Tag Archives: Theo Wells-Spackman

The Fate of the Innovator Is Not Always Pleasant

6 Replies

I’ve been thinking for a while about BETA Technologies, a.k.a. The Great White Hope for jobs and economic growth in the post-IBM era. Those thoughts have crystallized around a recently-published story by VTDigger’s Theo Wells-Spackman entitled “An Inside Look at Beta (sic) Technologies’ Big Plans for Vermont.”

(I guess we need an AP Style Guide ruling on whether the name is all caps or not but it’s listed on the stock market as BETA, so I’ll go where the money is.)

The story was well done. But it was an example of how an article can be diligently executed but still compromised by its concept. The most frequent offender in this regard is the class of story about “Local Residents Oppose [insert development plan here].” The usual evils are renewable energy installations, cell towers, and proposals for new housing. By their very framing, these accounts give more weight to the opposition — who get the lion’s share of the quotes and the column inches. Supporters are less often heard from if at all, and developers tend to stay away from active engagement because they fear it will just make things worse.

In the case of Wells-Spackman’s piece, “An Inside Look” is fun and exciting, but no matter how hard the reporter tries, the final product is going to make BETA Technologies look good. The shiny factory, the face time with company leaders and supportive officials, all nice. If you begin with “a private tour” of the factory, and you’re kind of already in the host’s back pocket. Access journalism, I think they call it.

Continue reading →

Our Political Betters Are Strangling Vermont State University

5 Replies

A tremendous piece of reporting by VTDigger’s Theo Wells-Spackman lays out the dire situation facing Vermont State University and, although it sticks to the cautious, both-sides nature of modern journalism, it pretty much points the finger at the real culprits: Gov. Phil Scott and the Legislature.

It’s not a pretty picture. Falling admissions, leadership turmoil, cutbacks across the board, more cuts coming down the pike, half-empty (or worse) campuses, morale in the toilet. In short, something that looks just like a death spiral. And barring a sudden influx of resources from a state that has always shortchanged higher education, it’s hard to see how VSU pulls out of it. I’m sure it will survive in some form, but there’s no way it can become the robust, lower-cost, in-state alternative to the University of Vermont that we need it to be.

The situation would be bad enough, but the real killer is the state’s insistence that VSU maintain operations at all five of its campuses while implementing a painful series of state-mandated budget cuts.

Continue reading →