LETTER: News Reporting Should Be Unbiased

April 14, 2014

DEAR EDITOR, 

Perhaps like many of you, I grew up in a time when most news outlets operated under the Golden Rule. Television and radio stations were mandated to devote time to contrasting views on matters of public interest. They were also required to offer equal time to political candidates with opposing views. The policies that required this applied only to radio and television but, in simpler times, were a standard for all journalism. Unfortunately these policies were repealed in 1987.

While none of these rules were ever mandated for newspapers, many people still expect the news to be delivered in an unbiased fashion. Reading your April Fool’s story and subsequent postings made it very clear that the Wave has a political agenda and is actively promoting a particular point of view.

The right to vote is sacred and it is the duty of voters to learn as much as they can about all candidates and issues prior to voting in any election — national, state, or local. In every election, it is important to get information from multiple sources.

In Cape Charles, all of the candidates live just a few blocks away. We have the opportunity to watch how they volunteer their time in our community. We can speak to them directly and ask their opinions. We can attend Town Council meetings and candidate forums. It is only by knowing both sides of a story that we can be sure that we vote for what is best for our future.

NANCY DANIEL VEST
Cape Charles

Letters to the Editor are welcome, and a diversity of opinions is encouraged. Send submissions to [email protected].

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17 Responses to “LETTER: News Reporting Should Be Unbiased”

  1. Deborah Bender on April 14th, 2014 9:57 am

    Nancy — You and I have known each other for a long time, and you were one of my favorite customers when I had Scarlett’s Closet. I have always maintained that everyone has a right to their opinion and can fight for their cause. I truly believe that the school should have been a community center; however, that ship has sailed. As hard as I fought for the community shows how hard I would fight for the rights of the citizens of this town on matters of taxes, utility bills, parking, etc. Because I had a business in this town I KNOW how important tourism is to all of the businesses.

  2. Karen Gay on April 14th, 2014 9:34 pm

    Hi Nancy, thanks for speaking your mind. You have a right to your opinion. As a matter of fact I agree with you that the Wave can be perceived as biased, particularly regarding the Old School Cape Charles issue. I confess to feeling the same way about National Public Radio and Fox News also. However, if you complain to one of the other news outlets you’re likely to get short shrift. How nice that you can voice your criticism of the Wave and actually have it published for all to see. I wish we would hear commentary from members of the Town Council in the Wave explaining their various points of view. I think the Wave would publish their thoughts. I too would like to hear opposing points of view.

  3. Nancy Daniel Vest on April 16th, 2014 9:50 pm

    Debbie- I used to enjoy Scarlet’s Closet and remember how excited you were when your grandchild was born. I have heard that you want to lower taxes and our utility bills. How would you do this? Would we lose other services? I can’t imagine the Fourth of July in Cape Charles without our police department and fire department. They do such a wonderful job when there are so many people in town. It always amazes me when I wake up on July 5 to see the Town clean and back to normal. The Public Works department must work late into the night while we are sleeping. I love the fact that the Town takes care of our beach and keeps it clean. There are so many things that the Town workers do that we often take for granted. These things make Cape Charles attractive to residents and visitors. Exactly what things would we have to give up to lower taxes and utility bills?

  4. Dana Lascu on April 17th, 2014 1:11 am

    I agree with Nancy Vest. We need not just two town managers, but four – the town would run so well then, it would make history. Let’s hear it for higher taxes, and more services, topped off with free massage parlors on every block, and sufficient oversight to ensure their services are valid and reliable. We already have two libraries, so let’s have a third to provide a proper welcome to the Tall Ships intellectuals descending upon our town. It might be like shopping at Bergdorf’s on a Walmart budget, but, even if you maxed out your credit limit, it would feel divine, and so totally worth it! Then, move out of town or drop dead, and leave the consequences to others. Good plan!

  5. Deborah Bender on April 17th, 2014 7:29 am

    Nancy, let me explain. I have no grief with the Fire Department or the Police. They are both operating well. The Town of Onancock has more full-time residents than Cape Charles. They have 16 full-time employees and 3 part-time employees. The Town of Cape Charles has around 36 employees. The town office in Onancock operates with 3 people in the office plus the town manager. Our town has around 8 people in the office. Why is that? We have a town manager and an assistant manager. Why is that? These are just a few ways we could cut spending. I lived in Onancock for 17+ years.

  6. Tom Kenny on April 17th, 2014 2:50 pm

    Deborah — running for office I would hope that you would look a little deeper than that since according to Wikipedia, Cape Charles is 4 times as large as Onancock including a half mile of shoreline (4.4 sq miles vs 1.1 sq miles).
    So, though they do have a larger population than Cape Charles they have less to maintain. So if we take the 16 FT and 3 Pt for 1.1S sq. miles does that equal 36 FT for 4.4 sq. miles?

  7. Deborah Bender on April 17th, 2014 5:33 pm

    Tom — Yes, the Town of Onancock is smaller in square miles. But it has more people, and that’s what matters. Onancock has a sewer treatment plant with three times the capacity of the Cape Charles plant and yet it cost them several million dollars less. Onancock charges $14 per quarter for trash pickup compared to our $12.57 per month. I had a sit down with Onancock’s town manager recently and asked him how they can charge so much less while using the same company as Cape Charles does. Are you ready for this? AS A COURTESY TO THEIR CITIZENS Onancock pays the difference out of their tax revenues. The Town of Onancock also cuts all of the town grass and maintains all of the flowers, trees, etc. Cape Charles does not.

    Now for a little history lesson on the Benders: My husband’s family has been in this area since the 1800s. My husband’s great-grandfather cleared Blood Field and all of Hollywood farm. He moved the Coast Guard station out of the surf to Loon Channel. His grandfather had a brick manufacturing plant on Sandy island and built many of the homes on Bender’s Lane. My husband’s father raised and trained trotters just outside of town, and my husband trained the race horses, when he was old enough, until his father’s death in 1986. The Bender race horses raced the East Coast grand circuit for many years and we have several picture albums full of horses in the winner’s circle. We have a history here and we aren’t going anywhere. This is our town.

  8. Nancy Daniel Vest on April 17th, 2014 11:25 pm

    Debbie – I appreciate your insights. Onancock is a lovely town and your comments prompted me to visit their website. I noticed that their harbor seems much smaller than ours. Also they do not have a beach, a fishing pier, a town Library, or a Recreation Department.
    Like most people in town, I would love to have lower taxes and a lower water bill. I do, however, understand the concept of opportunity cost. My heating bills this winter were higher than usual and I really did not want to pay them. Unfortunately, I also did not want to be cold or to deal with frozen pipes. I had to make a choice. The same is true with Town finances. I am sure there is a way to lower our taxes to the level of those in Onancock but at what opportunity cost? Therefore, I have two questions:
    • Exactly how much would we save on taxes and utility bills under your plan?
    • Which services would be lost or cut in order to lower taxes and utility bills to the level you see as appropriate?

  9. Dana Lascu on April 18th, 2014 12:29 pm

    This is not a question of cutting services – these nickel-and-diming questions are simplistic. Rather, it is a question of not engaging in idiotic spending on stuff we don’t need – new library, lots at the entrance to the town, salary study (might as well have just flushed that money into the Poop Palace), and I am sure you can add many more items to this list. The entire Town of Cape Charles (meaning Bay Creek as well) will have to pay for these thoughtless and frivolous expenditures. It’s not that most of us can’t afford the higher taxes and fees; it is that these spending decisions reflect deplorably poor judgment.

  10. Deborah & Don Bender on April 18th, 2014 7:00 pm

    Well said Dana!

  11. Stefanie Hadden on April 19th, 2014 9:43 am

    I object strongly to the characterization of the new library as “thoughtless and frivolous.” Spoken by those who clearly do not utilize it. It is at the heart of providing enrichment to our town’s children, the true lifeblood of Cape Charles. I applaud the town for having the foresight to purchase the beautiful building and investing in the future this way. The library staff is excellent, friendly and welcoming, and so knowledgeable, and the programs and services the library offers are comparable to big city libraries. Friends of mine who live elsewhere say, “Why doesn’t my library have a Chess Club? A children’s Book Club? Visits from NASA and puppeteers?” I will not vote for anyone who bashes the library and its important and far-reaching mission. It betrays a small-mindedness and mean-spiritedness that is antithetical to our beautiful town.

  12. Dana Lascu on April 19th, 2014 2:51 pm

    Stefanie, please read carefully and think before you comment: The objection above, among many others, is against the library building – a frivolous purchase – not the library. The library, which we appreciate, use, and have used in the past, on Tazewell, does not have to take away prime real estate in the business district or hamper access to local businesses by taking away parking spaces. The purchase of the bank building by the town was, objectively speaking, a bad business decision. The library does not need to accomplish its far-reaching mission in the prime business district.

    You will never have the opportunity to vote for me – please vote for the leadership you deserve.

  13. Kathy Bonadeo on April 19th, 2014 4:44 pm

    I agree with Stefanie. If you visited our old site, you would realize the space was too small. The computers in the new space help people without home computers to apply for jobs, do homework and glean other information. We now have room for classes, the children and teen areas, a Shore history room as well a bathroom space and ADA access. It would have cost much more to try and renovate the other space for such a space that we have now. And the price was right!

  14. Cathy Buyrn on April 19th, 2014 11:56 pm

    I’m not sure where anyone thinks that unbiased reporting truly exists. The only news reporting outlet that I’ve seen that seems to be the closest to unbiased reporting is the BBC. There is simply no such thing as a “just the facts” approach to journalism that is completely devoid of bias. We all have biases. We tend to be blind to our own biases and can be vicious when someone else’s bias crosses our own.

    As a former Cape Charles resident and current resident of Eastville, I try to spare myself much of the Cape Charles noise. With that said I do think Cape Charles got it right on the library. It is a mistake to view library patrons as “taking away parking spaces.” This assumes that library patrons are freeloaders who aren’t spending cash at local businesses when drawn into the town to use the lovely new library. While town property owners may have been irritated when they couldn’t find a parking space they assume was being squatted upon by a library patron, those filled spaces mean that people are in the business district who might not otherwise be there.

    As the wonderful library programs gain momentum amongst us out-of-towners we have found ourselves in town for library events when we might have never made the turn before. We will likely continue to patronize the library and may spill out onto the sidewalk later for some Brown Dog Ice Cream, a sandwich at Kelly’s, or some coffee down the street. If the town is to draw dollars from outside of the Cape Charles bubble, it is out-of-towners, like myself, who you need to draw into the town. While we may not spend the night in town, our tax dollars are helping to support $15,000 of the Tall Ships expenses and our disposable income that helps get businesses like Aqua, Rayfield’s, and other local businesses through the slow season.

    One should think before discounting the new library as a waste of prime real estate or suggest that library patrons aren’t spending cash while in town. This out-of-towner might avoid the entire town if it weren’t for such amenities. The choice of the town to locate the new library in such a wonderful building was the right thing to do for public service and a savvy business decision. That building would have likely been vacant for an extended period of time if the town hadn’t made the move when they did.

  15. Dana Lascu on April 20th, 2014 1:33 pm

    Cathy, I read an Eastern Shore News letter to the editor you wrote a while ago, where you state: “As a taxpayer and a mother, you do not have my blessing to spend $672,000 on a project that doesn’t meet the ‘have to have it’ kind of prioritizing necessary in this economy.” I feel the same way about my town, Cape Charles.

  16. Cathy Buyrn on April 20th, 2014 7:15 pm

    Dana, I believe that editorial comment was in reference to the palace of a jail, courthouse, and county offices, I stand by that stance today. I would have much rather seen my tax dollars used to hang onto the Cape Charles Little League field or a nice library at the lower end of the county. When you refer to “your town” do you see yourself as a Cape Charles resident with no broader county concerns or do you have an interest in the bigger picture? For full time county residents the boundries aren’t so cut and dried. I guess the view from Richmond is far more clear than it is to those of us trying to actually live here. As an educator I would think the value of a library would top your list. Again, the library is drawing county consumers into Cape Charles. Perhaps the next time you visit you could join us for some coffee after a library activity to reflect on the broader interests of the town and the county. Those interests are not mutually exclusive. “Your town” needs my out-of-town dollars and I would bet town merchants wouldn’t appreciate any suggestion to the contrary.

  17. Dana Lascu on April 20th, 2014 11:24 pm

    Cathy, what you and Stefanie describe is a community center. Of course I am abstaining from resurrecting that topic.

    And so ends what has been a most interesting tête-à-tête. –EDITOR