Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Arlington Mercury brings more local news

The Arlington Mercury is a new local news source.  It provides original reporting from boots on the ground in Arlington.  The Arlington Mercury began operations a couple of months ago under the leadership of Steve Thurston and L. Carol Ritchie.  Thurston was the editor of the insightful and clear-headed, but now defunct, Buckingham HeraldTribblog.  The Arlington Mercury is a worthy and more ambitious new venture.

The Arlington Mercury recently ran an excellent investigative piece on backyard chickens and the chicken code.  The Merc actually located and interviewed a resident harboring covert chickens.  With traditional journalistic care, the Merc carefully maintained the anonymity of its source.  The only weakness of the story was the Merc's failure to ask tough questions about roosters.  Are roosters louder and more bothersome than the many planes passing over Rosslyn and other areas of Arlington?  Would roosters in fact create a better sonic landscape in the neighborhood?  And what about the tender needs of hens and chicks?

The Ode Street Tribune has pioneered fearless, avant-garde local news reporting.  But there's plenty of room for more hardworking and dedicated local journalists.  Enjoy the Arlington Mercury, and shower appreciation, praise, and honor on your local news sources!

1 comment:

Steve Thurston said...

Thanks for the kudos, Doug. Btw, I was at the debate tonight (Oct. 19) and saw Del. Bob Brink; he saw my card and said he was just reading about the Merc. Turns out, he must have been reading here. Nice work as always.
Also, btw, we interviewed the hens, they'd only speak off the record, and they said, "We have no need of roosters."