The Sophistic Sleight of Hand at The Courier

You've got to admire Jeremy Speer's chutzpah. Really, it takes industrial-grade cognitive dissonance to write an entire column arguing The Courier’s "attention does not equal our endorsement" while simultaneously choreographing a cheerleading routine that’s excessive, to put it charitably.

Look, I'm not naïve about how small-town newspapers operate. But The Courier's transformation from purported watchdog to administrative therapy dog represents a particularly egregious abandonment of journalistic responsibility. It's like having someone lecture you about dietary restraint while face-deep in a bucket of fried chicken.

Here's the thing: If Findlay City Schools were merely asking for community support without the backdrop of scandal, Findlay could have a straightforward debate about fiscal priorities. But that's not what's happening. What the community has instead is a trifecta of institutional failure—an administration caught in documented deception, a school board practicing selective amnesia, and a media ecosystem playing the role of accomplice after the fact.

Make no mistake, this is a coordinated effort across Findlay's media landscape. The Courier's print campaign has been dutifully amplified by their broadcast sibling, WFIN radio. When Board Member Susan Russell made a spectacle of herself on WFIN's Facebook page announcing an Findlay City Schools town hall—revealing in real-time her staggering ignorance about the very investigation she's supposed to be overseeing—what happened? Within days, the comment thread where her beclowning act, once proudly on display for all her constituents, mysteriously vanished. How convenient. Apparently, transparency in Findlay's media extends only to information that doesn't embarrass their institutional allies.

This digital memory-holing would be comical if it weren't so perfectly emblematic of how the entire FFE investigation has been handled. Evidence that contradicts the preferred narrative doesn't get addressed—it simply disappears, whether it's emails from 215 staff accounts, Kevin Manley's six-page rebuttal, or Facebook comments that reveal a board member's incompetence.

The pattern is undeniable. The Courier gleefully covered the initial investigation, reporting the administration's claims with stenographic precision. They even editorialized about the investigation, saying “we're troubled by the findings of an investigation of the Findlay Schools Findlay First Edition show choir program”. But when inconvenient truths emerged—like the fact that the investigation cost more than double what was publicly claimed, or that administrators deleted emails from 215 staff accounts, or that Kevin Manley submitted a detailed rebuttal that was deliberately buried—The Courier suddenly developed journalistic laryngitis.

This selective mutism would be bad enough in isolation. But it becomes downright farcical when juxtaposed with Speer's recent sermon about how The Courier isn't "here to tell you how to think." Really? Then why has The Courier published four separate “local editorials” supporting the administration while restricting opposing viewpoints to half the word count? The Courier is disingenuously claiming impartiality while serving as someone's campaign manager.

What's particularly galling is the intellectual dishonesty. Speer wants readers to believe The Courier is merely reporting news without bias, yet they've systematically suppressed documented evidence that contradicts the administration's narrative. This isn't journalism; it's narrative management with a press pass.

The fundamental question Findlay residents should be asking is not about funding itself, but about the previous conduct of the administrators asking for that money. When an administration misrepresents financial information, conceals critical rebuttals, and potentially violates public records laws—and the local media actively helps bury these facts—citizens aren't being asked for democratic consent. They're being manipulated into compliance.

The Courier and WFIN's betrayal of basic journalistic principles isn't just disappointing—it's dangerous. A functioning democracy requires informed citizens, and Findlay's media outlets have deliberately chosen to keep citizens uninformed about matters of significant public interest.

So pardon me if I don't applaud Speer's sanctimonious posturing about journalistic objectivity. When you selectively ignore documented malfeasance while amplifying those responsible for it, you are not practicing journalism—you're gaslighting with a folksy accent. And when you delete evidence of your allies' incompetence, you're not upholding community standards—you’re orchestrating a masterclass in institutional sleight-of-hand.

And that, as they say in the newspaper business, is the real story.