More quality traditional media options can make a big difference in local civic affairs

There is a lot of talk (and more) in the media world about the decline of the newspaper industry. Newspaper chains are in play. Knight-Ridder--decades ago I used to deliver the Detroit Free Press, and I subscribed to the trade magazine Editor & Publisher--is history, Tribune is in trouble. And newspapers are being sold or re-valued at 1/3 the price of a few years before.

But one report, "Death Of Newspapers Belied By Facts, Says WAN," takes a different tack, covering the rise of free daily newspaper media. In the DC region this includes the Express, published Monday through Friday, and the Examiner (a rebadging and repositioning of the formerly suburban Journal newspapers, to be able to attract DC-focused advertising as well as so-called "national advertising"), published Monday through Saturday.

The Washington Post is a regional newspaper and DC proper is only their fourth largest market--Fairfax, Montgomery, and Prince George's Counties are #1, #2, and #3--and the circulation department and editors believe that a lot of the copies sold in DC go to suburbanites anyway. As a result, the Metro section covers all three broad jurisdictions (DC, VA, and MD). Each week the District Extra section is published, but compared to the Post's sister Gazette publications, a series of zoned local newspapers in Maryland, published once/week, there's much less hard news.

(OTOH, I think the Extra sections have great potential and opportunity for the Post in terms of remaining competitive, more about that some other time. Although one thought is that the Post should make the Extra section in DC super great, and publish an overrun for free distribution every Thursday in various places around the city.)

The Washington Times has some decent coverage of stories, but they never really thought much about how to position vis-a-vis in terms of local news coverage. Their position vis-a-vis the Post is about assumed political orientation. The Washington Times is known as a strongly conservative newspaper; the Post liberal. A long time ago, the Washington Times published its metropolitan section as a tabloid--think what they could have done.

I bring this up because the Examiner is making a real difference in terms of bringing added attention to local stories, especially those of interest to advocates involved in local civic affairs.

TV news is out because they cover very little of import other than murders, fires, accidents, local sports, and weather. Radio is good, but mostly people who listen to radio do so while driving, making it a limited medium for a city that has so many walkers. Although, the Internet helps...

The Examiner is covering stories that the Post doesn't cover. (The Express doesn't generate local coverage except for the near the back page of local content produced in large part by Michael Grass, and their great blog, Free Ride.)

It's not like the Examiner reporters are geniuses (sorry)--what they do is read neighborhood e-lists, city-wide e-lists such as concerned4dcps, themail, and blogs like this one. AND THEN THEY FOLLOW UP AND OFTEN WRITE STORIES!

Oh, and they also have two local columnists, Harry Jaffe of Washingtonian Magazine, and co-author of the book Dream City, and Jonetta Rose Barras, who is part of the WAMU politics hour. (And they dumped the whiny suburban oriented columnist Leslie Milk, also from the Washingtonian.)

So the fact that the Examiner today has a story about rising opposition to Greg Griffis being appointed to the Zoning Commission over retaining Carol Mitten--who in my opinion is too even handed and cares more about quality than average for the Growth Machine to be happy with her. See "Opposition to mayor’s zoning commission nominee growing."

And yesterday, the Examiner had a story about CFO Gandhi and the confirmation hearing, with some damning discussion about allegations that Mr. Gandhi deliberately under projects annual revenue in order to show a surplus. (n.b. I always thought that the surplus derived from not spending money on things that matter, like fixing streets and sidewalks...) See "Gandhi: The many faces of ‘Dr. No’."

Now don't think I love the Examiner in every respect. The stories are short, so most of the time my quotes get cut!!!!!. The comics stink--they could add my favorites Retail and Lucky Cow for one. And the editorial page is so conservative. And Jay Ambrose... do we really need to read his musings, or at the very least, could they add someone more "progressive" to balance him off?

BUT in any case, having another published outlet for local news is proving to be of great assistance to building a better city.

I only hope that the Post takes the opportunity to add local columnists to the Express, to help bring a more local voice to it. Even so, I will continue to pick up and read the Examiner every day.