Monday, August 10, 2009

Letter: Community Cupboard needs donations, too

I kinda thought the Courier might get a little grief for favoritism in its food-bank coverage last week.

2 comments:

WaitWut? said...

Hi, Steven. Great site!

I appreciate your comment about the bias of the Courier regarding food banks. My issue is this, people need help. We don't need a food bank war in Yavapai County, we need people to step up and help out. It seems to me that many local charities have become part of the political monster in the area. Instead of complaining about which food bank gets more donations or which businesses allow donation jars shouldn't they be working together to help the growing number of people that need help?

I had for years been active in a large number of charitable organizations and activist groups. One day I just couldn't stand it anymore. I became apathetic and disillusioned. Recently, I've begun to seek out worthy organizations to volunteer my time and money (this all because I became apathetic and disillusioned with MYSELF...bleh). Articles such as the one mentioned here annoy me. Granted, maybe Yav. Food Bank should spend less on "frills" and more on stocking shelves. But, much of the money they spend (I would imagine) brings about more awareness and therefor, more donations. Isn't that what ALL of these groups want? Why the pettiness?

Steven Ayres said...

Welcome! I expect that the paper's choice of YFB over the several others was more a matter of lack of imagination than actual bias. The effect is the same, of course, in that the favored get more attention and the unfavored become less visible.

A big part of the news editor's job is to keep an eye on the big picture while the reporters pursue the details. By failing to think about the other organizations working this problem, the editor not only failed them, but he also missed an opportunity for a bigger, better story.