Saturday, March 5, 2016

[UPDATE] Why isn't the PBSO takeover of Greenacres Police Dept. being reported? And. . .why all the focus on Lake Worth by our paper of record?

UPDATE: Stay tuned, folks! The PBSO takeover of the Greenacres PD might be a big splash some day in the print edition! Maybe even on the front page, above the fold? This developing news story has been online since March 4th. Continue reading the blog post below originally posted on February 25th that received a lot of attention vis-à-vis the inexplicable amount of press attention devoted to the City of Lake Worth:

The reason why the PBSO takeover of the Greenacres PD isn't being reported by The Palm Beach Post is anyone's guess. It's a continuing story and would venture to suggest the citizens of Greenacres would like to know more. If you recall it was a 4-1 vote to go with PBSO in Greenacres and it was a lively debate. Possibly many in Palm Beach County will view this development as positive news about PBSO and not bode well for the Post's expensive and extensive campaign to damage Sheriff Bradshaw's re-election later this year. If you didn't know, good news about PBSO doesn't make 'the news' in our paper of record very often.

Anyhow, this delves into another interesting development concerning news reporting and the spin concerning the little City of Lake Worth. Note these similarities between the cities of Greenacres and Lake Worth:
  • Lake Worth and Greenacres are almost the same size in land area (both about 6 square miles)
  • Almost the same population (Greenacres has a slightly higher population; both cities approximately have 36,000 people)
  • Both cities are in central Palm Beach County (PBC) separated by the Lake Worth Corridor (unincorporated PBC)
  • Both cities have elections on March 15th and both cities have 3 seats on the ballot
  • For reference, it takes 15 minutes to get from Lake Worth City Hall to the city hall in Greenacres
  • And. . . both cities have the same beat reporter from the Post
Now consider this:
  • Since January 11th the Post reporter has 34 feature articles on Lake Worth and Greenacres
  • About Lake Worth? 25
  • About Greenacres? 9
  • Approximately 75% of articles are about Lake Worth and 25% on Greenacres?
By the way, you would have to go back to very early in January to get news from the Post on the PBSO takeover of the Greenacres PD. Why would that be?

It will be interesting to see how this plays out heading into the elections on March 15th. Will the over-focusing continue on the City of Lake Worth or will there more balanced reporting for both cities? [NOTE: As of today, 3/5, there are only 10 days until election day.]

Remember what the Post's claim is: "THE REAL NEWS STARTS HERE". Unless you live in Greenacres it would seem.