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This discounts the critical role of local news in informing citizens about the performance of and candidates for local government, as well as the investigative

This discounts the critical role of local news in informing citizens about the performance of and candidates for local government, as well as the investigative role. If the above is all we have in most municipalities, America will likely become a high corruption country.

SllX 7y ago
This discounts the possibility that at lower levels of government, America might already be a high corruption country. Let’s break this down: 1. The performance of the local government. You can already see this when you talk with your neighbors or walk or drive around the streets. Are the potholes in your area getting filled? Are the police doing a decent job? Are houses burning down left and right? Are your kids coming home from school and not getting progressively more literate and numerate? To the extent that there is room in the market for even more coverage of the local government, it really depends on how big the local bureaucracy is. 2. Candidates in local elections. Did you know it was the job of candidates running for office to get themselves and their message in front of as many people in their constituency as they can? They have a message to sell, and if they are at all effective, they’ll sell it as widely as possible. If the local papers and broadcasters aren’t doing the job, they’ll find other ways to get their message out or else just lose the election. Anybody with any interest against this candidate will also be selling messages to get in front of you, in whatever channels you’re paying attention. I don’t think we’re any less informed about our politicians than we ever were, it’s simply a matter of how interested we are in what they do for us. For example, I care very much who is repping me on the Board of Supervisors, but without children of my own, I struggle to stay interested in school board elections, and I find it questionable that we are electing any judges at all. 3. Investigative journalism. This is a separate kind of informational product, and there is a generally competitive market here, but the trick is to see each story as a separate product. Organizations which attempt to specialize in this product tend to not bring in much revenue, but the investigative arm of an organization can bring prestige to the whole organization by putting out investigative products. In any case, investigative journalism does not stand on its own without a supporting organization, and brings in more revenue if you get a book deal. I don’t think all we have is all that I outlined above. I think the market supports reporting and editorializing just fine, but for the local variants, there just isn’t a lot of demand for the same kind of reporting, maybe because the stakes are lower, maybe because people are just less interested in the community they live in, or maybe there’s less government, less stuff, to keep tabs on.

SllX 7y ago

This discounts the possibility that at lower levels of government, America might already be a high corruption country. Let’s break this down: 1. The performance of the local government. You can already see this when you talk with your neighbors or walk or drive around the streets. Are the potholes in your area getting filled? Are the police doing a decent job? Are houses burning down left and right? Are your kids coming home from school and not getting progressively more literate and numerate? To the extent that there is room in the market for even more coverage of the local government, it really depends on how big the local bureaucracy is. 2. Candidates in local elections. Did you know it was the job of candidates running for office to get themselves and their message in front of as many people in their constituency as they can? They have a message to sell, and if they are at all effective, they’ll sell it as widely as possible. If the local papers and broadcasters aren’t doing the job, they’ll find other ways to get their message out or else just lose the election. Anybody with any interest against this candidate will also be selling messages to get in front of you, in whatever channels you’re paying attention. I don’t think we’re any less informed about our politicians than we ever were, it’s simply a matter of how interested we are in what they do for us. For example, I care very much who is repping me on the Board of Supervisors, but without children of my own, I struggle to stay interested in school board elections, and I find it questionable that we are electing any judges at all. 3. Investigative journalism. This is a separate kind of informational product, and there is a generally competitive market here, but the trick is to see each story as a separate product. Organizations which attempt to specialize in this product tend to not bring in much revenue, but the investigative arm of an organization can bring prestige to the whole organization by putting out investigative products. In any case, investigative journalism does not stand on its own without a supporting organization, and brings in more revenue if you get a book deal. I don’t think all we have is all that I outlined above. I think the market supports reporting and editorializing just fine, but for the local variants, there just isn’t a lot of demand for the same kind of reporting, maybe because the stakes are lower, maybe because people are just less interested in the community they live in, or maybe there’s less government, less stuff, to keep tabs on.