The Union Decimates its Other Voices

George Rebane

A new editorial policy has descended on The Union.  Since former editor Brian Hamilton left, several columnists, including regular Other Voices columnists Terry McLaughlin and Manny Montes, have had their submitted columns edited to the point of being shredded.  Specifically, the newspaper’s new line editors not only have removed entire sections of pieces that contain major points, but also have decimated submissions by eliminating critical citations included to substantiate important arguments made by authors.

Most recently Ms McLaughlin’s 7oct20 column ‘Trump’s tax cuts and deregulation’ had its print edition abbreviated, and the online version was restored only after the author’s complaint to the new acting editor Alan Riquelmy.  Mr Montes’ 10oct20 column had an entire section cut out of the print edition that contained the main thrust of his piece.  The supposed 750-word allowance for Other Voices columns was reduced to 440 words.  Given Mr Riquelmy’s response to Ms McLaughlin, we may presume (hope?) that he has also responded promptly to Mr Montes’ concerns.

As a former Union columnist and now a some-time Other Voices contributor, I add this concern to those that I have noted here over the years.  The previously already left-leaning newspaper has recently taken some noticeable steps toward presenting itself as an unabashed outlet of all things progressive.  Its nods toward conservative views have become more disproportionate.

Readers may recall that back in 2015 my bride Jo Ann (before becoming a member of its editorial board) did an extensive survey, lasting several months, of the Union’s op-ed page contents that quantified a definite liberal bias, and reported the results to its management.  The Union acknowledged this through an ‘Editorial Page Challenge’ inviting readers to corroborate the findings.  Only Jo Ann and one other (liberal) reader responded to the challenge with their results that covered the contents of January 2016 (more here) As expected, both surveys gave opposite results.  Jo Ann’s results were 40 conservative, 56 liberal, 46 neutral.  This showed a 40% liberal bias in that month’s op-ed page contents.  The liberal lady’s results were 34 liberal, 40 conservative, 71 neutral – a 17.6% conservative bias.  No doubt according to her lights a good portion of her neutrals were seen as liberal by Jo Ann.

But that was then and this is now.  The beat toward the Left has continued, and I’m willing to bet a pretty penny that what we see in our beloved Union is now overwhelmingly left-leaning.  But please don’t interpret this as my having a hissy fit about what appears in the newspaper.  There are no complaints against the motivations of their management and staff – they are good people and our neighbors.  And we must never forget that the newspaper is a private enterprise and news outlet, one which its owners and editors can tilt in any ideological direction they desire.  No blame, no shame there as long as we all understand which way its winds are blowing and filling the sails of Nevada County voters.

Comments

[Walt]

LIBERAL RAG.... When the shoe fits,,,,.......

[Gregory]

I just copied Manny M's Other Voices into my wordsmithy, and I get a wordcount of 435, so they have not restored it to its near 750 original count.

His piece is on Postmodernism, Critical Theory and intersectionality... I would like to see the original.

[Todd Juvinall]

Swift Communications is on Twitter and FB. I can't say I was in any way responsible for the idiot Hamilton being booted but I sure let Swift know he was a BLM boy and maybe they did not like that. So let them know and maybe the idiot Rogers will get the boot too.

[Todd Juvinall]

I just sent this off to Swift on FB and Twitter.

"Looks like you interim editor along with the Publisher Rogers at the Union are now fully in the tank for the BLM and the left. You people are committing newspaper suicide here in Nevada County

[NC Truth Teller]

suicide? LOL. Its a blue county now you moron. Hillbillies like you are not in charge, loser.

[Bill Tozer]

Living in a Red District ain’t so bad. Just avoid Nevada City and its Crystal Worshippers and its Devil Worshippers cults and life is sweet.

[Todd Juvinall]

Truth Teller | 11 October 2020 at 09:01 PM The dems have a small plurality, you lefty commie moron. Before you bloviate again get some education unless of course, you are a small yellow bus passenger.

[Bill Tozer]

Off topic, but i will apolagize later.

"Hillbillies like you are not in charge, loser."

Hillbillies? How original. Reeks of condesention, unearned arrogance, and, as always, reeks to high heaven of White Liberal Supremacy.

So tell me, masta, who is our county's Congressman representing this area? Who is our State Assemblyperson? Our area's representative in the Statehouse Senate?

Seems to this simpleton that you ain't in charge of Diddley Squat, loser. Not even Jack Squat.

And "the forgotton person will be forgotten no more."--Donald J. TRUMP, your President whom you are definitely in charge of.

[scenes]

The Union is obviously a dying business in any case, so I can't say that any of this matters.

In five years, if it's anything but a weekly advertisement flyer, you could knock me over with a feather. The weekly news will consist of the local schedule for mandatory bias awareness workshops. Generally, if a newspaper has a 'donate' button on it's webpage, they're screwed.

Between things like Yubanet, itself a mixture of useful fire news and un-useful Woke story aggregation or just local social media poured over by smartphone addicts, news should be pretty well handled.

Of course, there's absolutely no reason a person couldn't put together their own local news website aside from just the sheer work of the thing. Fill it up with whatever kink you like whether it's strict Constitutionalist editorial policy, open-borders Libertarian, or quotes from the Urantia book. The barriers to entry are historically low.

[scenes]

NCTruthTeller: "suicide? LOL. Its a blue county now you moron. Hillbillies like you are not in charge, loser."

Does your mother know what you type with those fingers? God knows where else they've been.

[George Rebane]

‘NCTruthTeller’?? Has this individual achieved new heights of hubris, or is it just a case of ignorant self-adulation? Or perhaps there is a more benign explanation, albeit well hidden.

[fish]

Posted by: scenes | 12 October 2020 at 09:15 AM

NCTruthTeller: "suicide? LOL. Its a blue county now you moron. Hillbillies like you are not in charge, loser."

Hi jetsy.....! It’s Nevada City’s original super sized pseudo sophisticate.

[Scott O]

Hillbilly??!! Oh goodness - not that. Glad I moved. Had I not re-located to my cosmopolitan acreage, I too would have been saddled with that lowly appellation.
Of course I'm still sullied with the white supremacist, bigot, NAZI, fascist, homophobe, racist and goodness knows what else labels.
But I rise every morn with a smile on my face and a determination to pray for the poor ignorant left-wing bastards that clutter the earth.

[L]

Scott @ 5:16- I pray for them too, pray for them to vanish in a sort-of reverse rhapsody where they all get spirited off to Hell in front of our wondering eyes...

[Paul Emery]

This is a Blue County readers. that's why it's referred to as the "Blue Pimple" in the otherwise deep red district 1 Congressional. Just look at the resulte in the last two election cycles. Supported Hillary in '16 for example as well as Obama before that. Been through this discussion before no need to cycle back.

[scenes]

" Been through this discussion before no need to cycle back."

What 'discussion'? The one between you and 'NCTruthTeller' (which is likely just another Paul pseudonym)? It's all off-topic from the Union's death spiral.

I admit that 32% of the registered voters in Nevada County are Democrats as opposed to the 29% who are Republicans. It's easily explained by the replacement of resource extraction + light manufacturing with baristas, bar musicians, and dope growers. At least this isn't a place run by the financial industry.

I'll invent Scenes' Third Law of Voter Registration. 'The fewer useful things done in an area, the more likely it is to vote Democratic'.

[Gregory]

Punchy,

This is a Purple county, moron. Hostile democrats do a decent job of GOP voter suppression, but you can't just ignore the 29% of the county that are registered GOP with Dems only having 3% more.

[fish]

Posted by: scenes | 13 October 2020 at 09:48 AM

What 'discussion'? The one between you and 'NCTruthTeller' (which is likely just another Paul pseudonym)? It's all off-topic from the Union's death spiral.

If I had to bet I'd say the "Truth Teller" is Pelline. He can generally be roused from his Hostess Ho Ho induced torpor for the purposes of calling us "losers" and "hillbillies" as he considers himself the exemplar of the Marin County/North Bay sophisticate. He wanders forever in an attempt to elevate and enlighten the dim and ungrateful poor country folk of the California foothills.

Plus he is compelled to defend newspapers in general even though he was unable to maintain his editorial role with your local fishrag and really has removed himself from any pretense of being a "newsman".

[Paul Emery]

Show me one major election Gregory that has gone Republican in Nevada County in the past 8 years. There have been a couple (Dahle etc) but I'm leaving it up to you to find them. Certainly not Presidential

[Paul Emery]

Also Gregory tell us about Republican voter supression in Nevada County as you infer. That's a new one.

Gregory quote:

"Hostile democrats do a decent job of GOP voter suppression"

[Gregory]

Punchy 1122am

Nevada County Democrats have all but shut down LaMalfa events. Yes?
That isn't a new one. So LaMalfa stays away, not needing Nevada County votes to win. And this keeps the NC GOP down.

Purple means there are a lot of Red Republicans in an area... and here, there are nearly as many GOP registrations as DEM.

[Gregory]

fish

I second your nomination of Jeff Pellini as the one with his hand firmly up the NCTruthTeller's posterior.

Pellini has of late lost all his luster.

[Bill Tozer]

Well, if nothing else, The Poppinjay has confirmed what we all know: This is Hillary Country!, a person even Punchy could not bring himself to vote for. Hillary more popular here than Obama? Does not surprisr me in the least. She was the most qualified canidate for POTUS has ever known. And she was the true outsider in 2016 because she has a vigina, something I do not wish to ever contemplate.

Of course we are talking about a small county of 100,000 souls. The Blue pimple in a sea of red. Whats next? Start breaking it down to by the block? I live in a Blue neighborhood, he lives on a Red pimple street.

Yo Punchy, when is that blue pimple between your shouldes going to form into a head?

H/T to the late Freddie Blassie.

[Gregory]

toes114pm

That's the late Classy Freddie Blassie to you!

[fish]

Posted by: Paul Emery | 13 October 2020 at 11:19 AM

Show me one major election Gregory that has gone Republican in Nevada County in the past 8 years. There have been a couple (Dahle etc) but I'm leaving it up to you to find them. Certainly not Presidential

Can't be bothered to do his own research but has no compunction about sending others scurrying when he insists on data.

Useless hippy……!

[George Rebane]

Gentlemen - the topic of this commentary is The Union's new editing (censoring?) policy and its continuing leftward lurch.

[Todd Juvinall]

My ga;l and I drove our flag-draped car in the rally from the Rood Center to the Kmart lot and it was a hoot. Moving down the Broad Street we got mouth-foaming degenerates giving us the profanity-laced finger. Then up and over the bridge to Zion where some BLM thugs placed a wide banner across the street causing us to Uturn and go back to the lower street to get on the freeway. Paul Emery's pals no doubt. Over to GV and up Main to School street where we got a lot of thumbs up and honks but a couple of thugs with the profanity-laced insults too. All in all very fun.