Another guest post
Fom Deb O'Connor
Northumberland Today: Lost in the Wilderness
Has anyone else noticed the joke our daily newspaper has become? Day after day I click on their site, expecting to see local news and opinion on the issues of the day. What do I find? Endless stories about thefts of ATVs, car break-ins and hapless shoplifters. The few readers left must be scared shitless about the apparent soaring crime rate, huddled in their damp basements lest they be victims of a home invasion. If fear sells newspapers their numbers must be high indeed.
Alongside the fear mongering we find the sickening cheer leading type stories generated by our local movers and shakers, dutifully re-gurgitated for our consumption. Then, the endless editorials written by the geniuses at the Toronto Sun, all with the same right wing message.
For the few real journalists left at the paper, it must be painful going to work every day. Do they know they are the walking dead? It's not like they had any control over what happened to Canadian print jounalism, but they, like the readers, are paying the price now in spades.
It is a sad end to our four former local papers that used to do the honourable job of keeping residents informed of events in their communities. If this is progress, include me OUT!
Northumberland Today: Lost in the Wilderness
Has anyone else noticed the joke our daily newspaper has become? Day after day I click on their site, expecting to see local news and opinion on the issues of the day. What do I find? Endless stories about thefts of ATVs, car break-ins and hapless shoplifters. The few readers left must be scared shitless about the apparent soaring crime rate, huddled in their damp basements lest they be victims of a home invasion. If fear sells newspapers their numbers must be high indeed.
Alongside the fear mongering we find the sickening cheer leading type stories generated by our local movers and shakers, dutifully re-gurgitated for our consumption. Then, the endless editorials written by the geniuses at the Toronto Sun, all with the same right wing message.
For the few real journalists left at the paper, it must be painful going to work every day. Do they know they are the walking dead? It's not like they had any control over what happened to Canadian print jounalism, but they, like the readers, are paying the price now in spades.
It is a sad end to our four former local papers that used to do the honourable job of keeping residents informed of events in their communities. If this is progress, include me OUT!
23 comments:
Try this Deb http://www.northumberlandnews.com/
Personally I have always found this local newspaper somewhat "thin" even when it was owned here in town -- before it was bought by Sun media. As a local newspaper, that's not surprising. Smaller potential market, smaller revenue, smaller staff, less coverage.
It is interesting to watch this little enterprise still breathe the best way it can in a day and age when all print media faces threat to continued existence.
I respect the job done by the local folks like Ted Amsden, Valerie MacDonald, Cecilia Naismith, Mandy Martin and columnists such as Grahame Woods and Dan Christie. By reading their words, I strongly suspect that they are not all dyed-in-the-wool Sun / rightwing types.
There are better sources for national news, editorial content that is not of a local nature, etc. I wouldn't look to Northumberland Today for that. It is just as true that I would never have looked to the old Cobourg Star / Port Hope Evening Guide for that when it was owned by James Johnston who lived locally.
There are relatively few alternatives for the kind of coverage that Northumberland Today gives for local municipal councils, local sports, local arts events, etc.
The local radio station tends to focus more on Peterborough than Cobourg/Port Hope when it comes to local government, sports, etc. Probably a 60% Peterborough / 40% Cobourg ratio -- that used to be better before the reality facing media owners made it expand to the Peterborough market or die on the vine.
The other local newspaper Northumberland News does a better job on some stories and a worse job on others. So, things even out between the two. Northumberland News is also weighed down by not being truly local but part of a BIG media empire (Torstar).
So, perhaps the question should be: what is a realistic expectation of the newspaper serving a small local market, given available revenues and the resulting low-staffing levels and the reality of media owndership in this country today?
Whatever the answer, one thing is clear: most of that is not in the control of the people whose words we are reading when we crack open those 6 - 8 pages they offer us every day except Thursday, which is always a huge number of pages and a huge number of ads and is delivered to more homes.
Anonymous -- Sun Media is much larger and owns many, many more papers than Torstar, just so you know.
Oh, and we don't run any stories from our parent company, so how are we "weighed down" by being owned by Torstar?
We publish maybe one story a month from our sister papers in Clarington/Oshawa and only when it affects Northumberland residents (OPG or GM).
You don't have to be owned by someone in town to be dedicated to the community.
We have unbelievable journalists who do so much more than just report what the talking heads at council said ... and that's community journalism in its truest form.
Not to toot my own horn but I think that http://www.northumberlandview.ca, an independent, locally owned news and information site is doing a pretty good job.
Right on Chris!
"Cameco recognized as Top Ten Company!"
"Written by Cameco Corporation"
What other hard-hitting exposes have you got in store I wonder....
DJC
he response that comes most quickly to mind is that yours is not exactly an unbiased view. This might be indicated by the implication that Torstar is not a big media outfit. Who really cares whether the Sun is bigger, which one is not locally owned but is able to "act" more like it is?
The sober second thought is: I don't have anything against Northumberland News and the job it is doing. I do like the staff at Northumberland News and I respect the job they do.
I don't like them better than the staff at Northumberland Today or respect the job they do more. Perhaps that is because I don't have the bias that comes with sitting at a work station near their work stations 40 hours a week.
The key point you are missing, though, Dwight, is this: the post was about Northumberland Today. So that's the focus of the comment on the post.
It was not all about you.
If I was to make a light criticism of Northumberland News, I would say it is my experience that it is easier to get regular, on-going coverage of local events by feeding submitted articles or tips / leads / press releases to "Today" than it is to "News."
Be more open to local input.
Anonymous
I'm totally open to input (interaction with the public is 100% of what we do), but I would be remiss not to defend my newspaper, since you mentioned it in your post, whether it was a side thought on your main point or not.
And I agree, the post wasn't about me, but it said my paper is "weighed down" by the entity that owns us, without an explanation. So I thought you'd be open to my input about my company not being "BIG" in comparison to NToday too.
I wasn't aware whether you knew that fact or not, since the tangled web of what company owns what papers in Canada can be difficult to navigate even for those of us in the business.
Of course I'm biased about my journalists, but the three dozen company, provincial, national and North American awards we've won since 2006 aren't.
If the staff at other papers would just shut up for awhile maybe there would be room for comment on the topic, which was Northumberland Today, remember?
My paper was addressed, so I think I have the right to defend it.
Dwight is right
Dwight: I wonder if you've ever read Niel Crone's 'Enter Laughing' blog. I've been kicked out of there any number of times. Anyway, if because your paper is ever accused of Toronto Star lefty-ness, I suggest you direct such criticism to Mr. Crone's Port Perry Limbaugh impression. If there's a redder red-neck than Mr. Crone -I haven't met him. I bring this up, at this moment, because clicking on your link to your paper immediately brings up a pic of your star (Star?) columnist who, simply put, has no sense of humour whatsoever and, in my opinion, is about as funny as a kick in the nuts. Were it up to me I'd re-title his dreary little intospections 'Crone's Disease'.
DJC
Anonymous/DJC
I post stories as they come to me and attribute them to the author. I may not always agree with the author but I post them.
Honestly, Dwight, I had more respect for your newspaper Northumberland News before reading your contributions to this thread than I do now that I have read your words. As said above a number of times now, it is not all about you.
You only need to "defend" yourself or your newspaper if it has been attacked. I do not see any attack on the Northumberland News here.
So, back off, Mr. Attack Dog.
As for the impartiality of industry awards to industry members, we all know that can never be faulted.
After all the very best movies are always nominated for an Oscar.
When you keep intruding with your own agenda and the slapping of your own back, it is ignoble and diminishes respect rather than increasing it. It would be truly impressive if all these nice things you are saying were said about the Northumberland News by someone who does not get their weekly pay cheque from the Northumberland News.
Best sidelight of the discussion in this thread:
The Burd Report is obviously followed very closely, in real time, by many people who work for the main stream media.
Now, that's really interesting!
MSM employees have souls too. I think we should be pleased, in a way, that they care enough to post on this site. Way to go, BR !
Further to what I said about Neil Crone's "Enter Laughing" blog:
If I'm not mistaken, Mr. Crone is (or was) the actor who portrayed the beligerent right-wing radio phone-in host on the fabulously un-funny Little Mosque On The Prairie debacle.
'Typecasting' I guess....
DJC
The headline of the latest Notrhumberland News reads:
PAY YOUR FINES
The story is about bureaucratic inefficiency in collecting Provincial Offences fines.
To my eye the headline invokes memories of Pravda. Or maybe The People's Daily -with its exhortations to the masses urging continued good citizenship.
This is what uber-right wing tabloids specialize in; Pay Your Fines, Report Suspicious Neighbours, Work Will Set You Free, Curb Your Dog.
And we wonder why newspapers are in trouble.
DJC
I was wondering what idiots would read those uber-right wing tabloids and know their contents so well.
Well, Wally, you have your answer. I'm one of those idiots. And rather proud of the fact.
For my part, I wonder what kind of idiots ignore what's being fed to them -rather than pay the attention some of us idiots choose to pay?
DJC
Allow me to try to inject a note of diplomacy and caution here: many of these comments are veering close to that personal insult we pledged to avoid. When arguing, go for the idea, not the person. Nice people can sometimes make worthless points; people we dislike can sometimes have brilliant ideas. That's why the personality doesn't enter into it. Even more so for personal opinion about the other personality.
Right.
So what are the uber-right wing tabloids? What are the names of the tabloids? The devil is in the details, and sloppy-think prefers the generic. If no one knows the name of the uber-right wing tabloids then communication is a failure.
Since DJC is a "professional" writer, one of the uber-class of columnistas working for a newspaper that is un-uber in every regard and answerable to no one and nothing, perhaps DJC could name the tabloids so that readers can know what is uber-right wing compared to mere right wing tabloids.
It may be an onerous task to name them, and beyond some people's intelligence to do so, but I am sure DJC knows the names -- but will he tell any of us?
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