Media Criticism

The inclusion of Burlington’s Seven Days in my alternative media showcase was a way to ease our way into the world of non-commercial news. Many people equate alternative papers, zines and other items that are overlooked by major media outlets with leftist cities like Berkeley, Madison and Burlington. There are plenty of alternative outlets printed in cities outside of the liberal orbit. Metro Spirit is a good example of an alternative news outlet that is not printed in a big city or a partisan bastion.

The city of Augusta, Georgia is best known for hosting The Masters each spring. Metro Spirit is a pleasant little secret enjoyed by a readership of 23,000 and rising according to the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. This newspaper is published by Portico Publications LTD which publishes alternative papers in Charlottesville, Virginia and Columbia, South Carolina. The fact that Metro Spirit belongs to a small media network gives it credibility due to increased resources for investigative journalism.

I came across Metro Spirit on the right week. This past week featured a cover story and ancillary articles on education in the Augusta area. The cover story called “Small Sacrifices, Big Changes�? spoke about Immaculate Conception School that is moving into a different neighborhood in Augusta. This school and the Laney Walker neighborhood have been victimized by economic downturns as well as changing demographics. The fact that the school is not closing up shop shows that there are still schools that are committed to educating the next generation of leaders instead of thinking about the bottom line. Tom Grant did a fantastic job highlighting the importance of religion in education as well as the approach taken by Principal Jonathan Pike to ensuring the security of a small, religious-minded school.

Most newspapers would slash up an article on a local school moving before moving to AP press releases and photographs. Metro Spirit delves further into the issue of education with the editor’s article on small schools and an entry in the Metro Beat regarding how test performance influences decisions to close local schools. The in depth nature of these articles as well as the devotion to a single theme taken from multiple perspectives is something no one will see in a major newspaper.