Mountain Media Takes Nasty Spill after Confrontation with Vail Resorts

Mountain Media Takes Nasty Spill After Confrontation with Vail Resorts

When the New York Times writes about a reporter for a small (both figuratively and literally) newspaper in Summit County, Colorado, something is up.

Other headlines about this story include:

Reporter: I was fired for taking on the ski industry

Greene: Advertising flap snowballs for Vail Resorts

Journalist Fired After Critical Report Published

Vail resorts, the evil empire of the Rockies?

What is confusing is everyone seems to be giving Vail Resorts a hard time. Sure there are some ethical issues with Vail’s complaint/defense but let us get real. Sure Vail yanked its advertising from the newspaper because they did not like the article. Big corporations do this every day.

Besides there is only one newspaper in Summit County, if Vail does not advertise in the Summit Daily News the only other option is posting flyers on telephone poles.

The party to this story that should be castigated is the Summit Daily News. They forgot what a newspaper is supposed to do. They forgot they are the fourth estate, the non-governmental entities charged with keeping out freedom by remaining vigilant. Those freedoms specifically include the First Amendment to the US Constitution.

Amendment I

The fundamental basis for all we stand for here in the US is the right to free speech. However, the Summit Daily News put a price on it. The price is the advertising dollars of Vail Resorts.

Big and little corporations are going to flex their muscle every day. Consumers do it every time they go to the Better Business Bureau website and file a complaint. Lawyers do it when they represent a client. That is life in the US.

However, life will change if every time we flex that muscle, some newspaper caves. Well, I am not going to take it anymore. I am canceling my subscription to the Summit Daily News effective immediately because of what they did.

Oh, wait, I do not live in Summit County, and I do not subscribe to that newspaper. No wonder newspapers are dying; it is hard to evolve when you don’t have any backbone.