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FILM, TV, PRINT AWAIT CAREFUL JOURNALISTS HERE

It's been a crazy couple of weeks, media-wise, here on the Niagara Frontier. And, once again, the comically inept Niagara Gazette finished in last place. A few highlights:

• On Friday, March 15, the Gazette ran a story about how the owners of the Comfort Inn are trying to keep local developer Pete Stranges from opening a haunted house attraction on Rainbow Boulevard North. The front-page story neglected to note that the hotel is owned by Mayor Irene Elia's family, or that Elia herself heads the city's Urban Renewal Agency, which has the final say on Stranges' plans.

• On Tuesday, March 19, a story ran concerning an organized protest by city workers at a meeting of the Niagara Falls City Council. The story failed to mention that all of the protesters were carrying copies of the Niagara Falls Reporter or that all of those who spoke during the public comment brought their copy of the Reporter to the podium with them. In fact, a photo on the front page was cropped in such a way as to edit out the copy of the Reporter being held by the speaker.

• The Gazette's lack of coverage of one of the most important issues facing Niagara County -- the federal investigation of Laborers Local 91 -- hit a new low on March 19 when the crack(ed) editorial staff chose not to run an Associated Press story by Dan Herbeck concerning the likelihood of indictments. Call me a cynic, but I suspect the fact that the story referred to the Reporter's aggressive coverage of the issue might have had something to do with the Gazette's decision not to go with it.

  The same issue contained a "contact your representatives" feature on the editorial page that listed Barb Geracitano, Tony Quaranto and John Accardo as current members of the City Council. Your source for news and information.

• All week, rumors circulated concerning the state of the Chamber of Commerce's health care plan. More than 1,000 small businessmen and employees in the area who depend on the plan for their health insurance reportedly received letters informing them the Chamber had not paid the premiums, and that they were in danger of being cut off. Huge story, and not a word in the Gazette. Of course, the fact that Gazette Publisher Steve Braver is the president of the Chamber of Commerce probably had nothing to do with it.

  A snake-oil salesman of the first rank, Braver also sits on Mayor Elia's "kitchen cabinet." No conflicts there.

But every cloud has a silver lining, my mom used to say, and this week's came in the form of columnist Pat Bradley, whose sidesplitting account of being barred from the media room during Sen. Hillary Clinton's press conference by none other than Democratic committeeman/bouncer Mickey Rimmen brought a smile to all our faces. Mickey seems to have launched a career telling journalists they can't go places they want to go and we wish him the best of luck in his new endeavor.

Meanwhile, here at the Reporter, things have been going swimmingly. A paper in Pennsylvania, the Corry Evening Journal, picked up a syndicated version of Frank Thomas Croisdale's column last week and, on Wednesday, a documentary film crew from SUNY Fredonia came up to interview the Reporter staff about the problems facing the Falls.

The interview we did with Rich Newberg on Channel 4 paid off, resulting in three times the number of visits to our Web site over the past couple of weeks. Thinking that an appearance in an independent film might endear us to a younger, hipper audience, we briefly flirted with the idea of wearing earrings and sunglasses, but a review of the Newberg tape convinced us we were ridiculous enough looking already.

Senior Editor Rebecca Day announced her fervent wish that every Sunday was St. Patrick's Day. And she doesn't even drink!

Although our editorial deadline is allegedly the Saturday before publication, stories regularly dribble in as late as Sunday night or even Monday morning, creating a nightmare for Rebecca, who actually puts the paper together.

On Paddy's Day weekend, however, the copy came in at record pace, presumably because the staff -- many of whom do drink -- had better things to do than sit in little rooms and write.

Much to Rebecca's dismay, however, things were largely back to normal this week.

Niagara Falls Reporter

www.niagarafallsreporter.com

March 26 2002