Filling News Deserts #271
By Hank Silverberg
I have begun writing news stories again. This time it's free-lance work for a local non-profit newspaper serving the small communities around
There is a local newspaper, The Free Lance Star, but that once-venerable publication may have lost some of its local focus since it was bought out by a large corporation (Berkshire Hathaway), which owns 32 other dailies and a number of weekly papers. This is not criticism of the The Free Lance Star. They have to make money to justify their existence.
Getting back into writing balanced news stories has come easily to me. I did it on the radio and TV for 40 years and frankly, I missed it. Although this blog remains as always, commentary, my stories in the FXBG Advance are old school. "Who, What, When, Where, Why, How and How Much?" are the focus, but I try to include average people in my stories too, not just the local politicians, political groups or government officials pushing their spin. Serving the people is what journalism is all about.
There are news deserts across the country these days where you just can't get local news at all. There's no one there to report it. The local newspapers have died and the local radio stations stopped doing news. Many of them are now owned by out-of-town corporations who can get syndicated news cheaper than paying their own reporters. There is local TV news if there's a station close enough. But they only show up for major stories.
A Northwestern University study done last year reports there were 204 counties in the country without any local news coverage at all, and 1,562 counties served with only one remaining local news source, mostly a weekly newspaper. Of those, 228 are on a watch list at high risk of losing that source. Since 2005, the country has lost 2,900 newspapers. There are only 6,000 newspapers in the whole country, and 4,790 are weeklies.
There are 43,000 fewer journalists working for newspaper since 2005, a 66% drop.
Outside of major cities, commercial radio has pretty much given up on local radio news. Public Radio has filled the gap in some places, but out of 400 public radio stations, only 213 are currently producing original local journalism.
For a comparison, when I got into the radio news business in New York's Hudson Valley in 1977, there were seven commercial radio stations with news, and there were about 15 reporters competing for local news. Today, in that same locale I could only find one commercial station still doing news (WKIP in Poughkeepsie). In Fredericksburg, VA where I live now, only one station does rip-and-read local news, and only in the morning. You can get some local news here from WTOP, the country's top all-news radio station in D.C. where I used to work. But like the local TV news, they only report this far south of the city if it's a major story.
All this creates a news vacuum which can keep the general public ignorant of the decisions that have the biggest impact on their lives. They will get all they need about the presidential race from cable or network television. But finding out what they pay in local taxes and how it's used, how their kids are educated, what roads need to be fixed and where and when local jobs are being created or eliminated, usually falls to local media. And these days that news source is harder and harder to find in many communities.
If you get a chance, check out the https://fxbgadvance.com/ to see some good news coverage. You might want to check to see if there are similar operations in your town, or maybe even start one.
The Washington Post doesn’t do much reporting in places like Fredericksburg most of the time, but they are on the money about one thing . Democracy dies in darkness.
You can check out my latest stories here.
https://localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu/projects/state-of-local-news/2023/report/
Trump and Copyright
More legal trouble for the Trump campaign? They could face a lawsuit over music that's been playing at Mr. Trump's political rallies. He's been using "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want," recorded by "The Smiths" a British group
Marr told The Huffington Post he never expected it to happen, and in his Twitter post he wrote, "consider this (expletive) shut down right now!"
This isn't the first time the Trump campaign has used some music without permission. R.E.M, The Village People and Rihanna have also demanded that Trump not play their music at his rallies.
Using someone's music without permission or compensation in such a political rally is a violation of copyright laws, and if it goes to court the Trump people could face stiff fines. Trump did a similar thing in 2020 and 2016, but then simply switched songs when there were complaints.
Music is often played at political rallies. But it's usually from an artist or group that has supported the candidate. For example, in the 1990's, Bill Clinton made extensive use of "Don't Stop" (thinking about tomorrow), with the full endorsement of Fleetwood Mac. It became the campaign theme. It's clear Marr and others don't want to be associated with Trump.
New weapon against Human Trafficking
 |
| (Nugget, the OUR dog for Spotsylvania County Sheriff) |
When they are not hunting for such material, the canines can also serve as therapy dogs for the victims of sexual violence.
O-U-R says they have been involved in more than 4,000 operations and helped more than 7,000 people worldwide. That has led to more than 6,500 arrests over the ten years the group has existed.
Dumbest Quote of The Week!
This week's dumb quote comes from none other than Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson. His comments came on the 51st anniversary of the original Roe v Wade decision in 1973 by the U.S. Supreme Court, which legalized abortion nationwide. That ruling has since been overturned by the new conservative-leaning Supreme Court, which has left each state to decide abortion laws on their own.
Somehow in Johnson's mind, legalized abortion is why we have a labor shortage today. Because this is what he said:
"Roe v Wade gave constitutional cover to the elective killing of unborn children in America. Period. When you think about the implications of that on the economy. We're all struggling here to cover the basis of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and all the rest. If we had all those able-bodied workers in the economy we wouldn't be going upside down and toppling over like this."
(View his comments here https://youtu.be/fdyifVvEO-w )
What Johnson didn't talk about was consistent Republican efforts all those years to resist increased funding for birth control, foster care, education and prenatal care for pregnant women, or better child care in general-- all of which could have reduced the number of abortions across the country.
Johnson is out in right field somewhere in his basic understanding of Americans and what we stand for. It is still a mystery to many people how he ever became Speaker of The House.
(Your comments and suggestions are welcome)
My recent book "The Campaign" can be purchased at the links below. Or you can buy a copy by emailing me at:
HankSilverberg@gmail.com for instructions on how to get a copy at a reduced price and with my signature)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084Q7K6M5/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-campaign-hank-silverberg/1126429796
My NEWEST book is now available. It is designed for use in Public Speaking and entry level communications classes.
.JPG)
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