At 12:30 AM on Monday, August 25, 2015, student editors at the University of Florida Independent Alligator hit the "send" button, publishing that very day an article on the results of the marathon DOW PUD quasi-judicial hearing, at the end of a seven hour City Commission meeting. The St. Augustine Record did not print the final results until the next day (see above), on Wednesday, August 26, 2016.
The St. Augustine Record never published a news story about the five UF professors' unqualified endorsement in an "Opinion Paper" of the DOW PUD. No St. Augustine Record news story, just a dumb 'ole editorial unadorned by critical thinking, wherein Record Opinion Editor Jim Sutton again quoted his former girlfriend, Commissioner NANCY SIKES-KLINE (on the opposite page was his column talking about the late former Record Editor A.H. TEBAULT, JR., an unrepentant segregationist: the Record has still not owned up to the fact that TEBAULT was a segregationist, but at least Sutton portrayed TEBAULT as an energumen destroying entire monthly issues of the Flagler College student newspaper).
The St. Augustine Record has never report public opposition to the UF professors' endorsement of the DOW PUD. The University of Florida Independent Alligator did, did so swiftly, adroitly and competently -- pretty cool for a student-run publication to "scoop" a newspaper owned by a chain.
Three cheers for the University of Florida Independent Alligator. Journalism is alive and well here in North Florida, if not necessarily in St. Augustine.
We prefer Independence in Journalism to "Chain Gang Journalism" any day of the week!
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