3 ms·

Journalism was better when it was local and lower paid. Now we just have elitist and out of touch reporters who don't know what's going on outside of major citi

Journalism was better when it was local and lower paid. Now we just have elitist and out of touch reporters who don't know what's going on outside of major cities.

jeffbee 2y ago
I am not sure the past was better. All of the industry insiders think so but I am not seeing it. In my region — which is huge, with a robust nation-sized economy — we never had a good traditional newspaper. The legacy newspapers produced garbage for decades. Today we have an excellent group of independent internet news outlets providing daily coverage of events and politics, many specialized to one or another of our hundreds of distinct cities. The state of actual reporting here is now much better than it was during the peak of the newspaper era.
- diogenescynic 2y ago
  I'm only in my mid-30s and I still remember when local papers had actual local staff that covered local topics. Now the local paper is owned by a conglomerate and they just reprint AP/Reuters articles and have a little bit about local sports. It's a joke of what it used to be--and it hasn't been replaced by anything comparable online. It's not about disruption, this is just concentration of media.
  - bediger4000 2y ago
    Do you live in Northern Colorado!?! Because that's the local papers here.
    - diogenescynic 2y ago
      Haha no--Northern California, but I actually kept it generic because that's literally all local papers I've seen. All of them seem to have been bought out and homogenized to where it's actually the same local paper just being re-printed with different name and sports section.
  - Larrikin 2y ago
    I've lived in a major US city and a smaller one in the past few years. Block Club Chicago and the local Axios newsletter are far better than anything I ever read in a newspaper. I hope they are sustainable.
klipklop 2y ago
Don’t worry, it’s still low paid.
throwawaysleep 2y ago
> and lower paid It being lower paid indicates that it was less valuable when people were asked to value it.

Journalism was better when it was local and lower paid. Now we just have elitist and out of touch reporters who don't know what's going on outside of major cities.

jeffbee 2y ago

I am not sure the past was better. All of the industry insiders think so but I am not seeing it. In my region — which is huge, with a robust nation-sized economy — we never had a good traditional newspaper. The legacy newspapers produced garbage for decades. Today we have an excellent group of independent internet news outlets providing daily coverage of events and politics, many specialized to one or another of our hundreds of distinct cities. The state of actual reporting here is now much better than it was during the peak of the newspaper era.

diogenescynic 2y ago
I'm only in my mid-30s and I still remember when local papers had actual local staff that covered local topics. Now the local paper is owned by a conglomerate and they just reprint AP/Reuters articles and have a little bit about local sports. It's a joke of what it used to be--and it hasn't been replaced by anything comparable online. It's not about disruption, this is just concentration of media.
- bediger4000 2y ago
  Do you live in Northern Colorado!?! Because that's the local papers here.
  - diogenescynic 2y ago
    Haha no--Northern California, but I actually kept it generic because that's literally all local papers I've seen. All of them seem to have been bought out and homogenized to where it's actually the same local paper just being re-printed with different name and sports section.
- Larrikin 2y ago
  I've lived in a major US city and a smaller one in the past few years. Block Club Chicago and the local Axios newsletter are far better than anything I ever read in a newspaper. I hope they are sustainable.

klipklop 2y ago

Don’t worry, it’s still low paid.

throwawaysleep 2y ago

> and lower paid It being lower paid indicates that it was less valuable when people were asked to value it.