Perils of a depleted State House press

MacKay on the General Assembly's opening session

Fixing a broken financial world

3 Comments

• Islander said:

  It's interesting that you mention Hard Deadlines and RI's 12th in this post.

  While I agree that the Projo's diminishing coverage is a fretful development, other newspapers do exist in this state and often provide noteworthy coverage of local affairs. On the weekly front, The Barrington Times and Bristol Phoenix come to mind as their town's papers of record.

  In Westerly, we have the Sun, Pawtucket, the Times, and in Newport, the Daily Schnooze.

  Which brings me back to RI's 12th and Hard Deadlines. Seeing how they both cover Aquidneck Island and sometimes Tiverton, they rely predominantly on the Daily and the local weeklies (Sakonnet Times, Westport Shorelines, Newport This Week) for their municipal coverage.

  While blogs are great as a personal medium, and the Projo is our state's paper of record, let's not forget that our local dailies and weeklies also have websites and more importantly, have writers who can be held to account by editors.

  Blogs like AnchorRising and RIFUTURE may be a good source of political punditry, but their unabashed political biases should cripple them from being taken seriously as a source of news. And if they don't, then we are skirting a very slippery slope.

  January 7, 2009 2:30 PM

• Ian Donnis said:

  Islander, I think you're overly harsh in your assessment. Yes, local papers still have an important role to play, and I've written about how Jim Baron, for example, does a very good job with State House coverage. But just because a blog is partisan, that doesn't mean it can't break news. And I suspect that most people who read the blogs you mentioned recognize that they come from a certain perspective.  

  January 7, 2009 3:40 PM

• Eileen Spillane said:

  Bloggers like myself do NOT take the place of newspapers and reporters.  We are, indeed, rather sad when we do.  Rather, we provide other voices for democracy and open up the discussion to anyone caring to join in.  

  While newspapers (and most of their online stuff is awful) often struggle to get news up quickly with a lack of staffing, I don't face that problem.  We often break news and provide links for background & source info so you can check the facts for yourself & rate the sources.  We are often dogged about a topic & have time to do  research.  If you don't think that we have sources who are far more willing to speak with us than reporters (or are ignored), then you don't read us very often.  

  We also have a wide depth of education, life-experience, and community roots- more so than many reporters.  I can speak to most politicans (local, state, & fed'l) on a firstname basis because I know them- and not just reporting-wise.  If I relied totally on the papers for material, I'd have NO readership. Heck, I wouldn't even read myself.  

  We also don't have to answer to editors, or advertisers, or politicans, etc. and this is often a good thing.

  To believe that newspapers are a-political is naive.  Often they just won't directly state it or pretend that by stating both sides of a question, that the truth lies somewhere in the middle.  

  Blogs a slippery slope?  From where to where?  Information & facts & thoughts & ideas controlled only by the chosen few???  I think not.  Our founding fathers didn't think so either.  BTW, the Federalist papers were published anonymously (and here's my source: en.wikipedia.org/.../Federalist_Papers)

  I'd say blogging has a proud history.

  And thanks for the plug.  There will be a little something extra in your paycheck this month. And mine!

  January 8, 2009 2:13 PM

Leave a Comment