Thursday, May 15, 2008
Media / Politics The Keyboard Assassin
Posted by Liz Garrigan on Thu, May 15, 2008 at 11:26 AM
That handsome (kinda) man is our own Jeff Woods on a rare day when he didn't look like a street urchin. Anyway, his journalistic efforts during last year's mayoral race have made him a finalist for our industry's Public Service Award category. Some call his coverage of the candidates, particularly of former Congressman Bob Clement, journalistic malpractice. We call it kicking tail. There continues to be widespread misunderstanding, apparently, about the role of altweeklies, which is to offer reporting with point of view, not to serve as a platform for stenographic mealy-mouthery the likes of which readers can get at The City Paper and The Tennessean.
In fact, I named the package of pieces "Mayor Bubba Smackdown," and we argued to the judges that the Nashville Scene provided a public service to Nashvillians by reporting and editorializing over several months' time that Bob Clement was far from the best choice to run this $1.8 billion major American city. An independent panel of judges apparently agrees, though the best we can hope for is probably third place as these types of journalism awards typically go to papers discovering that corporations are poisoning poor people, not to grumpy, unshaven wretches singularly obsessed with picking on political hacks desperately in search of power.
We never thought that Jeff Woods—whose triangle of existence includes our office Monday through Thursday, a seedy downtown bar and the Smoky Mountains—would be recognized for providing a public service. He's probably cringing at the notion that someone thinks he's done something good in the world.
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