Cutting Edge Computing

The Loss of Local Journalism March 22, 2021

Carl Hiaasen is retiring as a longtime journalist for the Miami Herald, and it sounds like he’s leaving Florida altogether.  I don’t live in Florida; I know Hiaasen as a funny fiction writer (Basket Case is my clear favorite).

This normally wouldn’t be of particular interest to me, except for remarks Hiaasen made concerning local journalism in his last column.

“Retail corruption is now a breeze, since newspapers and other media can no longer afford enough reporters to cover all the key government meetings. You wake up one day, and they’re bulldozing 20 acres of pines at the end of your block to put up a Costco. Your kids ask what’s going on, and you can’t tell them because you don’t have a clue.

“That’s what happens when hometown journalism fades — neighborhood stories don’t get reported until it’s too late, after the deal’s gone down. Most local papers are gasping for life, and if they die it will be their readers who lose the most.”

For much of my adult life, growing up with rapidly changing technology, I believed that people would gradually stop associating with where they lived, and who they lived next to.  Instead, we would become virtual, forming worldwide communities based on our interests rather than our physical location.  I thought this was inevitable, and entirely a good thing.

Well, it is happening that way, but too many of the results aren’t pretty.  On the positive side, I count as friends many technology professionals worldwide, and stay in touch via email or LinkedIn, with the occasional conference.  My life has been enriched by these experiences.

But it has also enabled virtual groups devoted to hate, or devoted to absurd conspiracies.  And the power of those groups is amplified by their virtual reach.  In short, at least some of them have become a significant danger to modern civilization.

So I think Hiaasen is right, in that we have given local news, and local journalism the short shift.  I don’t know if there is any way of bringing back the geographically local element of our lives, but it is worthwhile trying to do so.  When I go out walking in the neighborhood (masked these days, of course), I at least greet my neighbors, and occasionally engage them in conversation.

I also have an alderman (Alderwoman?  Alderperson?) who years ago gathered together as many email addresses as she could in order to keep her ward informed on local happenings.  She has since retired, but still sends out large group emails on zoning, community meetings, and the like.

So give it a try.  Talk to your neighbors.  Try to engage people in community activities.  Maybe even find ways to support your local newspaper.  Our lives will be better in return.