The Olympia city council is rightly shy of opening up debate over the repeal of Olympia’s Anti-nuclear ordinance. As the editorial of March 1^st correctly observed “they (the council) are loathe to even bring the issue up because it is seen as a divisive, national issue that will only drive wedges in the community.” Such a debate will be divisive and distract the council from much more pressing issues. And yet the editorial goes on to call for just such divisiveness. Why this apparent contradiction? Money my dear reader, the ethics-free pursuit of filthy lucre as performed by our paper of record the Daily Zero. Witness the latest case study of our so-called newspaper’s practice of the fine art of yellow journalism.

Here are a couple examples. I’m sure my readers can name at least one issue the Olympian has mangled or chosen not to cover at all.

To the detriment of small business owners, every year like clockwork the Olympian publishes an ‘in-depth’ series on the lawlessness of downtown, a position repeatedly refuted by local and state crime statistics, then concludes the series with a full length Sunday editorial calling for more taxes and less civil rights. Great copy unsupported by the facts and damaging to the economic health of 100 or so downtown businesses. I expect the next installment of this profitable myth in the spring as the debate over view robbing condominiums for the rich heats up.

The paper’s coverage of the St.Valentine's night disturbance at TESC is an example of the paper’s commitment to controversy over clarity in a different form. In the 700+ comments posted in response to the Olympian’s initial article, easily 80% belittled Evergreen students and/or called for closing of a nationally renown institution. A handful of writers sank to advocating assault and murder. I’m a radical free speecher but I as well as all other lovers of the 1^st amendment draw a line at calling for the rape and murder of anyone. I addressed my concerns to the paper on the 16^th of February and to date have yet to even receive acknowledgement from the paper.

The unarguable truth is our local media monopoly has a long and shameful history of creating controversy by nourishing a miniscule right wing moonbat minority. I doubt foremost in the minds of the editorial board of the Olympian is to create controversy but it sure does sell papers. The Olympian’s contradictory position on the nuclear free zone ordinance is yet another in a long line of editorial positions sans any meaningful constituency.

It’s sad to say but despite the dedicated and sometimes effective writing found in real organs of news dissemination such as Works in Progress, the Sitting Duck, the Cooper Point Journal, Olyblog, and others, the Olympian sets the agenda for our community. As thankless as the task is it is important to call the bastards half way up the Eastside Hill on their bull.

Write the Olympian editorial board regularly and let them know what you think of their opinions. Organize a letter to the editor campaign. Urge whatever group to which you belong and demand a meeting with the Editorial board. Contact the Zip’s reporters and suggest stories. Email their webmaster and tell them their web page sucks. (It really, really does suck) If you’re a business owner threaten to pull your ads. Better yet, find new avenues for your hard earned advertising dollar. Inform WIP, the Duck et. al. about your efforts to make the Olympian responsive to our community. I’m sure you can think of other tactics that fit your time and personality.

I know turning the Olympian into something more than a profit whore is a Sisyphean labor but there is no alternative to speaking the truth to power. In Peace Laurian Weisser