What's become of local news?
Times have changed dramatically from just a few years ago, when Plainfielders could count on having not just one, but two 'beat' reporters -- reporters whose entire time, full-time was spent writing up news about Plainfield.
Bernice Paglia, writing for the Courier, and Jennifer Golson, for the Ledger, pounded the pavements of Plainfield -- literally and figuratively -- day and night. They wrote up everything from ribbon-cuttings and grip-and-grins to purse-snatchings and dog-Frisbee contests.
Neither probably thought they were closing an era, though it turns out they were. And we have become the poorer for it in terms of understanding the rhythm of life in our community.
Driven by shrinking advertising revenue, plummeting readership and competition from the Internet, local media outlets have cut staffs, broadened job loads, consolidated operations and, in some cases, gone out of business (remember WERA?).
Yesterday, the Hall Institute of New Jersey released a preliminary study (PDF) by Richard A. Lee on the impact of media consolidation on local news coverage in New Jersey.
It is truly preliminary. In fact, PT thought it read rather like a pitch letter to a foundation in search of grant funding to truly do the topic justice. Nonetheless, it is well-worth reading if you feel something has gone awry.
All the studies by such as Pew, Annenberg and Columbia show that LOCAL READERS CRAVE LOCAL NEWS -- everything from school sports to community happenings, from town hall to 'the cops.' It's hard to see how shrinking local coverage helps the media in the long run, though it certainly does give blogs breathing space.
PT is reminded of the old joke about the parsimonious farmer who decided to train his old nag to get by on less and less feed. He reduced the horse's oats ration every day, hoping to get the poor thing down to nothing. Stopping in town one day, the blacksmith asked him how the project was going. "Just when I thought I 'bout had him trained, the critter up and died on me," the farmer replied.
For a look-see at who owns what, go here. For an excellent overview of the state of the media, see the Project for Excellence in Journalism's 2006 report here.
View today's CLIPS here. Not getting your own CLIPS email daily? Click here to subscribe.
http://plainfieldtoday.blogspot.com/
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment