[JayCT]

I have been debating starting a thread on this topic since I talked with a friend who works for a highly-regarded major publication in New York that consistently posts articles degrading our state. He told me that many publications like to poke and degrade the state at any chance they get. He has been in on editorial meetings at his company where comments have been made about "showing those rich snobs" something and putting them "in their place". He thinks there is a jealousy involved here and that is why you see some publications publishing only the negative things on the state. He also noted that it is not just his publication doing this because there is sort of a big boy network of these people that seem to enjoy degrading anything other than New York City. This is why you also see negative things about New Jersey, another state that is often given a lot of bad press. I should add that he has some friends on other publications that experience the same thing. They talk regularly about it and have been stonewalled when trying to point out how often this happens and how unfair it is.

I bring this up because I see that the City of New Haven is preparing to fight back a recent New York Times article which called the city "struggling". They are planning an all out program to set the record straight on what is going on in New Haven. I wish them well but it might not be as easy as they think.

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/i...ng_struggling/

So does anyone else here think that the media misrepresents Connecticut in its articles? I do. Jay

[howdydoody342]

Well i mean, look at it this way. When u watch the 10 o'clock news, how much is "good news" versus how much is about murders/death, tragedy, etc. I dont think people care to read about how "Mrs. Daisy" volunteered 1000 hours of her time last year to help the homeless in Hartford versus picking up a paper that talks about the "increase of homicide in a certain city."

I think the bias exists that people think that everyone in Fairfield county is rich or that it represents the entire state of Connecticut.

[AntonioR]

It was bound to happen that some form of class envy would form against CT.

What I find hilarious is that its coming from places like NYC. Last time I checked, NYC is one of the wealthiest places in the country, especially Manhattan which not only has a very high average income, but also the greatest concentration of millionaires in the whole country. It would make more sense if the envy was coming from Alabama or Mississippi or any other state or major city that is signifcantly less wealthy than CT.

I certainly noticed an anti-CT bias in various media, but until now I never thought it was part of a sort of PR conspiracy.

[howdydoody342]

Originally Posted by AntonioR

It was bound to happen that some form of class envy would form against CT.

What I find hilarious is that its coming from places like NYC. Last time I checked, NYC is one of the wealthiest places in the country, especially Manhattan which not only has a very high average income, but also the greatest concentration of millionaires in the whole country. It would make more sense if the envy was coming from Alabama or Mississippi or any other state or major city that is signifcantly less wealthy than CT.

I certainly noticed an anti-CT bias in various media, but until now I never thought it was part of a sort of PR conspiracy.

i doubt there is really much envy, a lot of the rich folk in Manhattan live in CT in FFC and commute into NYC everyday.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by howdydoody342

i doubt there is really much envy, a lot of the rich folk in Manhattan live in CT in FFC and commute into NYC everyday.

But that is what I think they resent. New Yorkers moving out of their beloved city/state and taking their money with them. They can live in beautiful quiet suburbs with lower taxes and a lot more room for less money. That is the jest of my conversation. Jay

[MrGompers]

I can tell you after traveling to different parts of the country when you tell people you are from CT they automatically assume you are "rich" or "well off." They don't have a clue that CT contains 3 of the top 13 poorest cities in America. Another thing people also say is "Ct has good schools and is a good place to raise children" I actually agree with that one. I do wonder how we came to get that reputation though since it seems to be universal.

NY times has a long history beating on CT. One article in 2002 proclaimed "poverty in a land of plenty, can Hartford ever recover"?

Poverty in a Land of Plenty - Can Hartford Ever Recover? - NYTimes.com

One can easily substitute Hartford for, Worcester, MA, Youngstown, OH, or even Detroit, MI. Will they ever recover ?

Saturday night live a did a skit a long time ago where they cut to different NBC stations around the country and highlighted their stereo types. For example, Texas would be people wearing Cowboy hats, Florida old people napping, and for CT they used a bunch of people in yuppie clothes smoking pipes and talking in a snobbish type vernacular such as: "Buffy what will I do when my Jaguar is in the shop ? Ride the bus ? I can't imagine such a thing! They also used the NBC affiliate in West Hartford, CT (Would have made a lot more sense to me if they used Greenwich, CT, but I don't write for them.)

I am only paraphrasing the skit as I can't find it on you tube, but I think you get the picture.

All in all I think it's actually funny and a tad bit flattering that for the 3rd smallest state we get a lot of press and attention. As a wise man once said, all press is good press.

I don't hear much in the news about the smallest state or the 2nd smallest states, RI and DE, so we must be doing something right in CT for everyone to be so interested.

[Sigequinox]

Being from NY, I can say CT would be displaying a bit too much hubris in thinking NYers are "jealous" of CT. I barely knew anything about CT other than what I learned in school until I moved here. No one--on Long Island at least--really cares about CT. To a LIer, CT means one of 3 things: 1. That place I have to drive through to get to boston, 2. that place the ferry goes to and 3. the place with crappy beaches.

Now, NJ, that's not a jealousy thing, we just hate NJ because it sucks. objectively speaking, of course

It sounds like the "board room" guys wife left him for some FFC yuppie with a Maserati and now he's is a bitter and broken man. It's definitely not a "NY" thing.

[BicoastalAnn]

For the NYT at least I always assumed they covered CT/FFC often just because a good chunk of the well to do in the NYC social scene (I'm convinced that's their target market) live in/grew up in FFC and they knew that interest was there. If anything though I thought the Times glorified FFC.

[HumpDay]

Connecticut is known as the Land of Steady Habits but it should be known as the Land of Steady Complaining. Though I do complain a lot because I'm frustrated about the state's economic shape. It's really frustrating that the governor and other legislators think we are doing a really good job but they fail to realize the struggle of it's hard working citizens. Wouldn't you be upset if you elected someone to represent YOU and instead is elected to make your life harder? If you liked WFSB, NBC Connecticut, and FoxCT on Facebook you will find articles constantly being posted about how we are ranked low at this and bad at that. If you have the time look at the comments because you will be surprised on the hate and the 150+ like comments that bash Malloy; even if it has absolutely nothing to do with Malloy. The press knows that everyone is fed up so they add fuel to the fire by making it a lot worse than it really is. No positive articles and no new job postings are some of the norms. Surprisingly more negative articles get more likes and comments than positive ones because we LOVE to hate and complain. The press thrives from that. Hating and complaining is not only easy to do but VERY contagious. It's negativity that can reach one person to another and it all starts with 1 person.

[in_newengland]

All I know is that outside CT most people think it's all FFC. They must get that idea from the media because once they actually go to CT they change their minds. People on the MA forum call it a fly over state and THAT offends me.. As someone who lived and worked in CT and who still has friends and relatives living there, it is NOT FFC at all. That is just one small corner.