A Letter From Someone Who Has Issues With Arizona Public Media
I just got over a bout of nausea from reading the gushing self-compliments you repeated from a KUAT Channel 6 bureaucrat regarding their TV shutdown ("KUAT Experience Indicates the Digital Transition May Not Be So Bad," Media Watch, April 23). Once I was clear of the bathroom, I sent KUAT the following screed:
"Once again, you manage to twist the facts to suit your agenda of endless self-promotion. In the Tucson Weekly, your Mr. Delgado was singing his own praises on the successful shutdown of analog TV on Channel 6, which curiously still appears at the top of your main Web page as a way to get the picture. Here is a big headline: There is nothing on analog 6. And even when there was something on analog 6, there was nothing on analog 6. PBS programming and your own programming have become so third-rate and lacking in integrity or originality that whatever appeal you might have had is long gone.
"The reason you got only a smattering of calls is not because you did such a fabulous job of informing the public, but because the public has given up on getting any satisfaction, answers or response from you about anything. I have written several letters to you criticizing your so-called "news" on the radio, but you don't even bother to write with a denial or defense. You probably treat everyone that way, and everyone has decided not to even bother calling or writing to you. Your smugness and snottiness and self-isolation have served only to thoroughly wrap your cocoon up so tight that no light of day can penetrate the miasma of self-praise which clouds every pronouncement and fatuous utterance by Robert Rappaport several times each morning. As the house organs for the Board of Regents and Robert Shelton's PR machine, your radio stations especially are a laughingstock of pretend journalism. If the students graduating with degrees in that field are using KUAT and KUAZ as models for their future, the future is in deep trouble. Please spare us the continuing stream of back-patting about how well-run your operation is. It is not, and your only accomplishment of late is running what once was a somewhat credible outlet into the ground."
They never reply to anything I send them, and I don't expect any sudden enlightenment. But I do expect more from your paper than lockstep affirmation of government irresponsibility and arrogance.
My disappointment in all institutions is dropping lower by the day. Thank you for reading this.
Tom Higgins
Get Lubed Up and Ready for the City Council!
Karin Uhlich strongly favors the rent tax, and it seems she will persist in having it her way ("Back to the Drawing Board," Currents, May 7). The approach she favors is one I describe as the "Astroglide Method," and the City Council commonly uses it in face of strong opposition.
As she says in the article, "... we could phase it in over time and start at a much lower rate." She certainly knows how to screw taxpayers.
Daniel Shay
Thanks for Promoting the Causes of Compassion and Hope
Thank you so much for including "Treasures for TIHAN" in City Week on May 7. Thank you for bringing attention to HIV/AIDS in our community and what TIHAN is doing to address the issue. Our event was a great success, thanks in part to the excellent coverage that we received from you.
As the number of people living with HIV/AIDS increases, it is important that you bring awareness to this topic. Here at the Tucson Interfaith HIV/AIDS Network (TIHAN), we serve people of diverse backgrounds, all living with HIV/AIDS. We have helped stay-at-home mothers, sweet abuelas (that's "grandmothers" in Spanish), leaders of local Christian churches, teenagers and others. Through our work, we have learned that there is not a typical person living with HIV/AIDS. All strive to fill basic human needs, like having a supportive community, not being hurt by discrimination and access to health care. We hope you will keep those we serve in mind for any story about compassion and hope, and not only for stories about HIV/AIDS.
Thanks again for helping increase awareness about HIV/AIDS.
Ari Kelly
Director of education and community relations, TIHAN
It's Time to Ban Greyhound Racing!
Regarding "Kennel No. 1" (Currents, April 23): Thanks for focusing attention on the horrific living conditions for greyhounds at Tucson Greyhound Park. Greyhound racing is fraught with cruelty. Dogs often spend their entire lives muzzled in cramped, filthy cages, except when they are taken out to race. These gentle, sociable dogs rarely know the comfort of a kind word or a comforting hand. Illness and injuries—including broken legs, heatstroke and heart attacks—claim the lives of many dogs. Those who don't "make the cut" are discarded like garbage.
It is time for Arizona officials to ban this shameful "sport" once and for all. To learn more, visit grey2kusa.org.
Jennifer O'Connor
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
