I think the loss of local reporters and journalists is a far bigger problem. Let me explain.
In order to cover a community, reporters had to understand how things worked. For example, to cover local government – city councils, school boards, water boards, county supervisors etc. – reporters had to navigate a confusing array of processes and procedures (including agendas, minutes, legal parameters, elections, authorities, public and closed session meetings, and budgets).
In short, reporters served as civic interpreters who translated legalese into laymen’s language. Unfortunately, few people realized how much they depended on local reporters to translate the language of local government. In turn, local officials relied on local reporters to guide the public through the process.
For example, I’ve been watching the uproar at school board meetings over CRT and masks. Without a local reporter guiding them through the decision-making process, these parents arrived too late. The decisions had been made.
School boards are bound by laws and can NOT vote on anything, that has not been placed on the agenda and noticed to the public in advance. Most school board members are so afraid of breaking the law, they won’t even speak in public meetings. Only the most highly skilled school board member knows how to agendize an item during public comments. And these videos make it painfully clear that American schools have very few skilled elected officials.
Personally, I attribute the decline of Civic Life, to the loss of local reporters. Anyone can create an on-line newspaper. But without reporters, opinion is the only thing a newspaper can print.
In a Kansas suburb of Kansas City, a local team created the Shawnee Mission Post and now it is one of the only places I get local news (the other being TV when I have the opportunity to watch, but that is rare). I have bought subscriptions for everyone I know because the journalism is exactly what I'm looking for as far as local news goes. They do candidate forums for local elections, cover school board issues for the local districts, and share current events with a factual and concise approach. The format is 100% digital, and we receive a couple email updates a week with access to their full online publication for a very reasonable price. I feel very fortunate to have this little organization and am more than happy to support them in any way I can, I would be lost without them.
Dan, my family has owned a small community newspaper in NE Ohio for 31 years. It is a "soft news" commodity, meaning we don't cover the trustees' meetings or the police beat. However, we dish up community events and several columns by local writers---from book and film reviews to library happenings and school news with lots of photos, as well as special sections from automobiles to home improvement. We deliver to 7,500 homes via USPS (at a cost of $1,400 postage per issue). We do not charge for the Spirit of Bainbridge, and rely solely on advertising revenue. (We developed a website www.spiritofbainbridge.com for those who have moved from our area but want to stay in touch; it is free of charge.) At one time we owned eight small newspapers but have sold them off as we could, and are now down to just our flagship publication, which averages 24 pages since the pandemic hit. (At one time we published 48 pages regularly.) I have been a writer since junior high school and am facing my 70th birthday now. I want to retire but cannot afford to, and there are no buyers in sight. I have become the dinosaur of this business. When a reader gripes about a misplaced comma (really!) or calls me Marxist for urging readers to wear masks and get vaccinated, I smile and forge on---but I want to scream, "You will miss us when we're gone!" Thanks for letting me vent!
Sadly, many, many ‘local’ newspapers even in large metropolitan areas have been bought out by management companies intent on stripping them of assets, staff, and integrity. It is a frightening parallel to the cable/satellite news coverage much of the country receives.
I subscribe to the local burg paper's digital edition (the printed only comes out on Wednesdays and Saturdays), but they also have a daily feed and a page by page facsimile of the printed paper (or what it would look like), which I like as it resembles the actual paper, with ads and everything. (Of course, to check the obits and make sure I don't see MY name...) Their editorials and letters to the OpEd pages are fairly far to the right, but this IS T***p country here. I like being able to keep up with things locally. I also subscribe to the digital edition of the Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC) for matters around Atlanta and state-wide. And then I also have digital subscriptions to WaPo and NYT, plus I like Dr. Cox Richardson's Letters From An American and some blogs and sites I come across on social media (I daily check out UPI, AP, NPR, Reuters, and BBC.) I watch local news (Atlanta) at 6pm and NBC News at 6:30 along with dinner. I consider myself pretty well informed about what's going on, but I do have some days where it overwhelms and then I keep it down to a bare minimum. It CAN get a body down these days. Now that I'm retired and unfortunately have restricted mobility, I can read more...but I can also shut it off!
Sadly, I canceled my local newspaper subscription yesterday. I’m a huge believer in the power of the written word and the value of our media, but as the paper got thinner and the news coverage less complete and more biased, I couldn’t justify the nearly $1000 a year subscription rate. I feel like a traitor, but I’ll have to find my news elsewhere. I know I’ll miss drinking my coffee while reading the paper every morning.
I have switched to a Digital Subscription to my local newspaper, The Sacramento Bee. I have had a subscription to a local newspaper for at least 48 years, and can't imagine being without it. The switch to digital was for two reasons, one cost of the subscription increased substantially roughly 5 years ago, and I found I prefer the digital subscription. It perplexes me though, the number of people that seem to be not interested in getting news or events from a local printing. Younger generations seem to be more focused on Social Media, which in my mind is disturbingly biased and not accurate.
Local newspapers in Albuquerque/Santa Fe - like many in the country - are suffering from the shift away from newspaper display advertising. The end result, newsrooms that have a bunch of empty desks that - in the good ol' days - were filled with reporters & editors. I see some good reporting from outside groups (various centers for this & that) appearing in the papers - but I do wonder what happens when the outside funders go away. Local TV is another story - our market isn't large - so the young field reporters are just stopping by for a couple years on their way up to a bigger market. The days of old when folks like me actually knew and reported on the Mayor, council, state legislators are gone. On the other side, both the printed and broadcast word aren't the subject of most reading and viewing by the new generation - it is too detailed, too slow, so the new generation reads a headline and a couple sentences and feels he/she is informed....or worse...doesn't give a hoot 'n holler about any of it. And so it goes!
My handyman questioned me about a request for a mail in ballot he saw in my outgoing mail yesterday ; not a sign of hope.
He’s a friend of my neighbor, also my hair dresser, who said on Jan. 6 in response to my “they’re barricading the capital!” “Yes, we’re waiting for a signal from Trump..”
I also just finished for a reading group, The Heretic’s Daughter, by Kathleen Kent, and am wondering if the Trump phenomenon could be similar to what happened in Salem, Mass- -but many fewer people were involved and they apologized!
My daughter, who specializes in molding behavior toward positive ends at PSU (bio behavioral health) is too busy to address herself to this “older person’s” worry today. My beagle thinks everything is ok because she smells the chili cooking on the stove.
And so, precarious and question provoking remains this current scene!!
In fremont Ca, I get the Fremont Patch which gives all local news. I also get news from the local police. I feel more positive then despair. I truthfully don't trust a lot of newspapers anymore. We don't have true journalism anymore. Either negative or gossipy. Also both sides never told. Either right or left. Sad place we are in now.
I personally have a digital subscription to WAPO and follow most news on my Apple subscription. We had print subscription to The Kansas City Star for well over 20 yrs, but delivery was too inconsistent so we switched it to digital a few years ago and will keep it even though the pricing is pretty high. The local content is good and fair with an opinion page that shows many ideas open for discussion.
I miss the old days of a morning edition that then followed up with an evening edition…
I am from the Huntley-Brinkley generation when there were real news programs. I read the local paper daily. When I moved I always got the local paper. Now, I live 50 miles from DC and everything is about DC, even though I never go there. The weather is incorrect. The local newspaper is awful. The three local news stations start at 4:15 to give traffic updates and who got shot in DC. The reporters change often to keep the politically correct kind of reporters, irregardless if they are good or not. The Sheriff's office is on FB and is a big PR person who is more worried about how his hair looks then what is going on in his county.
Great question Dan. I’ve become more skeptical of news in general. Even the trusted sources often have headlines that obscure the message in order to lure readership or viewership. I’ll include my frustration with using adjectives that avoid harsher descriptions as to not offend. Call a lie a lie.
I trust what I read and listen to from Dr. Heather Cox Richardson.
I think the loss of local reporters and journalists is a far bigger problem. Let me explain.
In order to cover a community, reporters had to understand how things worked. For example, to cover local government – city councils, school boards, water boards, county supervisors etc. – reporters had to navigate a confusing array of processes and procedures (including agendas, minutes, legal parameters, elections, authorities, public and closed session meetings, and budgets).
In short, reporters served as civic interpreters who translated legalese into laymen’s language. Unfortunately, few people realized how much they depended on local reporters to translate the language of local government. In turn, local officials relied on local reporters to guide the public through the process.
For example, I’ve been watching the uproar at school board meetings over CRT and masks. Without a local reporter guiding them through the decision-making process, these parents arrived too late. The decisions had been made.
School boards are bound by laws and can NOT vote on anything, that has not been placed on the agenda and noticed to the public in advance. Most school board members are so afraid of breaking the law, they won’t even speak in public meetings. Only the most highly skilled school board member knows how to agendize an item during public comments. And these videos make it painfully clear that American schools have very few skilled elected officials.
Personally, I attribute the decline of Civic Life, to the loss of local reporters. Anyone can create an on-line newspaper. But without reporters, opinion is the only thing a newspaper can print.
In a Kansas suburb of Kansas City, a local team created the Shawnee Mission Post and now it is one of the only places I get local news (the other being TV when I have the opportunity to watch, but that is rare). I have bought subscriptions for everyone I know because the journalism is exactly what I'm looking for as far as local news goes. They do candidate forums for local elections, cover school board issues for the local districts, and share current events with a factual and concise approach. The format is 100% digital, and we receive a couple email updates a week with access to their full online publication for a very reasonable price. I feel very fortunate to have this little organization and am more than happy to support them in any way I can, I would be lost without them.
Dan, my family has owned a small community newspaper in NE Ohio for 31 years. It is a "soft news" commodity, meaning we don't cover the trustees' meetings or the police beat. However, we dish up community events and several columns by local writers---from book and film reviews to library happenings and school news with lots of photos, as well as special sections from automobiles to home improvement. We deliver to 7,500 homes via USPS (at a cost of $1,400 postage per issue). We do not charge for the Spirit of Bainbridge, and rely solely on advertising revenue. (We developed a website www.spiritofbainbridge.com for those who have moved from our area but want to stay in touch; it is free of charge.) At one time we owned eight small newspapers but have sold them off as we could, and are now down to just our flagship publication, which averages 24 pages since the pandemic hit. (At one time we published 48 pages regularly.) I have been a writer since junior high school and am facing my 70th birthday now. I want to retire but cannot afford to, and there are no buyers in sight. I have become the dinosaur of this business. When a reader gripes about a misplaced comma (really!) or calls me Marxist for urging readers to wear masks and get vaccinated, I smile and forge on---but I want to scream, "You will miss us when we're gone!" Thanks for letting me vent!
Sadly, many, many ‘local’ newspapers even in large metropolitan areas have been bought out by management companies intent on stripping them of assets, staff, and integrity. It is a frightening parallel to the cable/satellite news coverage much of the country receives.
Although we live in a small community, the Imperial Valley of California, we still have a local daily paper, the Imperial Valley Press. We subscribe.
I subscribe to the local burg paper's digital edition (the printed only comes out on Wednesdays and Saturdays), but they also have a daily feed and a page by page facsimile of the printed paper (or what it would look like), which I like as it resembles the actual paper, with ads and everything. (Of course, to check the obits and make sure I don't see MY name...) Their editorials and letters to the OpEd pages are fairly far to the right, but this IS T***p country here. I like being able to keep up with things locally. I also subscribe to the digital edition of the Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC) for matters around Atlanta and state-wide. And then I also have digital subscriptions to WaPo and NYT, plus I like Dr. Cox Richardson's Letters From An American and some blogs and sites I come across on social media (I daily check out UPI, AP, NPR, Reuters, and BBC.) I watch local news (Atlanta) at 6pm and NBC News at 6:30 along with dinner. I consider myself pretty well informed about what's going on, but I do have some days where it overwhelms and then I keep it down to a bare minimum. It CAN get a body down these days. Now that I'm retired and unfortunately have restricted mobility, I can read more...but I can also shut it off!
Sadly, I canceled my local newspaper subscription yesterday. I’m a huge believer in the power of the written word and the value of our media, but as the paper got thinner and the news coverage less complete and more biased, I couldn’t justify the nearly $1000 a year subscription rate. I feel like a traitor, but I’ll have to find my news elsewhere. I know I’ll miss drinking my coffee while reading the paper every morning.
I have switched to a Digital Subscription to my local newspaper, The Sacramento Bee. I have had a subscription to a local newspaper for at least 48 years, and can't imagine being without it. The switch to digital was for two reasons, one cost of the subscription increased substantially roughly 5 years ago, and I found I prefer the digital subscription. It perplexes me though, the number of people that seem to be not interested in getting news or events from a local printing. Younger generations seem to be more focused on Social Media, which in my mind is disturbingly biased and not accurate.
Local newspapers in Albuquerque/Santa Fe - like many in the country - are suffering from the shift away from newspaper display advertising. The end result, newsrooms that have a bunch of empty desks that - in the good ol' days - were filled with reporters & editors. I see some good reporting from outside groups (various centers for this & that) appearing in the papers - but I do wonder what happens when the outside funders go away. Local TV is another story - our market isn't large - so the young field reporters are just stopping by for a couple years on their way up to a bigger market. The days of old when folks like me actually knew and reported on the Mayor, council, state legislators are gone. On the other side, both the printed and broadcast word aren't the subject of most reading and viewing by the new generation - it is too detailed, too slow, so the new generation reads a headline and a couple sentences and feels he/she is informed....or worse...doesn't give a hoot 'n holler about any of it. And so it goes!
I listen to the Lester Holt news.
My handyman questioned me about a request for a mail in ballot he saw in my outgoing mail yesterday ; not a sign of hope.
He’s a friend of my neighbor, also my hair dresser, who said on Jan. 6 in response to my “they’re barricading the capital!” “Yes, we’re waiting for a signal from Trump..”
I also just finished for a reading group, The Heretic’s Daughter, by Kathleen Kent, and am wondering if the Trump phenomenon could be similar to what happened in Salem, Mass- -but many fewer people were involved and they apologized!
My daughter, who specializes in molding behavior toward positive ends at PSU (bio behavioral health) is too busy to address herself to this “older person’s” worry today. My beagle thinks everything is ok because she smells the chili cooking on the stove.
And so, precarious and question provoking remains this current scene!!
In fremont Ca, I get the Fremont Patch which gives all local news. I also get news from the local police. I feel more positive then despair. I truthfully don't trust a lot of newspapers anymore. We don't have true journalism anymore. Either negative or gossipy. Also both sides never told. Either right or left. Sad place we are in now.
I personally have a digital subscription to WAPO and follow most news on my Apple subscription. We had print subscription to The Kansas City Star for well over 20 yrs, but delivery was too inconsistent so we switched it to digital a few years ago and will keep it even though the pricing is pretty high. The local content is good and fair with an opinion page that shows many ideas open for discussion.
I miss the old days of a morning edition that then followed up with an evening edition…
I get political news (not local) from Letters From An American Substack by Heather Cox Richardson.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/
I am from the Huntley-Brinkley generation when there were real news programs. I read the local paper daily. When I moved I always got the local paper. Now, I live 50 miles from DC and everything is about DC, even though I never go there. The weather is incorrect. The local newspaper is awful. The three local news stations start at 4:15 to give traffic updates and who got shot in DC. The reporters change often to keep the politically correct kind of reporters, irregardless if they are good or not. The Sheriff's office is on FB and is a big PR person who is more worried about how his hair looks then what is going on in his county.
Great question Dan. I’ve become more skeptical of news in general. Even the trusted sources often have headlines that obscure the message in order to lure readership or viewership. I’ll include my frustration with using adjectives that avoid harsher descriptions as to not offend. Call a lie a lie.