The Arizona Daily Star abdicated all semblance of standards years before Tim Steller assumed editorial responsibilities. Yet he continues to entrench his publication in quagmires of distraction and furious hand-waving to keep his readers from pondering the questions of legitimate import to the community. It’s an act that has been overplayed and has become trite.
In his latest blatant hit piece, Steller feebly attempts to take Ally Miller to task for trusting one of her staff members to tell her the truth. (And, before you furl your brow, yes, I freely acknowledge that you are reading a hit piece against the Star, a publication I have considered fully discredited for multiple decades.) Let us–briefly–consider the Miller angle: Unlike the career politicians to whom the Star’s editorials incessantly pander, Miller comes from outside the political machine. She, like most mature adults in any managerial role, sets standards and holds her staff to them; in this case, she expected her staffer to tell the truth. The staffer is a jerk and a fool; Miller is trusting and altruistic. Which is more than I can say for the legacy media in this town. Steller accused a number of media personalities around the community of some form of cover for Miller. Never mind the sycophantic drivel that is his entire body of work and its support of his favored politicians, no: No elected official who despises the status quo is allowed to have one single voice of support in the community, in Steller’s Tucson!
Let’s establish my background, for sake of argument: I’m not a professional writer. I have a day job–a career into which I have poured my effort, much more of my time than 40 hours per week, and more passion than any average individual would give to work that was “just a job”–and my career has nothing to do with politicking, publishing, or any form of media. So why do I contribute to the Arizona Daily Independent? That’s easy: Because I tired of this town’s flaccid, groveling newsprint before I graduated high school, and the Independent finally gave Tucsonans a fresh viewpoint. Mr. Steller, I’m calling you out here: I haven’t picked up a print copy of your paper, even on a whim, even if somebody else paid for it, in over ten years, and I visit your website probably less than once a year, on average. I am a typical citizen–who happens to enjoy articulating his views–and I am happily and proudly not a Star reader.
Members of the legacy media will have dismissed me by this point: Clearly, they will think, I am naught but an ignorant buffoon! What intelligent individual doesn’t read the daily rag? They will continue with their twisted editorial views and expect their thoughts to bleed into readers’ consciousness like ink onto their readers’ fingertips. My opinions and I won’t matter one iota to them. My feelings won’t be hurt, though: That last feeling is decidedly mutual.
Drop the pretense, Mr. Steller. The hair on the back of your neck stands on end every time a Tucsonan reads an exposition of what grift underpins this two-bit burgh, doesn’t it? It only makes sense that Ally Miller’s fight for fairness and equality for all voters and taxpayers in Pima County would make your skin crawl. Take a few deep breaths and relax. You’ve got much bigger worries, sir. Your industry is already circling the drain, and if you and your colleagues across the country keep up the prattle, you can expect the numbers of former readers like me to grow ever more rapidly.
I rather like that thought.
Is it the Arizona Daily Star or The Pima County Daily Newsletter……
