Tabloid journalism in East Dundee

Over the last couple of weeks, the Daily Herald has published a couple of articles that presented East Dundee and its Special Event managers in an unflattering light despite the fact that the reporter was aware the entire hubbub was caused by a misunderstanding.

The opening line in the first article was clearly intended to incite public outcry and served only to escalate the rancor among the various parties involved, even when the author, and presumably the editor, knew the misunderstanding arose when a preliminary skeletal schedule was being circulated by an uninformed third party as final.

In fact, meetings were already planned to help the village complete the schedule in ways that would be most beneficial for all parties involved. Because of the Daily Herald's tactics, the planning meetings were rancorous and made reaching an agreement much more difficult.

I was one of the first volunteers for Motor Mondays and continue to be one of the major volunteers to this event and volunteer for East Dundee's other events as well. I found this reporting to be flawed and damaging to our community, our staff, our business owners, our volunteers, our populace and to the readers of this publication.

The decision by the Daily Herald's reporter and editor to focus these articles on the controversy within the East Dundee community smacks of tabloid journalism when the community, in my opinion, deserves a higher standard of reporting.

Lucy DeLap

East Dundee

Motor Mondays Coordinator