Hey, did you know that it’s National Newspaper Week, now through Oct. 8? I know, I know, everybody seems to have a special day of awareness or weeklong celebration. But hey, journalism is important! I’m also aware this may be a biased perspective.
But why is it important? Well, duh! A newspaper like the Sun is more than just a great place to learn about what’s going on in your community. It’s an essential cornerstone of our democracy. Meditating on this fact is enough to get me dewy-eyed, even enough for a tear to roll down my beak.
These lofty ideals are important to us journalists because, let’s be honest, the county Board of Supervisors or city council meetings are boring (most of the time). But we go to them, so you don’t have to. We keep an eye on the local government, pull documents, make public information requests, so you don’t have to.
We visit the courthouse, obtain the mayor’s cell phone number, drive hours every month to meet with sources, ask hard questions to people in power, delve into uncomfortable topics, and relate it in a way that just about everybody can understand, so you don’t have to.
This isn’t to say there aren’t some perks. We do get all the free coffee we can drink. But we definitely need that coffee to energize our slog through all the meetings, documents, and press releases coming our way from various government agencies every week.
For instance, did you know that the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors heard a recommendation for a cloud seeding program in the county on Oct. 4? The program will start in Ocober and run through June of next year, will cost no more than $351,925 all year, and will be managed by North American Weather Consultants. The county has actually been cloud seeding for years. I know some of you probably think that’s great considering the ongoing drought. Some of you chemtrail conspiracy people probably aren’t too happy about it.
Either way, now you know.
We understand that our job is a serious responsibility, upon which the health of a democracy depends. An election depends on an informed electorate, whether they’re voting for a city mayor or the president. We always strive to bring you this information unpolluted by opinion or conjecture, as detailed yet concise as possible.
Heck, we’ll even help you get registered to vote! A voter registration form went out this week, tucked into the pages of most issues of the Sun. If you’re already registered, please don’t throw it away. Find someone who isn’t registered, give them the form, and encourage them to vote.
Something that always ruffles my feathers, which I hear more often than not, is people who say something along the lines of, “I just don’t know enough about the issues to vote.” Well, it’s a good thing you can hand them a copy of the Sun with that voter registration form, because then they have no excuse.
The Canary doesn’t often preen so aggressively. Send her your thoughts at canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 6-13, 2016.
