At Key West The Newspaper, we're proud to practice "advocacy journalism." Our philosophy is stated in the form of a question: "Why would you even bother to publish a newspaper if you're not going to try to make a difference?" Some say that we have made a difference over the years.
Back in 1994, we were first to tell you about the FBI investigation of corruption in City government. And we brought you weekly updates. It was months before the daily papers finally picked up on this story. We were first to tell you about the now-famous job fix at the Mosquito Control Board. The job-fixers blame us for helping to get it unfixed. We'll take the blame. A former judge who ran from the scene of an accident and, then, lied to the cops about it blames us for his subsequent defeat at the polls. We'll take the blame for that, too.
Back in 1995, the Chamber of Commerce's financial records were secret. Even their own members weren't allowed to see the books. KWTN aggressively supported the efforts of City Commissioner Harry Bethel to open those books to members, including the City of Key West. At that time, the City was a dues-paying member of the Chamber. Finally, the tough-talking attorney for the Chamber was forced to capitulate. But then we were able to report to you that the City of Key West had been kicked out of the Chamber— to keep Harry from getting at the books.
Why would you even bother to publish a newspaper if you're not going to try to make a difference?
We wouldn't give up on righting the wrongful firing of Pretrial Services Officer Sandra Estenoz— until the judiciary finally offered to rehire her. And we won't give up on pushing for some kind of resolution to the shameful firing of Joe Pais at the Key West Art & Historical Society. And, of course, we have been aggressively covering the outrageous story of Nick and Carrie Nowatney since last January. KWTN has been the only newspaper to bring you weekly updates. And, frankly, we have no explanation as to why this hasn't been big news in all the other newspapers. After all, this is a classic human interest story, complete with cute babies, abuse of power and a government agency out of control.
A few weeks ago, a good friend and supporter of this newspaper told us that we were "boring" our readers with our continuing coverage of the Nowatney case. "Get off it," he said. "you're losing your credibility." We told him we had no intention of abandoning that story. There was a wrong to be righted. And what's the point of even bothering to publish a newspaper if you're not going to try to make a difference?
This week, Judge Mark Jones threw out all of the charges against Nick and Carrie Nowatney. See story on page 1.