I missed the New York Times article on the Kwame Kilpatrick/Steve Wilson drama, so this is a few days old. The article rehashes the basic row that Kwame and Wilson have had to this point, covering the collusion between the city of Warren and the CIty of Detroit to basically silence a critic in the press. Granted, Wilson has it in for Kwame, but he hasn’t lied about anything. You know, like a Lincoln Navigator.
But buried in the article is this little gem.
“Why don’t they accuse somebody visiting Las Vegas of this?” said [Warren’s deputy mayor, Mike] Greiner, who plans to challenge WXYZ-TV’s license renewal this year. [Jamaine Dickens, executive producer for the cable commission] said Detroit was considering joining the challenge. [Emphasis mine]
That’s right. If they can’t fight Wilson’s reports with the truth, they’ll just shut down his voice (along with the voices of all the people who work at Channel 7). Nice strategy. If this was happening to someone on CNN, the server with the story wouldn’t be able to handle the outraged comments. You may not like Steve Wilson, you don’t have to oppose Kwame, but this is bordering on state-sponsored censorship. If the City of Detroit and the Mayor’s office have facts they want to present to counter the reports on one television station, let’s hear them. Otherwise, stop running that craptacular piece of faux documentary on the access channel and fix the damn budget. Detroit is close to bankruptcy; Kilpatrick has more important things to do than swat flies.
Unless, of course, the flies are telling the truth.
Link to NYT article (get it before it goes behind the pay-wall)