We’ve been noticing of late how interested the Country Press has been getting in reporting on Ventnor – especially over the last few of months, with a couple of pieces appearing each week.
As is often the accusation against the media, were they just building up our beloved town so they could slap it down?
The article itself isn’t too bad. It’s the way it’s been editorialised – the headline and the photographs – that don’t do the town any favours.
Clearly the photographer has been told to go out to try and find the grotty parts of Ventnor – something that exists in every town. The level of their desperation is clear with the photo on the bottom right of the piece showing a broken road sign in a bush.
The dominant picture is of the skate park, a project that should be heralded rather than reviled. The considerable renovation of the skatepark carried out by volunteers and was driven by the hard work and sweat of just one man, Rob Chuter. If they’d have chosen a photo from a different angle, readers would have seen some jolly art work instead, but that wouldn’t have fitted the story would it?
The close-up photograph of the public toilets are shown – only if you read the caption would you notice that they’re “about to be replaced,” as the whole town knows, by super loos.
What was the Sub editor thinking with the headline “Scruffy town seeks love and attention?” Anyone who knows anything about Ventnor knows that one thing that isn’t missing from Ventnor is Love for the town.
Wonder if the estate agents in Ventnor, who give the CP so much money week after week, will be on the phone to them today complaining?
