At Joel on the Road, the blogger who in September 2008 broke the news that Matty Moroun illegally occupies Riverside Park now ridicules his ex-employer for its April 11 spread in which Moroun cast himself as a preservationist and "a benefit to the city."
Isn’t it curious how Michigan’s great morning tradition could spend tons of time poring over land records, yet somehow miss Riverside Park? . . .

It took more than a year and a half for the friendly Free Press to produce — what? A bunch of chest-thumping about a supposedly rare sit-down interview with the great Matty, who supplied a bunch of half-baked rationalizations for his civic misbehavior and gussied-up bromides about some imagined legacy.

Then, it turns out, the Big Interview was not so unique — according to Bill Shea of Crain’s Detroit Business, Shea and two other reportershave had one-on-one talks with Matty, though without trumpeting the “coup” in a headline and multiple boasts.

. . . The Metro Times didn’t need a one-hour “rare” interview with the troll under the bridge to report a face of Matty that swung into view during a recent court session involving Matty’s penchant for seizing city land.