MARK SCHUMANN

“News others miss, or choose to ignore,” is the proud motto featured prominently each week on the island tabloid’s masthead. Yet, between the newspaper’s print edition and its companion online offering, the more descriptive slogan this week would have been, “Missing or ignoring important news others report.”

For nine long days, the island tabloid’s editors have failed to report or editorialize on controversial public statements made by Vero Beach Mayor Craig Fletcher and Vice Mayor Tracy Carroll – comments so troubling and offensive 18 leaders of the local faith community felt compelled to write a letter to the City Council expressing their concerns.

The sad facts surrounding the controversy are now well known to all but those who choose to limit their knowledge of local news to what appears on the pages of the island tabloid.

What remains puzzling is why a newspaper that is typically drawn to controversy like white on rice would choose not to report on a story that has received regional, if not national attention.

Could it be that the editors of the island tabloid are so vested in their support of Carroll that they would shirk their responsibility to report news of importance to the community?

Or, could it be that the editors of a tabloid that is at times at least as divisive as Fletcher and Carroll are unfazed by bigoted statements revealing a sense of superiority and self-righteousness?

For as long as Vero Beach 32963 maintains its deafening silence on this story, a curious public is left to wonder what might be the motivations of its editors.