In an earlier post, I asked "What are newspapers for?" That's a two-edged question, meaning both what are they in favor of, and why are they there at all.
A couple of hints of an answer today, which is a big day for our medium-sized paper.
A bit of background first.
In February of 2005, the paper ran a weeklong special report on violent crime in the city of Wilmington, Del. Most of that report was descriptive, but it included a fair bit of prescription as well — including a call for a reinvigorated commitment to community policing. The mayor and chief of police weren't too keen on community policing, but the mayor formed a commission or a task force or some such to conduct further study and make recommendations and formulate a strategy and … Well, you know how that goes.
In September of 2005 the paper ran a weeklong special report on health care in Delaware prisons. That sparked more commissions and panels and even a handful of prayer vigils and press conferences. But again, you know how that goes.
Which brings us to today's paper. Page A1: "Federal probe to address prison failures: Department of Justice to look into every aspect of corrections, from operations to inmate care." And page A2: "Wilmington to expand community policing: Training will have more officers focusing on issues affecting city's residents."
Every once in a while — not often, but every once in a while — I'm reminded of why I didn't just go get an MBA. This is one of those times.
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