The demise of news

While newspapers and publishers scramble across the country to "save" their papers, they continue to fail to see what has caused their demise and the anger and distrust of their readers and/or viewers.

The public figured out long ago that television, radio, newspapers etc. are "all about the money." They know they're getting entertainment in exchange for ads. Advertising is the new money, the new barter. Being told on the one hand that a business is "fair and balanced" and then seeing incident after incident of how it's not - has killed the traditional media. People have figured out that they don't have to depend on a columnist or an editor for an opinion. They've learned that they can not only have their own opinion, but express it too. And, with blogs, they don't have to wait to see if a newspaper editor will "approve" their letter to the editor. They can get online.

I received an e-mail today from a reader who followed my stories while I was at the CKNJ. He told me that editor Becky Dial editorialized about how important sunshine laws were and spoke of the KPA (Kentucky Press Association's) lawsuit to have juvenile court records made public. I find it amusing that on the one hand Landmark/CKNJ want to pay me to keep my mouth shut about [in my opinion unethical things that constitute an abuse of police power] and to keep other information quiet, while at the same time demanding open records of juveniles for their own purposes. Odd isn't it? Can't have your cake and eat it too. Free speech is NOT for sale however.

And - while they are demanding open records of juveniles - I wonder how will they use them or if they use them? If you're cutting deals with the police department to gag a reporter (like they did with me), exactly how trustworthy are they? How much information will actually make it to the pages of the paper? Will information or records that might make the police look bad ever see print? I wonder. Even if they get the information they aren't trained to use it.

While in the employ of Landmark/CKNJ/The Springfield Sun, I took a computer aided reporting class on my own "time and dime". Now "CAR" as it is referred to, is an excellent method for investigative reporters. Some of Landmark's own properties have used CAR to do brilliant stories. It works by obtaining databases (public record databases) and putting the information into a spread sheet - usually in Excell. Numbers, facts, statistics, records can then all be sorted and tracked and compared at the push of a few keys. It allows reporters to finally, quickly and effectively spot trends, fraud, abuse and patterns in budgets, traffic tickets etc. It is as indispensable to a good reporter as their computer or their telephone. Yet - in spite of repeated requests for a copy of Excell I was denied. I even offered to buy my own copy and use it at work. No go. I was told I could use the program on the editor's computer - hard to do when the editor is using their computer and you can't exactly work overtime to get on the computer.

A good CAR database could have quickly determined whether cops were profiling black drivers, or if the budget was being manipulated or who was doing what in city and/or county government. But - that would upset the apple cart and the stream of "tips" from the police. That, in turn, would negatively impact the revenue stream of the paper.

When I told Dial that police responding as they did - "Keep Becky Blanton away or my officers won't talk to you anymore" was a red flag - or should have been a red flag that something was going on...I was greeted with anger and hostililty - as though she felt a deep need to protect whatever was there. Now, you can have a good working relationship with any government entity, but when you fail to even want to consider the possibility that they might be hiding something - there's a problem.

So why exactly DO people read the paper? Do they want the truth? Or do they want feel good stories and sports? If for instance, I'm a reader in ANYTOWN, USA and my police department is misusing funds - resulting in a money shortage, resulting in an increase in taxes - from say something like increased waste management fees or a jail - then yeah - I want the truth. Will I get it? Not if reporters at the ANYTOWN JOURNAL aren't allowed the time, tools or training to dig for that truth.

It's so much easier to rewrite a press release, get a few quotes to "localize the story" [notice CKNJ doesn't care so much about real experts as much as it does about having a local person comment on a situation. Doesn't matter if the local person is as clueless as a brick about an issue, if they have an opinion their comments rank above anyone outside the area who is more experienced, educated or informed about the subject.]

I think they call that inbreeding when it happens in the general population. "We don't want any outside DNA coming in here and messing up the family so we'll just breed among ourselves."

When that happens in a newspaper you get the same results as physical inbreeding - distortions, abortion of malformed ideas, ignorance and dysfunction. Do you, as a reader, really believe that you're better served by local commentary if another expert has an insightful idea? Sure, there's a place for local commentary - but don't you want fresh ideas? New blood? How do you get it? You buy the Courier Journal. You go online. You search until you find it and hope somewhere, someone is writing about needs to be said.

That's not the formula at CKNJ. Find a local voice or person to comment. If they're qualified to comment then all the better. If they're not - at least make sure they live, work, play, worship or drive through Taylor County or Campbellsville on a regular basis. And, if you have an expert - bury their comments or expertise four paragraphs down where the average reader will fail to go.

When the world was made up of villages that was fine. Read about your neighbor. But how many of you really know any of your neighbors? Do you really care if someone is from the area if they are explaining the psychology of rapists or pedophiles? No. You want the expert's opinion - not the local beat cop....

The world IS a village now. People want the BEST information possible, not the most local information possible.

If you had to have heart surgery would you go to the best surgeon you could find and/or afford? Or would you say, "Well, golly gee - I'm living in Taylor County, might'n I oughtta find a local doctor?" So why the heck would you want or expect any less from from your local news? Sure, there are many things that are structured for local comment. But there are many other areas that are not.

Why are papers across the country stuggling? For just this reason - no ethics, no truth, distorted news and an eye towards the bottom line, not the truth.