Media News

Article in the New York Times by Cory Kilgannon, 4/26/23

Headline:  “A Newspaper Was Planning Its Last Edition. Then the Press Caught Fire.”

“. . . but on Monday morning, Ms. Baranauckas received an email with some troubling news: There had been a fire at the printing plant in Rockaway, N.J.

“Gannett would not comment on the Local’s situation but did release a statement saying that there were no injuries in the fire. ‘Two printing presses sustained damage and some production schedules were impacted,’ it said.

“For the Local, alternatives were scarce; it’s not so easy to find someone to print a newspaper these days. But Ms. Baranauckas was resolute.

“We will figure out a way to do it,” she said. “If I have to print it out on my home printer and walk it door to door, that’s what I’ll do.”

Article in The Guardian by Marlena Sloss, 4/22/23

Headline:   A California journalist documents the far-right takeover of her town: ‘We’re a test case’

“Doni Chamberlain (reporter at http://anewscafe.com) has made a point of not interacting with those who attack her directly, and continuing her reporting. But the exchanges, along with the menacing, graphic threats to her and her staff and others in the community, and the lack of action from law enforcement have fundamentally changed how she approaches her job.

“But the threats make doing journalism in Shasta county particularly challenging, she added. Finding sources is difficult. Many people are afraid of speaking out, even anonymously.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/21/california-journalist-far-right-takover-shasta-county

Article from Washington Post by Jonathan Edwards, 4/18/23

Headline:   “Olka governor calls for officials to resign after horrid audio emerges”

“. . . according to McCurtain Gazette-News, which later published a recording online. The sheriff allegedly mocked a woman who’d recently burned to death in a house fire, comparing her to “barbecue.” And together they hinted at assassinating a journalist who’d reported on their alleged misconduct, according to the Gazette-News.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/04/18/mccurtain-county-sheriff-recording/

Be careful about reporting on corruption in parts of Oklahoma – and in other places!

Article from Politico by Steven Waldman, 4/2/23

Headline: “There’s Already a Solution to the Crisis of Local News. Just Ask This Founding Father”

Sub-Head:  “As modern lawmakers consider various means of public assistance for besieged local news sites, they can learn from the founders’ approach to supporting journals and gazettes”

Solution:  Subsidize the news (without censoring  the news)

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/04/02/james-madison-subsidize-the-news-00090023

Photo from Politico

From an article in the Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/feb/21/us-local-news-outlets-tax-breaks-rebuild-initiative

Headline: “Local journalism made me what I am today. Without it, we’ll all be the poorer”

Sub-head: “For budding journalists and citizens alike, the demise of local newspapers will leave a void that’s impossible to fill”Article in The Guardian by John Humphrys, 3/30/23

“. . . Then there’s the old controversy: how much has the ubiquity of BBC local news been to blame for so many local papers going out of business? As Hall acknowledges, in broadcasting the genuinely local commercial stations have for the most part been merged into larger entities. This has “important ramifications” for reporting on local councils, courts and so on.

“A few years ago, the BBC set up the Local Democracy Reporting Service to head off charges that it was killing off local newspapers. The scheme pays for journalists who can work for any local news outlet. There are 165 of them and about 1,000 individual news outlets are signed up.”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/30/local-journalism-journalists-newspapers

An Article from the Washington post examines why people are eliminating checking the news.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/08/how-to-fix-news-media/