I don't profess to understand all that drives the news reporting at the Gannett-owned Indianapolis Star, but quite clearly a top priority of the newspaper is to promote to its readers the consumption of alcohol. Today, reporters Amy Haneline and Will Higgins share a story about a drinking tour they recently took of 10 Indianapolis bars offering "drinking nostalgia." Again, I have nothing against drinking alcohol in small, measured amounts, but I don't think the media should be encouraging us to drink alcohol anymore than I would expect it to promote us lighting up cigarettes or popping pills to calm our nerves or feel better. There's hardly a day that goes by that the newspaper is not promoting alcohol consumption in one form or another. Why? Does going out and tying one on every night lead to better health and stronger families? A lot of people struggle with alcoholism, and The Star isn't making life any easier for those folks.
6 comments:
But it's putting money in the pockets of potential (or actual) advertisers, Gary. Kind of like "news" in the sports section.
I don't believe the Columbia Club, Working Man's Friend or the Chatterbox are buying any advertising space from the Star.
I think many people, even the so called "good" and "professional" people are addicted to alcohol consumption. It seems to come from college binge drinking. I've seen it in my own family as well. Alcohol is worshiped as if it is a God. I partied some during my college years, a minimal amount compared to most. I mostly quit drinking because my girlfriend, now wife, wasn't into the party scene at all. So I mostly escaped going down the path where I feel the need to have to consume alcohol to have any sort of life.
You have to give credit to the alcohol companies though. They focused their product on college kids, who they knew would be the leaders of future. If the future leaders of the country are addicted to your product, what is the likelihood they will work against your product in the future? So while tobacco was targeted for annihilation, ethanol is so worshiped by the masses, that we just have to have it at K-12 functions, the state fair, etc.. Booze is just the way of the country. It seems many need it in order to socialize.
Anything in Indianapolis must be centered around beer, which is why the Indianapolis Star now has a beer reporter. Don't believe me? Even ballet in Indianapolis has to be centered around beer:
http://beerandballet.brownpapertickets.com/
beer is gooood. in all seriousness, going out with group of friends drinking if responsible is absolutely normal. i see nothing wrong with brewery tours, bar hops, etc. with cab system and now uber its as easy as ever to responsibly get home safe.
alcohol is legal btw.
indiana has a lot of obese people, should we get rid of the articles about food and restaurants too?
Anon 2:07 misses the point completely. Yes, alcohol is legal, but alcohol also destroys a lot of lives. The Star, along with the Indy braintrust (and I use that word loosely) seem convinced that this sports-booze model of theirs is brilliant. It's not. It only seems profitable because they ignore the cost side of the ledger and transfer it to the taxpayer where it gets buried. Smarter people than us figured this out a long time ago. You can get about the hard work of building a great city like Denver, Minneapolis, Austin and a whole host of other places are doing or you can party on, Garth. Indy has made it's choice and, in the process, sealed its fate. This won't end well. Oh, and by the way, somebody needs to tell the Star that the microbrew revolution happened about 30 years ago in most of these cities.
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