Newspaper Wars or Jaw Wars?

Everett is a unique city in many ways, one being that for a city of relatively small size, three newspapers vie each week for readership and advertising space. This could be a good thing in terms of competition if each paper was competing for legitimate news stories. However, after reading this week's editions of the Independent and the Advocate, it's clear that these two papers, at least, are vying for the championship title of spitball fighting. This is no "clash of the Titans," - that would be far too regal. This is more like "Beavis and Butthead.

For those of us old enough to remember, the volleying between these two papers is reminiscent of the battles long ago between the Everett Leader Herald owned by Joe Curnane Sr and the old Everett News, owned by Tom Guarino. It was foolish then, and it's foolish now. It's amusing, in some ways, but foolish nonetheless. Curnane Sr. would hold court in his cramped, cluttered office. His was the paper of record -- he was the one that local politicians and political wannabes went to for advice, and woe be unto them if they failed to heed that advice. Guarino fought to achieve the same type of status but never quite achieved it. The difference back then was . . . both Mr. Curnane and Mr. Guarino were "Everett guys."

Neither Josh Resnek nor Jim Mitchell are from Everett; both hail from Chelsea, a city with a long history of its own. Not that their residency should matter, but it's patently obvious that Josh Resnek and Jim Mitchell don't give a damn about Everett. Both are egomaniacs more interested in their own opinions than they are in what is really going on in the city. They help to keep the city divided with their ridiculous rambling commentaries -- Resnek the self-appointed defender of all things Hanlon, attempting to salve his own hurt feelings from what he believes was his mistreatment by the former Ragucci administration, and Mitchell slashing against the Hanlon administration because, it would seem, the Mayor owes Mitchell a good deal of money from his multiple campaigns to occupy the corner office. Anyone who knows Mitchell knows that he's all about the money.

And staying out of the fray is the once Grand Pubah of the Everett newspaper wars -- the Everett Leader Herald. The paper is now run by Joe Curnane, Jr., a nice guy with a friendly disposition but without the acerbic outlook of his father. Why Joe keeps the paper running is anyone's guess, but as long as it's making money, why not, right? He prints press releases, runs the ocassional story, is very good at covering the feel good community events, and collects what appears to be a significant amount of advertising dollars, then goes home at the end of the day to -- Melrose.

At the end of the day, Everett still needs a good newspaper, and none of our weekly papers are anywhere close to providing solid and objective reporting. Most other local weeklies charge a small fee for their papers - so perhaps that makes them more loyal to their readers than to the advertising revenue raised from city hall or the school department. We're not sure, but we do know that Everett deserves better than the newspapers wars.