Last Wednesday afternoon, the Metro Pulse broke one of its last stories. Soon after, WBIR issued an article describing the plug-pulling in greater detail. The Knoxville News Sentinel sacked 23 employees, and Scripps, the publisher, ripped funding from beneath the feet of the paper. Scripps simply twitched its magic money-wand, and with not so much as a ‘poof,’ beckoned the end of a paper that objectively reflected on the city of Knoxville.
Let’s start with tallying our losses after such a blow. Some will mourn the disappearance of the “Best of Knoxville” awards that recognized restaurants, concert venues, community-building organizations and more that really helped mold Knoxville into the kind of city its citizens are proud to call home. But we’ve lost more than just plaques on the walls of our favorite Mexican restaurants. We’ve lost the all-important ability to analyze our local culture objectively, calling out the mistakes, demanding improvement and praising our most groundbreaking achievements.
Maybe pulling the plug on the Metro Pulse was just a decision made on economic grounds, but I smell something stale in the paper’s shutdown. I smell fear and statements of cowardice. Just this year, the ‘alternative’ paper tackled issues ranging from why people choose to leave Knoxville to why voters are afraid to vote for Democratic candidates that embody all of the community’s views.
Last year, the Metro Pulse gave the community the facts surrounding the fraud allegations facing Pilot Flying J, a story the staff laid out like a “David Mamet” play. They’ve stormed through the social tension surrounding such issues and have discussed them objectively, while styling the stories in a way that mixes a variety of perspectives with humor and quality journalism to make readers think long and hard about the inner-workings of our scruffy little city.
I think someone didn’t like these reflections. I think someone with power (read: money) decided what the public doesn’t know and doesn’t think about won’t hurt them. On the contrary, the truth of the matter is that now our city’s maladies will continue to hurt us, but without the bold discussions started by the Metro Pulse, we are no longer equipped to respond.
Maybe ignorance is bliss, but I much prefer tackling issues head-on and with my eyes open than sticking my head in the sand ostrich-style as corporate-owned freight trains come speeding my way. Reflection is a key step in every fault-fixing strategy, and it seems as if we’ve poked one too many holes in our city’s mechanism of self-correction. Maybe I’m being overly cynical, but maybe everyone else could do with a little more cynicism themselves.
To the former staff of the Metro Pulse, consider Scripps’ condemnation as a sign that you’ve been doing something right since 1991. Too often are agents of change and proponents of truth mistaken for troublemakers that need to be kept in line. Thank you for coloring and writing outside of the lines.
Our scruffy little city is looking suspiciously clean-shaven without the hair-raising stories found in the pages of the Metro Pulse.
Kenna Rewcastle is a senior in College Scholars. She can be reached at [email protected].
