So, did you enjoy Memorial Day weekend? Did you hit the lake? Go camping? Or, like many locals, were you still stuck working on the holiday?
The journalism business doesn’t really lend itself to three-day weekends. If you’re lucky enough to enjoy the time off at all, as soon as you get back to the office, there’s always plenty of news piled up.
But I’m not complaining, this is what I flap my little wings for. News gets me out of the nest, talking to people, visiting places in Northern Santa Barbara County.
At least, that’s how it should be.
I find myself doing a lot of explaining these days on just how journalism works. It’s pretty simple: Stuff happens, we make sure you know about it.
OK, there’s a little more to it than that. There’s verification, research, follow-up, connecting with sources, and fact checking involved too. You might even have to actually go somewhere to report on a story. Wow!
But not every news outlet finds it so easy.
Ever since the explosion in social media as a vehicle for news media, outlets from the daily paper to TV news stations are battling over likes, shares, re-tweets, and blog posts. In the attention economy, reporters are expected to posts several times a day, and often do the bare minimum in reporting to get a story done quickly. Under this model, news stories become short bite-sized bits of reporting, rather than detailed investigations of local issues.
For instance, one local paper reported on the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in Santa Maria and Santa Barbara, but only relied on one source—ICE. What about somebody, anybody in the community who could comment? Who did this raid affect, what do locals think about it? These are questions that could be asked, if reporters took the time. But when you’re trying to stay caught up with the 24/7 internet news cycle, you probably don’t have that time to dig deeper.
The economic downturn, often called the Great Recession, that swept the nation beginning in the late 2000’s had an effect on the entire media sphere just as the industry reached peak internet saturation. It was a kind of “perfect storm” that hobbled newsrooms around the nation. Editor and reporter positions disappeared, or went part time, or got outsourced. Attention was turned to the web, and away from long form content. Because of this, the amount and quality of journalism has definitely suffered nationwide.
Daily papers post plenty of “staff reports,” which is code for a regurgitated—or even copied and pasted—press release. They don’t usually do any extra outreach or follow-up on press releases from government agencies either.
That’s why the Santa Maria Police Department and Chief Ralph Martin knew they could easily take advantage of local print and television outlets when they released the infamous “ruse” press release last year. Just a few simple calls could have tipped off any journalist that they were about to publish “fake news” from the SMPD.
To be fair, the Sun reports from press releases too, everybody does, I’m not trying to stand on an ivory perch here. But what we do differently is explain, upfront, that the origin of the information or quote comes is a release.
What I would like to know is, how much of the public actually understands this? How many people know that a “staff report” is really just a press release dusted up with AP style? Or the different editorial cultures found at corporate news outlets versus independent media? Or that the letters and commentaries on the freakin’ opinion page aren’t penned by the staff, but members of the community?
And consider this: If local news media don’t even do basic footwork for shorter, but important stories, what else is falling through the cracks? Who are they neglecting to call? What are they missing?
This should be troubling to anyone who cares about healthy, functioning journalism in their community. There has been a serious uptick in anti-news media animus lately, but how many people are mad at the media for underreporting or lazy reporting?
More and more people have opinions about journalists and news media in general, which is great. Everyone should be discerning of the media they consume, especially these days, but they should also understand how news media works. Are you watching corporate TV news, which is mostly editorializing “analysts” and “correspondents” just commenting on what print media already reported? Are you reading the opinion page of the paper, like you are now, and upset with what you read? Well that’s fine, because this is what it’s here for, dialogue and discussion for everyone. You have a voice in a healthy newspaper too—just send a letter.
But there’s a certain vitriolic element in the mix these days that goes beyond simple skepticism and dialogue.
Like some of the voters leaving the polls in Montana, who ultimately elected Greg Gianforte in a special election for the U.S. House of Representatives on May 25. This was the day after Gianforte assaulted Ben Jacobs, a reporter for The Guardian, who was “body slammed” by the then-candidate for asking about the Republican health care reform bill. Some questioned while leaving the polls didn’t have much sympathy for Jacobs; there was plenty of victim blaming, skepticism over whether the incident happened, and even full-throated celebration of the attack.
On the day Gianforte won, a Twitter user said “Thank You [sic] for finally showing the MSM (Main Stream Media) what we think of them.”
That’s sweet. Should I be glad that the Sun is far from “mainstream?”
And if you didn’t know, Gianforte was angry with The Guardian specifically for reporting it did about some of his investments, namely with Russian companies sanctioned by the U.S. You know, just another odd financial connection between a Republican politician and Russia.
Talk about shooting—well in this case body slamming—the messenger. It’s always been our job to ask questions, no matter the political party, government office, or community member. Intimidation, violence, or threats won’t slow us down, that is, if we’re at an outlet with a culture of quality reporting, not copying and pasting press releases for the next tweet storm.
The point often missed is this: Everyone, including you, has the choice of what news media to consume. Do you want news that asks hard questions of people in power, or news that functions as a pro bono public relations agency for government and private organizations?
The Canary wants everyone to choose their news wisely, and send thoughts to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jun 1-8, 2017.
