

AOD SUPPORTERS "Columbia City Manager Mike Matthes" "AOD spokeswoman Sonja Tuitele" "REDI vice president Bernie Andrews" “For me, the milk plant checks all the boxes from a due diligence process...Matthes said.“ "REDI spokesman Bernie Andrews said." "AOD spokeswoman Sonja Tuitele said."

AOD CRITICS

"Most ardent government and taxpayer watchdogs" "Weitkemper....unsuccessfully mounted a campaign for city council" "Self-proclaimed taxpayer watchdog Ken Midkiff" "...whose main mission is to help small farmers and rural residents fight" Weitkemper has sounded the call for several years...He insists Midkiff worries Midkiff also is among the voices chiming in on the supposed perils Scott Dye begged to differ Dye has a litany of published articles and photos

Midkiff is among those who quickly remind

Ask yourself which voices come across as more competent, more knowledgeable, more credible.



One word -- "said" -- describes how supporters speak. AOD critics, on the other hand, sound like hand-wringing, sky-is-falling types.

Discounting the credibility of citizen activists is one way local journalists and editorial writers "shore up" the credibility of policymakers and power brokers, especially when their ideas are mediocre (The Dinner Train) or downright bad (Blight/EEZ).



This media bias toward money and power stands in stark contrast to the good journalists' dictum: "The job of the newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."





Links in story provided for further background information.



Citizens wary of latest REDI plan