This post is about three very different attempts to cover the same story. But before we pick over the bones, let’s address the meat of the matter. For whatever reason, the Scott administration is not only rushing its search for a new education secretary, it’s spent a shockingly small amount of money on the task.

Seven Days’ Alison Novak got the goods, revealing that the administration has spent a measly $495 on a search now scheduled to close, um, tomorrow. By comparison, she noted, school districts routinely invest 20 times that much on a basic search for a superintendent, and often spend far more.

The only flaw in Novak’s story was the headline, written in the form of a question: Is Vermont Doing Enough to Find the Right Leader for Its Education Agency? Remarkably timid header for a story that clearly identifies the answer as “Fuck, no!”

I mean, they posted the opening on professional job sites and that’s about it. Maybe they also taped a photocopied listing to the agency’s front door (complete with little “Contact Us” tabs at the bottom), but whatever, it’s simply pathetic.

Okay, there’s the substance. Now let’s take a somewhat speculative walk down the Memory Lane of journalism.

Back on September 26, I posted a piece noting that after the Scott administration had taken several months to formally request the job be posted, the state board of education had set aside less than three weeks between the posting and the application deadline. I speculated that the skids were being greased for the promotion of Interim Secretary Heather Bouchey, because three weeks was basically a middle finger raised in the direction of potential applicants.

Two days after that, VTDigger posted a story that seemed, in some respects, like a rejoinder to my piece. It was basically an unspoken “Nuh-UH!” in my direction, a sympathetic interpretation of the administration’s actions. Reporter Peter D’Auria, curiously, chose to date the beginning of the search process from Gov. Phil Scott’s formal request, sent in late July:

In that July letter, Scott suggested to board members that they take eight weeks to complete their search. The application deadline, however, will fall about ten weeks after Scott’s letter, and it’s unclear when a final candidate will be selected or will start in the role.

The date of Scott’s letter is irrelevant because the search can’t be said to begin until it’s actually publicized and posted, which didn’t happen until last month. D’Auria unquestioningly included an estimation by board chair Jennifer Samuelson that a three-week search was “an appropriate level of time,” which is obviously bullshit. (The search was since extended — by a single week! Sad.)

Apparently these two pieces planted a seed at Seven Days because this week it published Novak’s thoroughly reported story, which could fairly be called an exposé. Her account includes a wealth of detail that expands on my original contention: This is an absolute joke of a search process for such an important position.

In our ever-shrinking media ecosystem, it’s rare when competing outlets cover the same story. When it happens, as in this case, the accounts can differ substantially. Whether competing or complementary, multiple accounts offer perspective. This used to happen all the time when the Burlington Free Press was a lively Statehouse presence, the Mitchell family papers operated a three-person Vermont Press Bureau, the three TV stations were represented almost daily at the Statehouse, Vermont Public (then VPR) had two capital reporters, and Seven Days had three.

Now, by my count, the Free Press never ventures to Montpelier, VPB is gone, the TV stations show up only on big occasions, Vermont Public has a single Statehouse reporter and Seven Days has two. Only Digger fields a sizeable contingent. More often than not, Digger is the only outlet putting significant effort into a given story. They usually do a good job. But when they don’t, there’s little or no backup.

In this case, if Digger’s story had stood alone, we would have never known exactly how pitiful this job search was. Good thing there was more than one outlet on the case.