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My goodness, the focus was indeed on Benson, located just down the highway from our Morris. Pass by Hancock and keep going. Slow down for Clontarf. I have not been to Benson in some time, as I have slowed my pace of life with age. Is there still that nice little welcoming Dairy Queen on the outskirts? I enjoyed that place many times.
Oh, and "Ambush Park." Brings back memories immediately, of when I wrote sports for the now-defunct Hancock Record newspaper. One of the Legion baseball coaches with whom I worked was park supervisor. I remember it well because he was on the cutting edge with his "modem." That's how I learned the word. I often sought info over the phone from him. This was in the days when we still expected people to "pick up" their phone - you might forget there was a time when we assumed this.
Anyway, I got a busy signal very often when trying to reach this individual, last name of Mills, and he'd explain to me "I had my modem on." I felt inconvenienced sometimes. But a sea change was coming along, where people would rely on answering systems and caller ID.
I have a tiny niche in Benson history: I won the Benson Kid Day 10K race in the 1985 summer. "And they've been talking about it ever since," a friend joked with me. Seriously I considered that a special thing.
Nice town to visit, Benson. With a Burger King.
Benson is in focus as I write this, probably not for a reason that is appreciated there. Remember the "Andy of Mayberry" episode where the Hollywood filmmakers came to town? Why am I reminded of that? Well, a big-time media writer, from the Associated Press no less, decided to single out Benson as a place to study cultural schisms in America. I shake my head: this article is exactly what I would expect of such an endeavor. It paints a picture of Benson that makes it look a lot like Mayberry, charming perhaps. But the people can come across rather like ignorant hayseeds too.
The problem is one of stereotyping. The media and entertainment industries always present small town America like this. It "sells," I guess. I remember when Lee Grant did her little documentary on the Willmar bank employees "union" thing. Remember that? I watched the documentary at MAHS, then wrote about it for the Morris newspaper. I took some liberties in my writing, as critics of mine would say I was wont to do, and sort of criticized Grant for presenting Willmar "in a way conforming to the stereotype of small-town America."
Was really an incontrovertible conclusion. Then again, I usually considered my conclusions to be incontrovertible. Ms. Grant or someone she assigned went into the grocery store in man-on-the-street fashion. There, of course, you're bound to find people who are not optimally informed on stuff, probably because they have a lot going on in their lives. You could walk into a grocery store in any major city and get the same kind of sampling.
In a small town, though, the media expects to find the Mayberry type of template. They won't use the word "ignoramus" but that's what they clearly suggest. So the AP writer really lived up to my expectations with the current piece about Benson MN. There is conflict. Well, there is conflict everywhere. Where will you find more conflict than in Minneapolis MN? But out here the conflict can be seen through the lens of condescension, n'est-ce pas?
That's what we have with the AP article. It is of high interest to those of us in Morris. It focuses on the Anfinson newspaper family. That's who owns and operates our former Morris Sun and Tribune. The Anfinsons rescued us from Forum Communications which according to very good sources of mine, was going to close the paper, just like they closed the Hancock paper.
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| Reed and Shelly Anfinson |
Forum Communications is famous, I assure you, for turning thumbs-down on certain people. A former manager of Quinco Press once told me "they make it so you don't want to be there anymore." They sure aren't very graceful.
Sue Dieter ended up on the sinking ship herself. She's now at UMM doing what she always does, acting important and being a curt know-it-all. I think she needs to lose weight.
Breaking down the piece
I shared my analysis of the AP thing with two friends yesterday. Maybe you can be edified some by reading these. First, an email I shared with a fellow member of the journalism fraternity. He's in Bonanza Valley.
Hi (name withheld) - Kind of a bombshell today: an Associated Press article focusing on the Anfinsons and Benson. I saw it because Yahoo News re-ran it.
I read the whole article several hours ago. I'm not going to re-read it, so I'm just going to share my general sense of it here: I have seen this kind of article before, where a small-town editor is shown in a real favorable light because, well, who's doing the article? A reporter from the Associated Press, a person with the "same stripes" as it were. How would you expect it to be written? It certainly is not going to show in a sympathetic light all the "rubes" that surround the heroic Anfinson as he plies his craft.
My interpretation here is a little hyperbole but I hope you get my drift.
I do not think this article serves the interests of the Anfinsons at all. How did the AP get connected to Benson for this article? There has to be a reason of course. I think Anfinson should have just politely declined.
Now, if Reed were to be asked about the article now, I think he would say: it exaggerated the extent of conflict in the community. Well, why would the AP writer do that? Because "conflict sells" in the media.
And, I think it was a huge mistake for Reed to be quoted at the end saying he knows where his firearm is (if it comes to that). Hoo boy, leave that language alone. Reed should strive for the maximum comfort between himself and the community who are after all his customers.
Morris was not mentioned by name. It was alluded to tangentially in connection to Shelly. So, Reed and Shelly have a "politically mixed marriage?" Seriously, I have never understood those. I didn't realize both were married previously, and that they had only been married 20 years. I'm guessing Shelly will not be pleased with article.
Article should have mentioned that Benson High School still has a Native American nickname, "Braves."
All in all, I think people around Benson will be irate at the stereotype suggested by the article, of Benson being basically a town of rubes, who should maybe be analyzed as if in a science study. The AP writer doesn't care because he doesn't live in the community, he escapes back to wherever he lives, probably some large East Coast city. I remember when the big-time writers focused on Morris for a heartbeat when the "goalpost incident" happened. They dust themselves off when it's all over and then they never think about Morris again. Now it's ditto with Benson. Curious little place full of ignoramuses I guess. - BW
Here's an email I sent to a fellow Morris resident who happens to be an attorney, and is a committed advocate of Morris and UMM.
Hello to (name withheld) - I was very surprised to see an AP article that got picked up by Yahoo News, on the Anfinsons and Benson. Thrust of article is about political divide in rural U.S., and Reed comes off as the big liberal who bothers people. If I were Reed, I would not have cooperated for this article. This cannot help his business. The reporter writes the article with a slant toward Reed being the smart one. I wonder how the AP ended up picking Benson, was there a "tip" involved, or what? There's always a story behind these things, as you might suspect.
I think the story suggests that Benson is filled with lots of rubes, and Reed has to deal with it. I suggest you read it yourself, it's a long article. Reed even says he knows where he can get a firearm if he needs one. That's serious. Article says Shelly is involved with newspaper business in another town but does not mention Morris. I didn't know Reed and Shelly were both previously married, and that they got married just 20 years ago. - BW
I wish Reed and Shelly good luck. I am on the scrap heap when it comes to corporate journalism. I can still write online, and on a good day I might even be able to out-pace the corporate folks.
My Bonanza Valley friend said the AP article seemed like a "hit piece" on Reed.
Why would the AP writer do that? Well, big-time writers like sensationalism, to create caricatures of people in order to pit them against each other. Avoid boring. As Chuck Todd of MSNBC has said: "The media don't go out to the airport to cover all the successful takeoffs and landings."
The article made Reed look smart but also disruptive, maybe a little quirky.
Addendum: Reed may write a lot about how we need the press to be a watchdog. But, I don't see his property here in Morris behaving like that at all. I think it can be a total lapdog for special interests. It strives for a "smiley face" tone all the time. This is practical to an extent - you don't want advertisers to get nervous. But come on, Reed preaches about how the press can and should be tough. I would indict the local radio station on the same grounds. This is one small town stereotype that is probably on the money.
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| Could Benson High School maybe knock it off with the "Braves" nickname? We're in the year 2022. |
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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