Ghosts appear and fade away

It's not that I don't think the Kwame Kilpatrick saga is one of the most important stories in recent Detroit history. It's not that I don't think The Detroit Free Press did one hell of a job in rooting out the the story and making it public--and doing one hell of a service for the city of Detroit. It's not even that I don't think this week's story about the charges levelled at Kilpatrick and his cronies by U. S. Attorney Barbara McQuade doesn't merit the front page coverage it received.


But it reaches a point where you wonder what is overkill and what, if any, good all of the coverage (five full pages worth) does. Kwame Kilpatrick is already out of office. Kwame Kilpatrick is already in jail. I suppose that if all or some of McQuade's charges result in conviction, Kwame Kilpatrick will spend more time in jail. His cronies will also spend time in jail. And this will accomplish...what? It's not that I don't think they deserve it, but I don't think more jail time on top of time already being served is worthy of five pages of coverage. And the time Kilpatrick serves will be as big of a deterrent to future Detroit politicians as...the death penalty is to future murderers. Everyone thinks they will be the one to get away from it.

And...one wonders what five pages of coverage would have done to educate people about healthcare reform. Or five pages on the Bush tax cuts. Or five pages on the candidates we recently elected. I just don't see where the Free Press' recent coverage of the charges levelled against Kilpatrick and his cronies does all that much to make the lives of ordinary people better, how it is anything more than one of those "ooh, this will win us some newspaper award for hard hitting coverage that covers next to nothing" pieces. A page or two would have been fine. The rest is overkill, taking space (and one would assume resources) that might actually make a difference in people's lives.

It's a good story. It's a safe story. But in the end, I don't think it's going to add one iota to make Detroit a better city or Michigan a better state.

Peace,
emaycee