Scott Tibbs
blog post
June 18th, 2005
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Over on the forum, I took the H-T to task for a stupid editorial on a group of police officers who call themselves God's Posse.
Well, the H-T managed to top the inanity of that editorial the next day.
Department dress code needed?
The photo of Mick Renneisen on the Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department Web page is great. There he is in a suit and tie, the original brick walls of the old Showers factory (now City Hall) in the background. Next to him on the page are listings for department summer offerings: Earthworks for Kids, Sail Away, Icky Goop, Fresh from the Farm. As nice as it is to see our recreation department head looking spiffy, it might have been more in keeping with the department theme if Mick had been dressed in shorts. Or even better - he could have been photographed outside at one of the city's parks or ball fields.
I have said before that the H-T should eliminate the "quick views on the news" section because there is not enough room for good argumentation. This editorial demonstrates why I was right.
It is silly to editorialize about the fact that the city Parks and Recreation department head is wearing a suit in a picture on the city Web site. It is even more silly to criticize the wearing of a suit. The headline about a "dress code" is absolutely asinine.
How exactly is a suit not keeping with the image of the Parks Department? A department head has a lot of management responsibilities, dealing with elected officials, public relations and so forth. Of course an administrator is going to be wearing a suit.
With the new layout that focuses on local news, the H-T seems to be struggling to find good content for the paper. The staff editorials (which were not exactly awe-inspiring to begin with) are suffering the most. The H-T needs to put some more effort into these editorials before they embarrass themselves further.