Excuse me, Era, but your slip is showing

"Your slip is showing" is a euphemistic way of telling a woman that she has lost her modesty or self respect. 

This expression came to mind I read the recent Era article on Council Members' expenses.  Certainly the Era could have interviewed any of the nine members (and certainly there was no need to interview all nine), but to hone in on the Council member that spent the least in 2012 (or under 10% of the allocated budget) and question her annual spending?  That seems a bit biased.

Why didn't the Era question the  Regional Councillor who spent 84% of his allocated expense budget?  I noticed on his list of items, he too recognized a local championship team and it cost the taxpayers roughly the same dollar amount as the item that the Era reporter had targeted.  Could it be that in his case, the $300 was for an advertisement that was paid to the Era, while in the other case, the $300 went towards plaques given to the youth athletes to commemorate the team's victories?  In other words, does the politician using his expense account to benefit the Era deserve the free pass?

I don't mind questioning politicians expense accounts, in fact I wish the Town of Newmarket provided us with even greater details.  But if we were meant to feel scandalous about someone spending a mere fraction of what her colleagues had spent, then the Era missed the mark.

It should be noted that the YRMG is part of Metroland which in turn is part of the Torstar Corporation.  Torstar is renowned for holding "progressive" editorial positions and in recent years, has allowed its Atkinson Principle to govern its perspective of the "news" (you can read more here:  http://www.torstar.com/html/social-responsibility/Atkinson_Principles/index.cfm) The Atkinson Principle is in effect at the Toronto Star specifically but I worry that this left-leaning bias is also invading the community papers too, such as the Era.  Certainly, Newmarket Council's left wing - Taylor/ Van Bynen and allies - are benefiting from the coverage.  For example, it is hard to take the Era seriously when the paper calls Chris Emanuel "Newsmaker of the Year" for Glenway (although what has he he accomplished?  Zzilch in my opinion) but ignored the facts in that article that he was convicted of impaired driving in 2011.  

Being the only paper in town requires more professionalism from reporters and columnists especially in terms of presenting a balanced story.  If the Atkinson Principle applied, then  perhaps it would have been reasonable for the Era to question the Councillor spending significantly less than everyone else.  But the Atkinson Principle isn't supposed to apply at the community level paper.  So why the slant to the left, Era?