YOUR ELI: Want balanced coverage? Tell us what you think!

As we approach the May 5^th election in East Lansing, ELi hopes you will speak up and tell us your positions on the issues that will affect all of us. We will be looking for residents of East Lansing to help educate fellow citizens about their perspectives, and so we hope you will consider contributing in this way.

We know for certain that on the May ballot there will be a proposal to locally legally decriminalize possession or transportation of less than an ounce of marijuana. There may also be a proposed amendment removing the provision that requires a super-majority (right now 60%) of voters to approve the sale of public land valued at more than $4 per resident, replacing it with some other approval system for the sale of public lands.

When I listen to community voices as the Managing Editor of ELi, they vary substantially. I’ve heard that marijuana should be completely decriminalized by state law, and I’ve heard that no amount of the drug should ever be considered “legal.” I’ve heard that taking land sales out of the hands of the voters is the act of power-hungry government, and I’ve heard that the proposed change would actually bring East Lansing into line with the practices of many other cities and make the system more democratic.

A working democracy functions best when its citizens are well-informed. Approaching the voting booth with confidence depends on having all of the necessary information, from the wording and meaning of ballot proposals to the potential costs and consequences of proposed changes. If we vote based only on half-formed rumors or long-standing personal biases, we squander a magnificent opportunity to participate in a fully-engaged fashion.

We sometimes ask each other at ELi why it sometimes seems hard to get more people to speak up about their experiences and their views. We ask people who tell us what they think to go on the record—but many don’t want to, even if we promise not to print their names. Why is it so hard?

Perhaps it is because many of us are taught early in life that it’s not polite to discuss politics, especially with strangers. People also recognize that a discussion of controversial issues may lead to argument, and they feel it’s better to avoid ugliness. It’s also probably more comfortable not to know that the person in the next office or the house next door sees the world so differently.

Here at Eli, we have heard that some of our political coverage is “negative.” That seems to mean that there are stories about citizens publicly expressing their unhappiness with the actions and plans of our City government, and stories about what’s not working as it is supposed to in our City. The truth is that we report what happens, and speak to those decision-makers and citizens who are willing to speak to us. When City Council voted to close the Bailey Community Center and its daycare, the people willing to speak on the record were unanimously opposed to the decision. Eli staff spent the better part of a day looking actively for citizens willing to say that they supported the decision, and when we located five, not one was willing to be quoted – even anonymously. We would, in the interest of unbiased reporting, have been delighted to offer both sides of the story, but it simply wasn’t possible.

We didn’t like that. But when people don’t want to tell our reporters about what they’re thinking and experiencing, we’re stuck reporting only the remarks of the people who will go on the record. We’re stuck reporting that “the other side” didn’t want to go on the record.

As we approach the May election, ELi will be strongly encouraging you to speak up, to ask questions, and to generally participate in the dialogue about the issues. Do it at Public Council (we’ll report it), do it by talking to our reporters, do it by becoming one of our reporters who works with our standards to get maximal important material out there.

Eli is not a business—it is a nonprofit public service, and it is our charter to shine an unbiased light on everything in East Lansing that matters to our readers. If you think we’re too “negative,” drop us a line and make a suggestion, or pitch a story idea that you’ll write yourself.  If you think we’re one-sided on an issue, let us know that you’d like to be part of creating more public balance, and help us find the people and facts to support that balance. We need your help! We want your help! We are ready to work with you!

Bottom line: if you don’t like what your government is doing, if you love what your government is doing, if you think the marijuana laws should change or not change, or if you think certain land sales should be decided by City Council or remain governed as they are, speak up! Tell us! We plan to publish articles featuring citizens on both “sides” of the ballot issues, and you can be one of those people. You can even be one of those people anonymously.

It may be more comfortable not to jump in, to let others step up and to judge them from a distance, but when all voices are heard, and we can live with the discomfort of finding middle ground, we can start to create the community we want and deserve—not a community that is “for” or “against” anything so much as engaged, educated democracy. On that, we think, we all agree.

Coming up this week in YOUR East Lansing: 

• Monday: Legacies of Latina Activism in Southeastern Michigan
• Monday: Public Library Homework Help
• Tuesday: City Council meeting & Public Hearings
• Wednesday: Theater2Film Project at MSU
• Thursday: MSU Wind Symphany
• Thusday: Theatre2Film Project at MSU
• Friday: Slavery to Freedom - Guest Speaker John Lewis
• Friday + Saturday: All-of-us Express: The Wind in the Willows
• Friday + Saturday: Theatre2Film Project at MSU
• Saturday: City Council SPECIAL meeting on City Debt
• Saturday: Children's Concert - Tim the Music Man

Have an event you want on the calendar? Let us know!