[OrangeBlossomBaby]

The Daily Sun is basically a Villages property advertisement paper. Its local Villages-specific news is always slanted to show positive stories and information, it leaves out the gritty stuff. The state, national, and world information is all purchased through the AP syndicate, and the Sun doesn't write any of that material themselves.

Their op-ed page shows a "left" and "right" side of things, but it's clearly slanted to favor the right. An example (hypothetical but in line with what you'd typically see):
Right-slanted op-ed: We need these immigrants to be rounded up and sent home!

on the same day, the left-slanted op-ed: "Love bugs are a real problem this season!"

Yes, these kinds of things really do happen in The Villages Daily Sun. An op-ed that is clearly right biased and political, next to an unrelated piece of fluff. In addition, the author of the right-based op-ed will always have details in his bio to show his actual creds, what makes him an expert on the subject matter. The left-based usually just has the name of the author and no info about who it is.

In addition, the Daily Sun does not publish letters to the editor or invite discourse from non-employees.

In the online-only Vi11ages News (if you misspell it, it won't filter out), it is one of a collection of newsrags all owned by the same group. They include the Ocala-News, Leesburg-News, and ours - which includes Wildwood, Lake, Fruitland Park, and Sumter and the Villages portion of Marion counties up to and around rt 42.

The VN is poorly written by people with very little journalistic skill, with headlines written by a 5-year-old who doesn't understand verb tenses yet. It is edited by people who don't really care so much about facts, unless those facts will grab your attention. So they won't get into details about a perpetrator of a shoplifting crime - UNLESS that perpetrator is an immigrant or a meth-addict. They won't get into the details of what a sex criminal has done, UNLESS a 20-year-old police report gives details about what exactly he did to a 9-year-old child 20 years ago. And then all the details will be right there for your disgust and nightmares (or if you're also a sex criminal, for your perverted thrills).

They allow anonymous comments, some of which are direct insults against other writers, filled with hatred and vitriol, no matter who is saying it and no matter who they're saying it to. They are an equal-opportunity hate-rag.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by Marmaduke

I'll attempt to answer your question, both honestly and unbiased.
Electronically, when I have tuned in, there are publushed Letters to the Editor, which bash or U.S. President.
I'm a huge believer in Our U.S. Constitution, so I read other viewpoints.
However, with each derrogatory post, the left wing rag Editor CHOOSES to put a nonsensical carricture image of our current U.S. President.

That was never done during the last Administration.

That's basically how a thousand respondents would answer if given a truth serum.

I find the Letters to the Editor very anti-everthing. Right wingers seem to be a more positive minded and are rarely published therein.

Thank you.

I ignore the caricatures but looking back it appears you are correct. That *is* an example of the paper itself taking a position.
EDIT: The caricatures do seem to capture the tone of the letters behind them so perhaps they are not so much the publication taking a position as they are the publication summarizing what you will read if you click through to the letter itself.

I read the letters to the editor as entertainment and not as the position of the paper. I would prefer that the paper put the news stories and the letters on separate pages, and I believe it used to be that way, but it's easy enough to tell which is which. More often than not I find the letters to be uninformed and ridiculous.

It feels like letters from both sides of any argument are published; it doesn't appear that the paper is choosing to publish one side more than the other though there is no way for us to know that. I suspect it is more the case that the readership is skewed so the number of letters received is skewed so the number of letters published is skewed which then attracts some readers and alienates others and further skews the readership. A feedback loop which affects the tone of the letters to the editor section.

I feel the news section, the articles about activities and events, is fairly fact-based. Here is what happened, this is what was said, this is how the board voted, etc. The letters are something else entirely.

[johnblackwell]

Originally Posted by jsa

As someone who moved to TV recently (April), can someone please give me a quick rundown of the local news sources.

Only gradually did I realize the benefits of this. People here do seem to be more giving than elsewhere, and perhaps the Sun's propaganda that good deeds are normal, is part of the reason. I have surprised myself by how good I feel when I help others.

Other local news sources provide balance, including one that is relentlessly criticizes the developer and supported stridently anti-developer candidates for local elections. So you can find out every important (or salacious) event.

I remember reading that many elderly Poles looked back with nostalgia to communism, appalled by the free press attention to crime and corruption. Fortunately the developer does not have the power to prevent you finding out about their imperfections, which no doubt helps to keep them from becoming more imperfect.

To me the bottom line is that their hard work provides me with a better life than I could lead elsewhere, and if their lives are even better, that's OK with me.

[justjim]

Originally Posted by villagetinker

Several times now I have been on the not to be named news site villagesxxxx.com and had very scary messages come up about infections, ransom, etc. The last one appeared after I accidently hit the continue button. I have reported problems to the "contact use" button with no response, use with caution.

The so called “no name digital paper” usually has a number of letters to the editor stating opinions on various subjects and happenings in The Villages. The Daily Sun is often called the Happy Paper for obvious reasons. I am not sure why TOTV doesn’t want the no name digital paper web site’s name mentioned.
The Orlando Sentinel is a pretty good regional, State and national news paper. Like most newspapers, expensive, but has a digital paper that is relative cheap. As mentioned there is the Daily commercial Leesburg paper too that has some Villages news. My friends mostly take The Daily Sun and watch local Television channels for news. To each his own. We are sort of “old school” and enjoy reading a newspaper with our morning or afternoon beverages. Getting different perspectives is a good thing IMHO. But to each their own.

[justjim]

Originally Posted by mikreb

You're retired, stop watching the news and enjoy yourself.

I like to enjoy myself for sure but also like to stay informed. To each their own.

[idlewild]

Originally Posted by Carpe Diem

Sign up for the District Government newsletters you are interested in (DistrictGov.org). The weekly general newsletter has a lot of information. Also sign up for your district's newsletter.

Sign Up for Email - The Villages Community Development Districts

The District Weekly Bulletin at the bottom under "Other" is a great newsletter - especially for newcomers (but good for everyone). Only sign up for 3-4 different ones or you'll be inundated with emails.

You do know TV owns districtgov.org, right? They just included "gov" in the domain to make it seem independent / government.

To me, that's akin to registering SumterCountyEdu.org and posting and reporting Sumter County Board of Education information...

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by idlewild

You do know TV owns districtgov.org, right? They just included "gov" in the domain to make it seem independent / government.

To me, that's akin to registering SumterCountyEdu.org and posting and reporting Sumter County Board of Education information...

Do you believe the Developer owns the domain name or the website or the hosting environment, or what?

While the Developer may have influence over the District, just as they have influence over the county, they certainly don't own the District.