Please note the our new logo above: NewsLanc.com / RealReporting.org.
NewsLanc was an outgrowth of the bitter controversy concerning whether public funding and guarantees should be made available for the development of the Lancaster Convention Center / Marriott Hotel project.
The Project was symptomatic of decade, roughly spanning the national administration of then president George W. Bush, when private interests, ignorance, hubris and greed ran rampant.
Local representatives of that era were powerful Senator Gibson Armstrong who was eager to reward his friend and supporter; then Franklin and Marshall’s president the disingenuous, bullying and we thought cowardly John Fry; the greed and deceptions of S. Dale High; the the establishment elite’s ‘cat’s paw’ The Lancaster Alliance; the folly of then CEO of the Lancaster Newspapers, Inc. Jack Buckwalter (reputedly a very decent guy); the harebrained proposals of the Lancaster Street Car Company; and the seizure of the a public charity, the monopolistic Lancaster General Health, by a coterie of self selected, self perpetuating, self enriching, and self aggrandizing leaders that act in virtual secrecy and conceal their motives and actions behind a wall of propaganda.
Except for Lancaster General Health, all of the other shenanigans are behind us and Lancaster has returned to being a relatively virtuous community in which we can take pride.
Meanwhile NewsLanc.com has expanded coverage to state, national and international affairs, providing excerpts and links to articles appearing in a dozen leading worldwide publications covering a spectrum of political persuasion and, in part, reflecting the interests of its publisher and editor. Kevin Zeese , a leading national progressive, contributes comments and articles. More recently one of the state’s most knowledgeable reporters and authors, Bill Keisling of Yard Bird, has joined NewsLanc and will produce a stream of articles on Pennsylvania. Soon entering retirement from business, publisher / editor Robert Field intends to return to his academic roots to research and write.
Although there are signs that newspaper and magazine pay Internet may encourage competition and thus invigorate investigatory reporting, which has largely disappeared from the national scene as cities became served by only one newspaper company, it is the intention of RealReporting.org to concentrate on only three major issues over the course of a year, researching them in depth and reporting through series. A model for this was NewsLanc’s book length series on the Lancaster Convention Center authored in large part by Chris Hart-Nibbrig.
Keisling will concentrate on state government and affairs. Zeese will continue to contribute concerning the Occupy movement and other progressive matters. Field plans to study and report on the feasibility of a second constitutional congress to restrict excessive campaign financing. Expertise will be sought to investigate in depth Lancaster General Health. (To date, past articles by then NewsLanc research analyst Doug McVay remain the most factual and perspicacious observations available to the public.)
Nevertheless, the NewsLanc historic concern with local issues will remain, especially as a forum for discussion among contributors, matters of major local concern, and the Watchdog comments on articles appearing in the Lancaster newspapers. Moreover, from time to time, NewsLanc printed newsletters and tabloids on Lancaster issues will be distributed to the general public.
We thank our readers for their interest and are especially grateful to those who provide anonymous comments and letters. Please be part of the NewsLanc family and forum, share your thoughts, and spare us no criticism!
