There’s been a lot said in recent local blogs and letters to the editor about the state of local news in Erie.
Hey, that’s fair.
We put our wares out for the public every day and members of the public have every right to let us know what they think, both positive and (far more often) negative.
Still, I can’t help but think how easy it is, to sit in a warm, comfortable chair and lament the specks in the eyes of others, having never run cables for a live shot in a blizzard, having never pounded a crime beat and called sources at three minutes to six, having never sat in the living room of a family who just had someone blown away on the winds of a Desert Storm.
That said, not all of the criticism lacks merit.
News may have started as a noble effort to support the democracy by giving We The People a chance to keep an eye on our “public” servants, but today, it’s a business.
Journalistic standards, like everything else, have to fit within the basic tenets of private enterprise providing a return on an owner’s investment.
If that return doesn’t happen, then the news ethics are a moot point because the news departments cease to exist.
In communities like Erie, that has meant reducing television’s labor costs with smaller and less experienced staffs, and looking for economies of scale by buying several properties and creating efficiencies by consolidating back room operations.
Don’t look so surprised.
It’s the same tract most other industries have had to follow to keep floating.
The Norman Rockwell postcard of the nuclear family coming home to watch the 6 o’clock news together is heading the way of the film camera.
Today, stations are looking to get their product on IPods and Blackberries and cell phones, all emerging technologies that smaller stations have trouble financing in the face of a government-mandated and expensive conversion to High Definition TV.
None of that justifies shoddy journalism, but it does help explain the arena where inexperience combined with inattentiveness to detail can lead to problems.
You are not blameless.
Many of us ignore the news when nothing is happening, but clamor for answers when left uninformed in the face of a disaster.
Like a fire department, you’d like to set us on a shelf and forget us until we’re really needed.
Unlike a fire department, we are privately funded and must make money on an ongoing basis (i.e. you watching) for us to remain fully functional.
There are good cops and bad cops, good salesmen and bad salesmen, and guess what?
There are good reporters and bad reporters in local journalism, too.
It’s the public’s job to watch our leaders, and it’s the public’s job to watch those who watch those leaders, too.
How easy it is to sit on the sidelines and scoff at the inadequacies of an entire industry.
Harder still to do the homework, and support those in that industry who can achieve despite the challenges.
HEY-A quick note, we’ve had problems with the comments section of this blog, leading to thousands of junk entries. The good people at GoErie.com have worked hard to fix the problem, but some comments may have been lost in the ooze. Please feel free to comment on anything you see here or in other postings. We’ll be sure to post what we receive as long as it isn’t lewd, libelous, or outside the boundaries of human comprehension (or at least mine).