So far, 2008 has seen its share of surprises. We’ve seen the Golden Globes get cancelled, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee win Iowa and Hillary Clinton cry.
But some things, regrettably, remain the same. This year also marks the 10-year anniversary of Ald. Ann Rainey’s (8th) decision to not speak to the Daily.
On June 1, 1998, the Daily ran a special section called “Fault Lines,” on town-gown relations. The section included a story about NU not paying taxes, which included an inflammatory quote from Rainey. She was quoted, out of context, as saying, “Hopefully one of your buildings will burn down during the lawsuit.”
Former city editor and current reporter for the Palm Beach Post, Meghan Meyer, Medill ’00, wrote the story as a freshman. She used the quote from another reporter’s interview. That reporter, Steven Kiehl, Medill ’99, a former campus editor told the Daily in 2002 that the quote was factual, but taken out of context. Meyer told me that Rainey never requested a correction or contacted the Daily’s editors. She simply stopped answering phone calls and refused to answer reporters’ questions. She should have called. The Daily would have set the record straight.
“Her ward has some of the best stories,” Meyer told me. “It seems like a pretty strong grudge.”
It is. It’s been 10 years. If President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev could put their differences aside, why can’t we?
Almost three cycles of editors and reporters have come and gone through the Daily’s doors. As city editor, my goal is to find untold stories for the Daily. So naturally, when I saw that crime in the Eighth Ward is ratcheting up, I assigned a reporter to the story.
One of my cops reporters, Brian Rosenthal, called Rainey, who is leading the charge on fighting crime in the area. She declined an interview, saying the Daily has messed up too many times.
Understandably, Rainey doesn’t want to be misquoted, and we’ve made our fair share of mistakes. But what about the community? In-depth stories about the Eighth Ward still belong in the Daily, especially because we are the city’s only daily newspaper. And Rainey is still the best person to talk to on the matter.
Rainey is a veritable encyclopedia on the Eighth Ward. Her ward, which borders on Chicago, is a treasure chest of stories that matter to the people who live there and in the surrounding areas. She is plugged into the community, maybe more so than many other Evanston officials. She maintains a Web site, annrainey.com, and personally answers questions from people who post on the site. That kind of dedication is rare in local politics.
Without Rainey’s help, we have been unable to get all sides of the story for a decade. Without balanced coverage, we could be perpetuating misinformation and not addressing issues critical to the area. This helps no one.
One could make the argument that Rainey’s Web site does the job for her. But the Daily has a nationwide audience, including NU alumni. Rainey’s silence has robbed them of balanced coverage of city issues, especially when it comes to NU-Evanston relations.
Ald. Rainey, I understand your concerns. You don’t want to be misquoted. You don’t want errors printed in our pages. You don’t want misinformation to trump truth.
But neither do we. So talk to us. Let’s end this decade-long Cold War.
– Deepa SeetharamanCity Editor
