Is Fox 29 Getting Dumber, and Us With It?

Is Fox 29 Getting Dumber, and Us With It?

I'm posing this question based on... well, some really stupid things they've decided to opine on:

1. Do we really need libraries? Don't people use their computers for everything?
2. Is SEPTA wasting money by spending $1000 on parties and awards every year?
3. Isn't SEPTA allowing AT&T to buy naming rights better than raising fares?
4. 99% of their morning show. Need I say more?


Out of everything on that list, I think maybe one of them you slightly agreed with, and I can't blame you. If you don't

Thomas Drayton is actually the target of this, since he seems to be the single biggest idiot on the entire network. I won't say he's spouting his own opinion at times, because it's not incredibly likely. It may be coming from the people behind the scenes, the producers and writers of the news. But considering he's the source of most of the points I raised (well, save their morning show), he will have to play scapegoat.

For the sake of disclosure, I want to point out that, yeah, this is a little personal. In 2007 I got to be on Good Day Philadelphia during my run for mayor. I give them credit now for trying to be a little lighthearted in this, but it's annoying when you're trying to be serious. In the end, well, I wound up making a decent point.

On a whole, I've actually liked Fox 29 news reporting. It's been more liberal than you would imagine at times, and they've been fair and allowed both sides to sound off. They took on the Street Administration and investigated a lot of the corruption in City Hall, most recently, and most famously, Councilman Wilson Goode's staffer who was not showing up for work and was not only getting paid, but a massive raise.

Over the last 6 months, there's been a turn towards... well, not the right, just dumber.

For starters, they argued that libraries aren't needed anymore.

The argument was that since most people do their research on computers, should the local and state government pay to keep the libraries open? You would think they would have a community organizer, a librarian, someone at all who's involved in the library system. No. Instead they bring in resident psychologist Dr. Chuck Williams and a lawyer. Dr. Chuck Williams I'll go into detail about later on, but during tonight's appearance he did defend the library system, citing at-risk kids and the fact that, yes, they are helping. The lawyer argued otherwise.

The problem with the argument against keeping the library free is obvious: First, with rising unemployment, and people who just don't have money, the need for free resources is constant. Using a computer to get a job is essential these days, and some people don't have access to one without a library. As another bonus, they also have music and videos for free. On a whole, the entire thing works as being an archive of knowledge and an invaluable resource. Plus, Wikipedia will only get you so far.

Then there was this video about SEPTA spending $25,000 on awards and parties for employees over 3 years:

This was part 1, and I wound up tuning out after that. Jeff Cole is a valuable resource to Philadelphia news, and he is, without a doubt, the last great Philadelphia Television Reporter. The "It's Your Dime" series has, by-and-large, come off as splitting hairs. Seriously, why would anyone be outraged over the State of Pennsylvania spending about $1000 on folders over the course of a year for whenever they do a dedication for someone? $15k for parties for SEPTA is virtually nothing considering it's less than 1% of their entire budget. In fact, it's less than a quarter of a percent. SEPTA's operating budget for 2010 is $1.132 BILLION DOLLARS.

So, yeah, $15k for parties and food is nothing.

Jeff Cole spent the rest of the week pointing out other flaws with SEPTA, and these got better as the week went on. He pointed out what the salaries are for some employees, in it is a little shocking... until you realize what they do. Train Engineers are incredibly highly skilled, and they do fully deserve their salaries. Bus Drivers? Out of 2500, only about 19 of them make more than $100k, but 527 made over $70k. Despite all my bellyaching, even I agree that isn't that bad. Again, a lot of these guys work their asses off.

Thomas Drayton himself argued on the air that SEPTA selling the naming rights to Pattison Station to AT&T was smart, saying "Would you rather they raise fares?" As I've already point out, NO IT DOESN'T.

IS Fox 29 getting worse, and us with it? I think only half of that sentence is true myself.