Up For Air
Everything’s been neglected around here – the garden, the yard, the dog, this blog, even the kids.
I’ve had my head down kludging computer code together (I’m too much of a hack to call myself a programmer) for a project I’ve kept pretty much under wraps for months.
Now I think it’s time to take off the cover.
Please feel free to take a tour of FortBendNow, a venture that likely will consume most of my time for years to come.
It’s an attempt to solve a couple of problems that have puzzled me for many years.
No. 1: Why is it that Americans can find a dozen different news reports each day on the intimate dealings coming out of Washington, Baghdad and the National Football League, but we can’t find out what happened last night at the city council meeting down the street?
No. 2: Why isn’t everyone getting his or her news from the Internet instead of a TV (where “news” only shows up twice a day) or a newspaper (where “news” shows up several hours after it’s already “olds”)?
A web-based news operation (should) give the reader the ability to find out about an event very shortly after it actually occurs. And web-based news reports can be presented in whatever length (and via whatever medium) is needed to convey all necessary information to the reader. Because a web news operation doesn’t have to deal with the huge cost of newsprint, and isn’t being pressured to shorten its broadcast to make room for more advertising.
Helping people really find out what’s going on in their neighborhoods and communities is a challenge, and to make it work, I believe it’s time to dump the old model. It’s no longer good enough to let a handful of old men with journalism degrees (and a list of the publisher’s sacred cows) decide what news the public should be able to see. In fact, I don’t think that model was ever good enough.
Here’s the reality of news delivery outside of America’s major markets, in places like Fort Bend County:
First of all, the only source of local news anymore is one or two small daily or weekly newspapers. That’s because virtually all of this country’s radio and TV stations are owned by a handful of big corporations with homogenized programming, who charge so much for their ad time that only national companies can afford the rates. So the broadcast monopolists confine themselves to the major markets, such as Houston. Ditto for the big-market newspapers, which also are all owned by a handful of monopolists.
Even the local daily or weekly papers are mostly owned by small-market monopolies – corporations with chains of little cookie-cutter papers spread through a region.
These papers still deliver their main product on newsprint, meaning they have to absorb a huge daily or weekly cost, which they usually offset by making sure not very many people draw salaries in the newsroom. So they’ll employ three or four reporters – even in an area the size of Fort Bend County, with nearly a half-million people.
That’s enough people to report on two car wrecks, one arrest, a court hearing and maybe cursory coverage of a public meeting. Newsprint costs money, so most of those reports will eat up a total of 10 inches of space or less. Add a couple of wedding announcements and the day’s obits, and that’s all you get.
I think there’s a better way: Turn the news operation over to the people whose community you’re attempting to cover. Let people with experience in a particular area cover their area of expertise. As long as they can express themselves well in writing and are willing to strive for fairness and objectivity, it seems to me that the community will be well served.
If 100 such community journalists emerge to act as the eyes and ears of Fort Bend County, aren’t we all going to be better off and better able to make good decisions about our government and our schools and our lives?
I suspect the answer just might be yes.
Anyhow, that’s what I’ve been up to lately.
Give it a look and let me know what you think.
→ B.Dunn, Sep 15, 2005, 09 07 am
