I read with interest but also dismay Town Topics’ coverage of the public comments portion of the July 28 meeting of the Princeton Town Council. The article begins with a brief overview of the issues covered. It goes on to quote Mayor Mark Freda, then quotes Council President Mia Sacks. A long excerpt then follows of the Council’s July 28 statement regarding a recent set of ICE detentions in town.

Following that statement, the article quotes from Councilwoman Leticia Fraga. Having quoted the Councilwoman at some length, the article then reports on a further phone conversation with her. The article ends with yet another statement by Councilwoman Fraga. That’s the whole thing. No one else is quoted, and no other views are covered.

Erich Kussman, Pastor of St. Bartholomew Lutheran Church of Trenton, New Jersey, quoting Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The reader is told pro forma that the public comments portion of the meeting lasted two-and-a-half hours, but is given no direct reporting on what was said during that time or by whom. As far as Town Topics is concerned, no one in the audience said anything worth quoting, including Chris Hedges, the Pulitzer Prize winning author, or any of the several local leaders who spoke, including Ana Paula Pazmiño, Executive Director of Resistencia en Accion NJ. No one seems to matter to the reporter but the Mayor and Council, not even those directly on the front lines of the struggle against ICE. Dozens of people spoke. Not one is quoted.

Anna Konvicka, of Labyrinth Books, quoting Seamus Heaney

It should be obvious that if a reporter is sent to cover a three hour meeting, he defaults on his professional responsibility if he ignores what happened during four-fifths of it. It should also be obvious that that’s exactly what happened here. The entirety of Donald Gilpin’s “reporting” consists of verbatim recitations of the claims of town officials. That by definition is PR. If Princeton’s Mayor and Town Council need PR, they can hire a PR firm. A newspaper is not the place for it, and a reporter is not the person for it. 

Hilary Persky, of Princeton, quoting a letter of support from former State Representative Sadaf Jaffer

People who lack the standing to appear in a newspaper lack a motivation for reading it. I would suggest that the nominal readership of Town Topics stop delivery of the paper until it finally decides to start delivering news. It’s not clear to me what benefit would be derived from a newspaper no one reads. But then, it’s not clear to me what benefit is derived from a newspaper not worth reading. Town Topics needs to decide what it wants to produce–journalism or quasi-official propaganda. There’s no room in this town for a newspaper that tries unsuccessfully to do both.