Swenson: Sun City SAC meeting needs better coverage

Mark Twain once said, after reading a local newspaper article about himself, that you could go over the finished product with a divining rod and not find yourself.

This is what I would say about the latest article regarding the SAC meeting, which is deciding the fate of the performing arts in Sun City.

My wife was once a reporter. She talks of the rule of three. A reporter talks to those from each side of an issue, and then to a third party before you print. Obviously, this did not happen here. I don’t believe the anonymous reporter even attended the meeting or watched much of the video. My guess is that he or she may have watched a portion of the video and then depended on the extremely biased chairman of the committee, John Fast, for the rest.

I, as president of the Players, am one of the principles on the other side of this issue. I have never had an Independent reporter contact me on this issue. Think about that. We are talking about the fate of the performing arts in Sun City and a principal member of that community has never been contacted.

Newsworthy at that meeting was that John Fast was challenged on the accuracy of his last letter to the Independent by a committee member. Also, the committee members laughed in agreement when I pointed out the bias of the slide presentation. They laughed when I asked why pickleball has a separate and special presentation to the committee by the vice president of the board. These facts were not in the article.

Historically, the Independent was very biased towards Recreation Centers of Sun City at first. I then wrote a letter directly to the reporter, complaining of this one-sidedness. After that, the reporting became much more balanced.

But this latest article was a throwback to the previous posture in spades — extremely biased and untruthful. Honestly, it belonged on the opinion page.

I urge residents to watch the videos or attend the meetings to know what this committee is actually doing.

We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.