The Storey Teller News and commentary on what’s really going on in Storey County.
self-aggrandizement | ˈˌself əˈɡranˌdīzmənt | noun
the action or process of promoting oneself as being powerful or important.
This will probably be the last time we talk about the Comstock Comical for a while, but we couldn’t help but remark on the ad contained in the pages of the new look.
The redesign looks great and going from full color to black and white seems to be more in line with the effort to make it look more like the Gold Hill News and Territorial Enterprise from the Halcyon days when the Comstock truly was “The Richest Place On Earth”.
Poke At The Teller
In an ad on page four of the latest episode of the Comstock Comical portion of the two for one paper(s), there is a tip of the hat to The Teller. As you can see, there is the suggestion that there is but one place to get 100% local, 100% accurate and (something less than 100%) objective news (she forgot no biasness).
That’s not true. The bardeblog has been covering every Storey County Commissioners meeting, every VCTC meeting and almost every Storey Count School Board Meeting as well as a shmear of V&T Rail Commission Meetings since 2015.
And once The Teller went online, they now have some actual competition. Instead of running press releases with wearing the “Team Storey” Cheer Squad colors, The Teller covers stories that include exposing waste, abuse, and self-interest over public interest by public officials. True, we make the occasional mistake, but we dig deep and provide in-depth stories that you simply won’t see in between the sheets of the local fishwrap.
Before the two papers merged, The Virginia City News did a pretty good job of reporting while the Comical was, the brief intermission when run by Las Swanson notwithstanding, truly Comical. They continue to run Comstock Mining Press Releases as if this news was cornerstone content of the community. They laud the remarkable strides made at TRIC without mentioning the county loses money because TRIC (and Commissioner Gilman) is getting fat on the shoulders and backs of Storey County taxpayers simply isn’t worth mentioning (stay tuned for a story that will reveal just how bad it is).
But just like the transformers, there is more here than meets the eye.
As was mentioned in a letter to the editor last week (which you can read here), The Comstock Comical is not exactly tearing it up. The fact that they have combined the papers and have gone from full color (expensive) to black and white (cheap) smells like teen spirit.
Doing a quick ad count and doing the math paints a grim picture. If it wasn’t for the fact that the taxpayers are keeping it alive thanks to NRS requiring the County and Legal Advertisers to print in the “paper of record”, and given that the Comical charges 3-4x what they normally charge.
Why a local business would buy an ad there is curious. Everyone in town already knows where to eat and drink. And what every venue has. Anyone who thinks someone visiting from out of town is going to pick up a copy of the newspaper to see what’s up is simply not paying close enough attention.
While we wish them well and hope they stay alive long enough to try to remain relevant and make a buck or two, our stats continue to climb. That isn’t Self-Aggrandizement, it’s what’ up.
As we like to say, “If you want to find out what happened last week next week, buy a paper.”
To find out what’s going on now hit The Teller.
Stay Tuned.
Sam – WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? I hope you know that I try to have an objective opinion about your website, the Comstock Chronicle, and Nicole’s blog. I think I can raise my hand the highest, and clap the loudest, and cheer with the most energy, Nicole’s untiring reportage of ALL the county meetings (and I have privately emailed her when I’ve felt she may have gotten something wrong & she’s always graciously been open-minded). I know how most of those meetings are better than Ambien at putting someone to sleep, and that those benches in the courtroom used for the County Commission meetings become downright painful to one’s butt after a few hours (and most of the time you know you have even more hours to bear if you’re going to be there till the bitter end). But, I”ve never heard or read of Nicole attacking the Chronicle. Why are you?
Sam, I know you’ve been in business. I’ve had mine since 1979. While I’ve been critical of my competitors, I’ve NEVER gone to customers and cut my competitors down in front of them in order to grow my business. What I’ve done, and what has worked wonderfully for me, is that I’ve produced a better product. That has built respect for my company, and I hope, respect for me as a businessperson. What you are in danger of doing here, Sam, is creating sympathy for the Chronicle with your attacks against them. You could be alienating people who greatly appreciate your point-of-view being a part of the editorial mix in this county, but don’t like seeing people attacked, esp. when they are certainly not going to defend themselves on your website. I’m sure the Chronicle staff has no desire to get into a pissing match with you on this page, and your other critical opinion of the Chronicle in your anonymous Letter to the Editor from last week.
I’m not on the Chronicle’s staff. I’m not paid by the Chronicle for the articles I’ve written, or the photographs that Patrick’s provided them. It was really gracious of the Chronicle in publishing the article several weeks ago about the 30 years of service we’ve provided this community, without pay, in documenting those three decades with our writing and photography. But, even if the Chronicle hadn’t done this, I’d still be on here writing exactly the same as I am now. I don’t like seeing anyone attacked when the attacker is either being untruthful, coloring facts, giving one-sided opinions, or being plain mean.
You are better than this, Sam. Please continue reporting! But, give up this vendetta against the Chronicle. It does nothing positive for you.
Thank you for reading this, Sam. It’s just my opinion, and I completely understand if you disagree with me.
Thanks, Cynthia. I’LLC keep reporting on things of interest up here in “The Richest Place On Earth”