Not going the extra mile

A North Florida automobile dealer had one of its employees arrested this week.

Dude, where's my car? One woman found out her car, left at a Gainesville car dealership this week, reportedly went for a ride without her.

Police charged Paul Stephen Rogers, 20, of Gainesville, with grand theft auto after officers stopped him for speeding and driving without headlights early Wednesday. Police said Rogers told them the vehicle wasn't his and he shouldn't have been driving it.

Officers learned the car's owner had dropped the vehicle off at a dealership on N. Main Street Tuesday evening so it could be serviced, according to an arrest report. Rogers had been working at the dealership, police reported, and took the car "for personal purposes."

Totally unremarkable news but what I find interesting is what the article lacks. The name of the car dealership the car was borrowed from. A internet search shows twelve such businesses with a N. Main street address. Shouldn't local consumers be aware that one of these dealers was less than safe with their valuable property that had been trusted to them?

I guess protecting the advertising dollars the Gainesville Sun acquires from the one dealer is more important than reporting the entire story. Newspapers are a business, and only a naive person will believe important revenue streams wouldn't or couldn't affect reporting. Then I'd pose this question to the Gainesville Sun- By not identifying the one dealer, aren't you creating the possibility consumers will question if one of the other eleven dealers is a place to do business with? By protecting the one dealership, the newspaper has indirectly called into question the integrity of all the auto businesses with that street address.

One of whom may not be happy when it comes time to buy more advertising.