Bad Valley PR

Is it really the fault of the Valley media that south Texas is getting so much bad publicity in Austin and Washington D.C.? I mean, if it weren’t for us, the Valley reporters, would no one outside of the RGV even know that the drug-cartel violence in Mexico seems to be spilling over to this side of the border? During the recent Futuro McAllen candidates forum held last month, one of the candidates running in the special election for District 1, Debbie Crane Aliseda, was asked that very same question by a reporter representing Univision 48/Fox 2: “Austin and Washington D.C. seem to have a perception that south Texas is unsafe,” said Reporter Oscar Margain. “What are your beliefs, and what would you recommend (we do) in order to change that perception? Especially since we now see a lot of DPS and Border Patrol and immigration (issues).” Without skipping a beat, Aliseda looked at Margain square in the eye and said, “Well, a lot of it is the fault of you...you reporters.” I’m listening to the debate thinking, what did poor He’s a reporter, for crying out loud. He’s not making up the news. He’s reporting it. Which unfortunately for all us living here includes a lot of bad news of late: nude, decapitated body found on South Padre; bodies dumped on Valley roadways. Wildwest shootout last year near La Joya during which hundreds of rounds of ammo were fired by a guy who wanted to go out like the character from the movie Scarface. Not to mention the record amount of drugs being confiscated lately along the river. Coke, pot, meth up the wazoo. Human smuggling. Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants flooding McAllen last summer. Was all of that the fault of Oscar Margain and his fellow Valley reporters, including moi? What are Valley news reporters supposed to do? Go and cover the latest square dance at the local RV park instead? Maybe call up one of the women hosting the latest garden club meeting? Do a series on butterflies? Just ignore all the dead bodies piling up? But Aliseda wasn’t through excoriating Valley media. “You reporters sensationalize things,” she said. “There are a lot of good and bad things in every city. We (McAllen) are one of the safest cities.” Not counting, of course, the McAllen police officer shot on South McColl Road last December as he was investigating a suspicious parked car. Thankfully, he recovered. “McAllen is very safe,” Aliseda said. “But it certainly doesn’t help when reporters are sensationalizing things and not talking about all of the wonderful things that are happening.” Sure, I mean, it’s not like we (the Valley media) never covered McAllen’s big Christmas Parade last year. And it’s not like we (the Valley media) haven’t pointed out, time and again, that compared to other Texas cities, such as Houston and Dallas, the violent crime rate in the RGV is actually lower, safer, than other Texas cities. It’s just that we happen to live on the Mexican border, and too many people confuse us with Reynosa. That’s the problem. And that’s been the problem all along. When people in New York, for example, read about rolling gun battles between Reynosa and Matamoros, which happened last month on a grand scale, they falsely assume the same thing is happening in the RGV. But it’s not. At least not to the same extent. But Aliseda wasn’t finished with the Valley media. Or people in general who have negative things to say about the Valley. Even if it’s done in humorous vein. This past February, for example, George W. Bush’s former advisor, Karl Rove, was in the Valley, along with Bill Clinton’s former advisor, James Carville. Both men were here as part of the Rio Grande Valley Partnership’s Coffee Conversation event, which was held Feb. 27th at the Edinburg Conference Center. Said Debbie Aliseda: “It doesn’t help when people come in (like Karl Rove did) and he says, ‘Last time I was in McAllen, I could still go to Reynosa.’ And everybody laughed.” Okay, I probably wouldn’t have laughed. Mainly because I never thought Rove was funny to begin with. A little suck-up for most of his life who never served a day of combat in his life but who was all for sending U.S. troops to go and fight and die in Iraq. But I digress. “I was sitting next to Keith Patridge (McAllen EDC president and CEO),” said Aliseda, “we were both so offended. You can’t say off-the-cuff things like that, that get repeated.” Meaning, it takes away from the fact that McAllen is relatively safe, but the other side of the river is not. On that point, Aliseda is correct. Don’t compare us to Reynosa. Or Texas to Mexico. But don’t go around blaming the Valley media for sensationalizing crime on this side of the border, Mrs. Aliseda. Because I don’t think we do. And I check out my media competition on a daily basis. I don’t see any of us sensationalizing anything. What I see most of us doing is reporting the news. And a lot of it is bad. Face it. But we can’t ignore it. Can’t cover it over and replace it with stories about what’s going on at Quinta Mazatlan every day of the week. Blaming us, the Valley reporters, for bad Valley PR, would be like blaming the McAllen school board for the bad shape of the district’s infrastructure, for which McAllen taxpayers are now being asked to float a bond worth close to $300 million to fix. And as Debbie Aliseda, former McAllen school board trustee and president, pointed out during the same candidates forum, no one can do that.