An editor’s job is to question. While this may not please everyone, it is a crucial part of what a newspaper should do. Questions, queries and opinions are relegated to the editorial page,while news stories are throughout the paper. They are not the same. One is opinion, the other is fact.
If an editor or a community newspaper doesn’t question what is going on at city hall, then they are in compliance with the goings on. A journalist is not someone who gladly embraces everything that is going on or what is being said. They should be the people who hold the mirror up to the elected folks. They hold to account, those people who made the election promises. They sometimes have the bigger memory, or at least they have the archives to wander through if needed.
In these economic times, it is crucial that municipal governments appear to be holding a tight grip on the public purse. The taxpayers’ money is not there to be squandered, it is there to serve all of the community in the way that is best for the most. When one preaches fiscal restraint, then that is what one expects to see. It’s all meaningless unless it is carried out. Sometimes you just have to say, ‘no, there isn’t any money for that right now. How about we put it on a priority list?’
Just because people want something it doesn’t mean it has to happen immediately. Some sober thought and consideration should be the cornerstone of any decision when it comes to spending our money. Stick to the priorities and put the other requests on hold until at least a dent is made in the wish list.