News Deserts

News deserts are a huge problem. And it’s only gonna get worse because journalism has been battered out of being a public service.

Just as problematic are news silos. The decades-long push to demonize the “mainstream media” has been effective and devastating. Combined with corporate idiocy and greed, we’re in a dark place.

Large swaths seek out only the “news” they want to hear. And if they don’t get the greatest hits every day, they seek out a more radical alternative. Once in a great while some fact-based stories sneak onto Fox News. And ratings drop. So Newsmaxx and OAN spring up to provide the sweet, sweet hatred the customers crave.

 

Thought this was a good thread for this column from Monday's NiemanLab. It's a long read, but a lot will sound familiar to anyone who worked in this business pre-Sept. 11.

https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/10/local-newspapers-are-vanishing-how-should-we-remember-them/

To summarize, ProPublica's Daniel Golden recalls his years in the late 1970s and 1980s at the Springfield Daily News (in Massachusetts) and argues that while the intense coverage and full newsrooms of smaller daily newspapers are sorely missed, not everything about them was great. The latter list includes kowtowing to the local elites and big advertisers, a lack of people of color in the newsroom and women in leadership roles, and the friction between young hard-charger employees and newsroom lifers. As some who is now in the later camp (at least regarding this business), the last problem area made me think.

 

Ok, gotta speak up here (because I agree with you).

Last stop I was one of the guys on the web side. We were continually asked to write up stories even when no editing backup was around. For the most part we were all experienced folk and even if we were alone, we knew what to publish and what not to — not that it makes it better — so there weren’t many disasters. We were siloed from the (top-notch) print copy desk, weirdly, but they were there if we wanted to bounce something off someone.

Boss, who’s since gotten himself a few nice promotions even though he’s loathsome, so I guess he’s done something correctly, demanded that we put bylines. On everything. Watch a TV show and write a recap at his behest? Byline. Write something based on some viral stupidity that he demanded? Byline. In hindsight it was clearly a move to show how “productive” “his” people were so he’d get credit. I got in trouble a couple times over articles without bylines. I still held thoughts of staying in the biz at the time, and I didn’t want shit-ass copy showing up if an editor ever searched for clips. Or maybe I just thought little of that type of “news.” Depends on whom you ask.

Working in that environment killed any desire I had to remain in the business. Life’s been much better since getting out.

I mentioned this on another thread recently… there are a few companies around here that offer PR services to local agencies, school districts, etc. There’d be little need for them in the old-school days because the cops reporter would be on the scene straight away. Now police need those releases out there because that news would disappear into the ether otherwise. School districts now send out releases about the local robotics team that won the regional title — stuff that used to go on an education page and get written by a staffer or stringer.

Apologies for the rant.

 

Along the same vein as wicked's post is something I saw played out over the last 24 hours.

Fight breaks out on field at football game in Vallejo Friday night. Refs and coaches get it under control, but as they discuss penalties, tempers on the sideline flare anew and it even spills into the stands. Game declared over. I read about it in the Vallejo paper via Twitter.

Next day, I see a tweet from the SF Chronicle about the incident. New details? No. A warmed-over version of what was in the Vallejo, even citing the Time Herald as a source.

Have some pride in your work and craft, dammit. Invest in a phone call to the cops or school officials or coaches.

But, yeah, clicks!

 

News deserts, how about news mirages?

Thread:

 

Did they change the folios and the family tree at least??

 

The two local Alden newspapers, the Virginian-Pilot and the Daily Press are the same newspaper. The masthead is different for each paper from what I see, but that's it. The inside folios only have the date and page number, so no changes are needed there.