NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- It has bee a very long week. Thank God it's Friday. One of the painful realities I have learned this week is that it really doesn't matter who is in charge when it comes to municipal or county government.
More than ever, I see why people are so turned off. Politicians are so out of touch with what is real. And the media is no different. Even though print media is dying a slow death, the money -- taxpayer, money that is, flows through the Daytona Beach News-Journal by the politicians.
One hand washes the other.
And both are so quick to jump on us, especially if we can even a fraction of that money.
The News-Journal is feasting on hundreds of thousands of dollars from its guaranteed staple -- Volusia County government, municipal governments and their CRAs, publicly-funded hospitals in Halifax Health and Bert Fish, Daytona State College and the ad authorities. The News-Journal, however, with its 300 employees, will continue to dwindle because the public is turned off. And this small media outlet has something the News-Journal lost long ago -- relevance and growing readership.
The interest in our $10,000 marketing agreement with the Southeast Volusia Advertising Authority showed how desperate and threatened the News-Journal is. The coverage over the last 72 hours also demonstrated the lengths the News-Journal will go to sell its soul in pandering to politicians who snipe at one another and that there's a government within a government, which means the one elected by the people actually takes its orders from the insiders among them -- the Volusia Council of Governments.
That Adam Barringer, mayor of New Smyrna Beach, could generate so much stroke with the News-Journal and a majority of the County Council itself, speaks volumes as to how truly pathetic the entire political landscape is. Barringer, may have been successful in taking out the SVAA Chairman Palmer Wilson, a nemesis since 2009, when he first came onto the political scene.
Wilson became the fall guy and Davis got minimized. The News-Journal and Barringer's County Council allies saw to that. But at what expense in the long run? Adam Barringer has the charm and Jason Davis has the gavel. The News-Journal has the taxpayer revenue lifeline.
More CRAs. More speeches. More behind-the-scenes politicking. Despite his multiple ethics charges, Barringer has his friends on the dais. In the long run, though, the journalism will win out, despite his name calling. It always does.