Why the New CA Still Ticks Me Off

Today's editorial in the Commercial Appeal talks about House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh's upcoming support for new legislation that will make it easier for local communities and counties to create new taxes on property and development, in effect devolving some tough-to-beat State laws down to the County level and watering them down into malleability.

News to you? Me too. A quick search of the CA site shows they haven't reported on this! So we have a new instance of the recurring problem with the "new" CA of them pontificating on a topic they haven't reported on! Man, I hate that....

I know, the dry stuff from Nashville isn't the compelling narrative of "telling the story of Greater Memphis." But the effects of what Naifeh proposes -- and the CA finds good -- will profoundly alter things here in Shelby County. It would be nice to know, you know? It's certainly more important to the majority of Shelby Countians than [generic] uplifting stories of [generic] people who overcame some [generic] obstacle.

But no, the types of readers the CA wants don't pay for that kind of news. You can't sell those readers to advertisers for premium rates. Editor in Chief Chris Peck can don the robes and intone the invocation, "Fair, neutral, objective" all he wants but he's in business to sell a product.

Too bad for us.