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Using this thread to yet again pound the drum of local news. I don't work in media; I've just found my local newspaper subscription to be extremely valuable. Y
by now__what 4y ago
Using this thread to yet again pound the drum of local news. I don't work in media; I've just found my local newspaper subscription to be extremely valuable.
Your local news organizations will be biased in some ways, yes, but it's easier to keep track of the writers who lean one way or another (smaller journalist teams). Since they're regional they can't skew too far on either end of the political spectrum or they'll anger the residents and lose subscribers. Their accountability is higher, because people in the community generally know what's going on around them and will call the bluff in op-eds or the paper's social media group. And, of course, the reporting is actually relevant to you! They don't need to rage-bait you for clicks because most of the reporting has tangible bearing on your life.
Subscribing to my local paper has kept me both informed and grounded, so I'm very nervous about the prospect of the medium being abandoned for declining profitability. I've yet to find a more valuable source of news.
- TechBro8615 4y agoMy local newspaper is owned by USAToday and their site is some kind of white-labeled USAToday wordpress template that's shared by a bunch of other formerly-independent local newspapers which are apparently now part of the USAToday portfolio. I don't have any interest in supporting USAToday, so I will never make it past my fifth article of the week.
- ceejayoz 4y agoGannett is the parent company; they own USA Today and dozens of local papers. I worked at a Gannett paper for a few years, at the time, we had a corporate-managed templating system but were able to make fairly significant modifications to it. That eventually transitioned to the one-size-fits-all approach you see today. Same's happening to the physical product; mostly a thin wrapper around state/national news from Gannett corporate.
- now__what 4y agoWell that's upsetting. My local paper has been owned by Advance Publications since the 40s, but it doesn't seem to suffer the same quality issues. It's even won several major awards, both for individual journalism and for the publication as a whole :) I almost wish they would pick up a template website though, because theirs is super buggy (I'd likely get the print version anyway).
- null0ranje 4y agoI agree with the sentiment, but local papers are dying. My hometown paper is still locally owned, but I suspect it will be bought up by Gannett or some other national outlet soon. As it is, the paper is ~90% AP Wire stories anyway.