ARTICLE
I have been in public policy and political business for most of my 35 year career spending time in Washington DC, the State Capitols in California and Nevada, Southern California and the Central Coast. There is a saying that all politics are local. To get your story right you need to work with the media to ensure that your information is factually reported and an accurate accounting of the issue. The five basic rules of good journalism — who, what, where, how and why of the news story have fallen by the wayside because of the urgency of the news media, social media moguls, the politicians and the general public to get ahead of the story, to report what they see as their end game. We still have the regular news cycle of the morning news, the noon reports and the 5 or 6 o’clock news shows. However, in today’s media cycle —our news is instantaneous with Twitter, Facebook postings, social blogs, Instagram photos and the list of immediate uncensored stories where the facts are stretched or non-existent to the story. We are saturated minute by minute by storylines or fake news. And when a news report hits the internet it is certain that it will ignite a flurry of opinions to correct the report regardless of the real facts. We should not lay all the responsibility on the media or the political establishment even though they have made a mess of what was responsible reporting of the news. We are all to blame for how today’s communication tools via the Internet have captured our sense of urgency. It is first in and last comment that sticks. The standard news cycle is now consumed by competing interests and the most recent changes at the Sentinel give cause for concern. The Good Times wrote about the loss of several writers at the Sentinel as reported by Jacob Pierce here: Goodtimes - Writers leave the Sentinel as the newspaper is going through changes. It is not a surprise. These are challenging times for local newspapers across the nation as they struggle on narrow margins to report the news and provide the local angle. The conglomerate news owners of the largest papers in the country also own other media outlets as part of their business model. The days of the locally owned paper is a thing of the past. That is why it was so refreshing to read the Santa Cruz Sentinel Editorial last week, Santa Cruz Sentinel - New Year - New Vision. The Sentinel has been our local newspaper for over a century. The Sentinel has changed ownership over the past twenty years and faces the uncertain future like many local papers. They are looking to change their news reporting style and coverage to be more in tuned with the times or disappear. Of course there are other media outlets that provide us news from around the state and the nation but there is no one source that can produce the local reports we want and need. The new Managing Editor, Kara Meyberg Gumzan has described a vision of the papers’ responsibility to cover local issues that are important to our region. Guzman stated, “It is time to shake things up. To better cover the news stories that matter most to the community, we’re shifting and narrowing our focus, to what we believe are the top 11 topics affecting Santa Cruz County.” Their goal is for their reporters to really drill deep in these issue areas: watch what’s happening, listen to the community debate, talk to source after source, find the data, figure out the truth and tell you what they see. If they follow the five basic rules of journalism the news stories will be informative, factual and data driven. We look forward to working with the Sentinel to ensure that accuracy. Santa Cruz deserves nothing less from our local daily newspaper.
I have been in public policy and political business for most of my 35 year career spending time in Washington DC, the State Capitols in California and Nevada, Southern California and the Central Coast.
There is a saying that all politics are local. To get your story right you need to work with the media to ensure that your information is factually reported and an accurate accounting of the issue. The five basic rules of good journalism — who, what, where, how and why of the news story have fallen by the wayside because of the urgency of the news media, social media moguls, the politicians and the general public to get ahead of the story, to report what they see as their end game. We still have the regular news cycle of the morning news, the noon reports and the 5 or 6 o’clock news shows.
However, in today’s media cycle —our news is instantaneous with Twitter, Facebook postings, social blogs, Instagram photos and the list of immediate uncensored stories where the facts are stretched or non-existent to the story. We are saturated minute by minute by storylines or fake news. And when a news report hits the internet it is certain that it will ignite a flurry of opinions to correct the report regardless of the real facts.
We should not lay all the responsibility on the media or the political establishment even though they have made a mess of what was responsible reporting of the news. We are all to blame for how today’s communication tools via the Internet have captured our sense of urgency. It is first in and last comment that sticks.
The standard news cycle is now consumed by competing interests and the most recent changes at the Sentinel give cause for concern. The Good Times wrote about the loss of several writers at the Sentinel as reported by Jacob Pierce here: Goodtimes - Writers leave the Sentinel as the newspaper is going through changes. It is not a surprise.
These are challenging times for local newspapers across the nation as they struggle on narrow margins to report the news and provide the local angle. The conglomerate news owners of the largest papers in the country also own other media outlets as part of their business model. The days of the locally owned paper is a thing of the past.
That is why it was so refreshing to read the Santa Cruz Sentinel Editorial last week, Santa Cruz Sentinel - New Year - New Vision.
The Sentinel has been our local newspaper for over a century. The Sentinel has changed ownership over the past twenty years and faces the uncertain future like many local papers. They are looking to change their news reporting style and coverage to be more in tuned with the times or disappear.
Of course there are other media outlets that provide us news from around the state and the nation but there is no one source that can produce the local reports we want and need.
The new Managing Editor, Kara Meyberg Gumzan has described a vision of the papers’ responsibility to cover local issues that are important to our region. Guzman stated, “It is time to shake things up. To better cover the news stories that matter most to the community, we’re shifting and narrowing our focus, to what we believe are the top 11 topics affecting Santa Cruz County.”
Their goal is for their reporters to really drill deep in these issue areas: watch what’s happening, listen to the community debate, talk to source after source, find the data, figure out the truth and tell you what they see. If they follow the five basic rules of journalism the news stories will be informative, factual and data driven. We look forward to working with the Sentinel to ensure that accuracy. Santa Cruz deserves nothing less from our local daily newspaper.