West Valley Gang Feud Heats Up Again: Deseretnews.com
Making his own news: Mayor poses every bit announcer then he tin can write stories about his city
Like his counterparts beyond the land, Mayor Mike Winder unabashedly promotes his community. Simply the way is unorthodox: He uses an alias and freelances upbeat articles about West Valley Urban center, Utah.
Winder, mayor of the state's second-largest urban center, said he took the approach because the media spent too much time on criminal offence coverage.
He unapologetically revealed himself this calendar week, insisting the balance was needed.
Imposter: Mike Winder, the mayor of Utah's second-largest city, said he had to post as a reporter to get out the good news nearly his community
'I idea near all the people only reading nigh crime in our metropolis and cypher ameliorate,' Winder said Fri. 'I'one thousand trying to stand up for us because we do get the short terminate of the stick -- negative stories.'
Winder had been writing under the name Richard Burwash, an allonym he actually swiped from a real homo -- a onetime professional tennis role player from California -- that he found on the Cyberspace.
He said getting stories published by the Deseret News, KSL-Goggle box's website and a customs weekly was as easy as setting up a Gmail account and Facebook page. He communicated with editors by email and phone, never showing his confront.
As an unpaid writer for several months earlier this yr, the and then-called Burwash even quoted himself as mayor in some stories. In one published slice, he wrote virtually the opening of a Buddhist Temple in his Salt Lake City suburb, quoting himself every bit saying, 'We applaud whatsoever fourth dimension a grouping builds a place to celebrate peace and to encourage people to live better lives.'
'I was an easy source,' he quipped Friday.
He even let his sister write ane story nether his alias. But he maintains all the stories were '100 per centum factually correct' -- except for the byline, of course.
Executives at the Deseret News, one of Salt Lake Urban center'south two daily newspapers, were not tickled.
Bigger plans: Mayor Winder came clean about his pen proper name because he said he's planning to run for mayor of Salt Lake City
'While we appreciate that Mayor Winder would, of his own accordance, quit writing under the assumed proper name and and so detail the error to u.s.a., nosotros remain highly concerned that someone would purposely misrepresent himself,' Clark Gilbert, president and CEO of the Deseret News and Deseret Digital Media, told the newspaper. 'We securely regret that Mayor Winder would do this.'
Gilbert didn't return messages left Friday past The Associated Press.
The Deseret News said it has published most 5,500 manufactures by 2,000 contributors in the past year. The newspaper began accepting contributions after cutting its newsroom staff and consolidating operations with affiliated boob tube and radio stations.
That'south when Winder saw an opportunity and hatched the idea of writing his own news stories. He complained criminal offence stories made up 56 percent of the coverage of West Valley City by the Desert News over three months earlier this year.
Now eyeing a run for mayor of Salt Lake County, Winder decided it was future make clean.
'I'd rather disembalm it on my own terms than by a political enemy,' he said.
Winder walked into the publisher's role at the Deseret News this calendar week and asked nigh the paper's policy on pen names. He was told they aren't immune.
'I said, "Well, nosotros have a situation,"' Winder said.
Reaction from residents in Westward Valley City, which has a population of near 130,000, was mixed. Some compared their mayor to celebrated figures who wrote nether pen names during the American revolution. Others questioned whether the pol might have other secrets.
'He's the mayor, but I don't see him doing anything,' said Pat Gonzales, a dry-cleaning assistant at Century Laundry and xxx-year Due west Valley resident. 'Maybe he's too busy existence a news reporter.'
Winder, who said he just likes to write, is now giving up his side job.
'It was interesting to exist a journalist for a few months,' he said. 'The only criminal offense was my name.'
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Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2060776/Making-news-Mayor-poses-journalist-write-stories-city.html