Daniel Brown: Know what’s really boring? Mike Dunbar’s column

Re “Boo me, cheer me, chew me out ... just don’t bore me” (Page 1B, Jan. 14): I would like to express my boredom with Mike Dunbar’s boredom expressed Sunday. Like most journalists today, Dunbar considers journalism part of the entertainment industry. At one time, journalism’s primary focus was on providing the public information; providing it in an engaging fashion was a plus, but not their primary function. Now, heaven forbid, they should try to engage people’s intellects instead of entertaining their emotions.

I was out town for this debate and it is clear they had serious problems in how the gathering was managed, but to compare this, free-to-the-public debate with the Republican minimum $125 per ticket entertainment event featuring the bigot Ann Coulter is ridiculous. The only funding source for the Democratic event was a request for donations, otherwise it was done entirely by volunteers. Its focus was not entertainment, but to let the public have a free venue to see the candidates in person. There is no comparison between the two events.

Why, bore us with your boredom when you had the opportunity to enlighten us with how the candidates handled themselves in this awkward situation, as a journalist might have?

This story was originally published January 16, 2018 at 1:05 PM with the headline "Daniel Brown: Know what’s really boring? Mike Dunbar’s column."