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There's a lot of local corruption. Before, keeping it hush-hush meant capturing the local paper(s). Now? Increasingly you don't even need to do that. As long as

There's a lot of local corruption. Before, keeping it hush-hush meant capturing the local paper(s). Now? Increasingly you don't even need to do that. As long as the state AG or whoever doesn't take an interest (and some of them seem to intentionally avoid doing so) you're fine. Talking counties, schools, and towns outside even mid-sized cities, here. I am worried this, and other developments, will mean the gradual end of the US as a relatively low-corruption state.

stakhanov 7y ago
Can you think of any examples from the recent past of small local newspapers doing investigative journalism of that kind? I certainly can't. Low circulation means low advertising revenue, which means low budget for journalism, which means low quality journalism. Any local newspapers that I know of basically just print what comes out of the PR mill of local companies and local government.
- dayofthedaleks 7y ago
  A small paper in Iowa recently won a Pulzitzer for representing community interests in the face of corporate agriculture: https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/art-cullen https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/art-cullen
- dsfyu404ed 7y ago
  In MA we have the Turtleboy blog which is basically the only way to get news that doesn't bend over backwards to stay on the "correct" (where correct is defined on Beacon Hill) side of issues involving government. He has a right bias on certain social issues but it's easy enough to tune out and he does a good job delineating facts and his opinions.
  - stakhanov 7y ago
    The question was about investigative journalism, which is the kind of journalism where you actually expend resources to dig out facts that the public needs to know and otherwise wouldn't know about. What you describe sounds more like putting a "spin" on facts that are already in the media that's off-the-map. In this context off-the-map may mean a genius operating at a level far above us all. Or it may just mean crazy. The former is a possibility, but the latter is always more likely. And those are a dime a dozen, not a rare journalistic treasure.
    - dublinben 7y ago
      This outlet has broken stories about state police corruption that have later been picked up by more mainstream publications. It is definitely an outlet that occasionally 'digs out facts that the public needs to know' that are not being otherwise revealed. https://turtleboysports.com/state-trooper-leigha-genduso-admitted-drug-dealer-perjurer-and-tax-evader-friends-with-former-msp-colonel-marion-mcgovern-dated-lt-colonel-prior-to-being-hired/ https://turtleboysports.com/state-trooper-leigha-genduso-adm... https://turtleboysports.com/corrupt-douchebag-joe-early-agrees-to-pay-5000-to-state-trooper-who-he-ordered-to-cover-up-junkie-slugpump-alli-bibauds-felatio-offering-arrest-report/ https://turtleboysports.com/corrupt-douchebag-joe-early-agre...

stakhanov 7y ago

Can you think of any examples from the recent past of small local newspapers doing investigative journalism of that kind? I certainly can't. Low circulation means low advertising revenue, which means low budget for journalism, which means low quality journalism. Any local newspapers that I know of basically just print what comes out of the PR mill of local companies and local government.

dayofthedaleks 7y ago
A small paper in Iowa recently won a Pulzitzer for representing community interests in the face of corporate agriculture: https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/art-cullen https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/art-cullen
dsfyu404ed 7y ago
In MA we have the Turtleboy blog which is basically the only way to get news that doesn't bend over backwards to stay on the "correct" (where correct is defined on Beacon Hill) side of issues involving government. He has a right bias on certain social issues but it's easy enough to tune out and he does a good job delineating facts and his opinions.
- stakhanov 7y ago
  The question was about investigative journalism, which is the kind of journalism where you actually expend resources to dig out facts that the public needs to know and otherwise wouldn't know about. What you describe sounds more like putting a "spin" on facts that are already in the media that's off-the-map. In this context off-the-map may mean a genius operating at a level far above us all. Or it may just mean crazy. The former is a possibility, but the latter is always more likely. And those are a dime a dozen, not a rare journalistic treasure.
  - dublinben 7y ago
    This outlet has broken stories about state police corruption that have later been picked up by more mainstream publications. It is definitely an outlet that occasionally 'digs out facts that the public needs to know' that are not being otherwise revealed. https://turtleboysports.com/state-trooper-leigha-genduso-admitted-drug-dealer-perjurer-and-tax-evader-friends-with-former-msp-colonel-marion-mcgovern-dated-lt-colonel-prior-to-being-hired/ https://turtleboysports.com/state-trooper-leigha-genduso-adm... https://turtleboysports.com/corrupt-douchebag-joe-early-agrees-to-pay-5000-to-state-trooper-who-he-ordered-to-cover-up-junkie-slugpump-alli-bibauds-felatio-offering-arrest-report/ https://turtleboysports.com/corrupt-douchebag-joe-early-agre...