Letter To The Editor

By Stephen Williamson

Sedona, Az – Has anyone else noticed that the reporting and editorial content of the Red Rock News has changed since paper went all-out in support of a Mayoral candidate who lost the election? 

 

Not so long ago the paper’s news articles as opposed to its editorials were factual and objective. The article titles were usually  basically neutral as was the content of those articles.  And while there were editorials over the years that were often negative and extreme about the City, that was not the dominant theme.  If you’ve been watching, all that has changed.

 

In a recent news article about the City’s financial forecast, the paper suggested misconduct on the part of the City or the Council regarding the purchase of the Cultural Park property.  The paper suggested that either staff included purchase of the Cultural Park property in the budget without Council approval thereby exceeding their authority, or that the Council illegally made the decision without a public hearing. 

 

Based on my limited research, I understand that the City Council publicly discussed the purchase of the Cultural Park at last year’s publicly noticed Council retreat that occurred the first week of January 2022.  There was a subsequent publicly noticed executive session to further discuss the purchase of the property.  Based on that, staff included the possible land acquisition in the proposed budget.  Doesn’t seem to me that anyone acted inappropriately or in secret.

 

The paper is obviously entitled to adopt whatever editorial and news policies it wants to align with its agenda and goals.  I would argue that paper’s current approach isn’t good for the City and doesn’t encourage the kind of frank and meaningful civic engagement that creates strong and healthy communities. 

 

The newspaper of record seems to have chosen to further its agenda at the expense of objective and unbiased reporting.  We deserve better.

 

Editor’s Note: The above reflects only the opinion of the author and in no way that of Sedona.biz. Sedona.biz is a community forum and cyber news outlet welcoming all submissions from the Greater Sedona community.