing an important
ballot question his city faces on Nov. 6 [Letters, “Say ‘Yes’ to
Ethics” published Oct. 25]. It is also ironic how the Miami
Beach
question seeks to protect residents, while the Surfside ballot
question seeks to protect elected officials by doubling the
length of their terms in office, making them less accountable to
residents.
Joe Graubart
Surfside
Reform
Really Needed, Not That You Could Tell From That Biased Story
Regarding Erik
Bojnansky’s story about the Bay Harbor Islands Charter Review
Committee meeting [“Reform Unneeded,” published Oct. 25], I have
to say that it reeks of uninspired bias on the part of the
reporter. It may have been unintentional, but his attempt to
appear neutral comes across as if he were a parrot on a perch of
objectivity, safely mimicking what was said without any respect
to context.
The headline,
“Reform Unneeded,” sounds more like a judgment call than an
informational title. The reporter did not characterize the facts
or climate of the meeting accurately. Rather, he seemed biased
in favor of the sitting council members whose full titles were
used accurately, without interpretation.
The reporter
imparts an unspoken reverence for authority on the part of the
committee and the council people sitting on the committee. For
example, he surmises that Councilman Robert Yaffe indicated he
was inclined to be in favor of term limits even though he left
the meeting before the vote.
Councilman
Yaffe’s voice on the council and committee is his vote — if does
not exercise it, why would the reporter go out of his way to
make a presumption about how Yaffe MIGHT have voted?
To further
exemplify bias, the reporter consistently gave the committee the
benefit of the doubt, whereas the innuendo and lack of context
accompanying quotes from the Bay Harbor Islands residents, who
were addressing the committee, served no purpose but to
undermine their credibility. It was as if the writer was using
the attendance of these residents to inject a little color into
the story, at their expense.
Ms. K. Kennedy
is described as a “promoter” for some reason, with no context as
to why she would be described as such rather than as a resident,
which is the role in which she was addressing the council. What
significance does her job have here except to distract from her
true purpose of addressing the committee?
Aurora
Contreras actually spoke in favor of term limits at the meeting
and agreed with Dr. Neuhut, yet her quote the reporter includes
makes it seem as if she was speaking throughout the meeting in
opposition of a revision that included term limits.
Finally, Teri
D’Amico addressed the committee as a concerned resident of Bay
Harbor Islands and during the meeting gave some of the most
significant and convincing reasons for changes to the charter.
Yet in Erik Bojnansky’s story, she was identified as nothing
more than an
“activist” — whatever that means in this context — and was
reduced to a giggling one at that.
Although I
greatly appreciate the time and effort the SunPost puts
in to send reporters to meetings that fall under the radar of
many other local publications, if you are going to attend a
meeting and write about it, PLEASE take the time to report
accurately, factually and thoroughly about what happens —
without injecting your own biases and background into the debate
(intentionally or unintentionally).
Meetings like
this are taking place unchecked throughout the county, often
unwatched and unreported on by the media. But the kind of
reporting in “Reform Unneeded” is not only not useful; it is
damaging to the truth. Getting the facts straight and putting
together a meaningful whole in context is what matters in
telling the story.
Kenneth Shear
Bay
Harbor
Islands |
