Where do YOU get local news?
Posted on | January 5, 2009 |
An interesting recent post by Dean Pagani at the Hartford Business Journal points out the dwindling supply of sources for local news coverage. With the Bristol Press and the New Britain Herald threatened with closure, and the Hartford Courant being battered, the Middletown Press is probably not far behind. Not that any of these have recently provided any meaningful coverage of Haddam news.
Every junior high school civics student knows that a free and inquisitive press is one of the most important checks on unfettered political power. This is not just a theoretical concept. Many feel that the general media’s unquestioning rubber-stamping of the distortions and lies that led up to the war in Iraq is proof that freedom, security and democracy itself are in danger when the public is kept in the dark.
Good coverage of local news is also what makes communities feel like home. Knowing what’s going on in town helps residents put down roots and sense ownership, both of positive developments and challenging circumstances.
As a local example, are you aware that Haddam has been experiencing a crime wave? A series of home burglaries has kept state troopers busy since late October, yet area newspapers have barely covered the story. Arrests in a few cases point to the possibility of young offenders with expensive drug habits to feed. An increasingly rare well-reported story in the Courant places the story as close as East Haddam. How many burglaries could be prevented, or lives saved if facts related to these matters were carefully covered in Haddam?
On the positive side, do you know that Haddam has a highly motivated team of volunteers getting ready to hold weekly Farmers’ Markets on Higganum Green this summer? Read about it here.
From the sensational to the mundane
Residents who attend the many committee meetings which allow Haddam town government to function are often amazed at how few people show up at meetings, even when votes are scheduled to decide major issues like the town budget, tax breaks for area businesses, or how to deal with the impending closure of the transfer station. “Meetings are so hard to keep track of and fit into my schedule,” is a commonly-heard complaint. Without reliable press coverage of these meetings available in area publications it is easy to understand residents’ frustration with decisions made without their input.
Haddam does have the monthly Haddam Bulletin, which has just launched an online version. But, like its daily brethren, its coverage is constrained by available resources and economics. In addition, public opinion about the Bulletin seems to be mixed. Some prefer it to be a community cheerleader, with no critical coverage of town issues, while others applaud the investigative pieces it regularly runs. While it serves a valuable role in its reliable coverage of local organizations’ events, school awards, real estate notices and the like, as a “bulletin board” for local advertisers, and with magazine-like coverage of long-timeline issues, it cannot hope to cover daily breaking news.
The newly-arrived quarterly Haddam Events, while it carries a few informational articles, is better understood as a magazine, with an editorial slant clearly understood to be perceived as favorable to advertisers. The publisher’s goal is clearly an operating profit, not rapid-response news coverage.
Alternatives springing up
Faced with a vacuum of local news, online alternatives are appearing. Both Killingworth and Middletown have excellent blogs up and running. A recent story on NPR covered the issue in some depth, from a national perspective. In the spirit of CSPAN, a local all-volunteer group is now video-taping as many Haddam town meetings as possible, and airing the programs on Comcast Community Access TV on Channel 19, with plans for making the programs available on YouTube or another online source as well. Similar resident-produced video coverage of town meetings is happening in Deep River, and Middletown has video cameras built into its City Hall meeting room. RSD17 students are producing thought-provoking news and entertainment programming airing on HKTV at Comcast Channel 18. Haddam’s news blog is just getting started, and you’re reading it.
Key to the success of these ventures will be finding an economic model that works. Just as Connecticut Public Television and Radio and National Public Radio depend heavily on the financial support of viewers and listeners, online blogs will vary in quality and depth, depending on the ability of readers to support them by contributing content and with financing when needed.
The Middletown Eye has over two dozen writers contributing on a daily basis, and on one recent day had over a dozen articles posted during the most recent week on its front page. Peg Scofield, Publisher of Killingworth Today, somehow manages to post at least one article every day while also maintaining her busy web services business. HaddamGreen.org was launched intending to cover only “green” focused topics, but now hopes to expand to cover a wider range of topics of interest to Haddam residents. This will be possible if contributors step forward as they have in Middletown.
In this new age of news, one thing is certain. Freedom of the press belongs to those who own the press. We can choose to remain only partially-informed by relying on mega-corporate owned press profit centers which eliminate local coverage as “too expensive”, or we can seek out, participate in and support locally-grown news sources, and help ensure that the local news which directly defines our communities does not fade from our view.
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