I wrote a note of inquiry to Scott Angus, Editor of the Janesville Gazette and GazetteXtra.com, to ask about the upcoming Walworth Country Gazette. He sent along a reply, mentioning that the Walworth County edition will launch on April 27th — the same day that the Janesville Gazette begins seven-day morning publication. (Afternoons are difficult for newspapers, especially now, with so many rival media.)
We cannot have too much press coverage, of Whitewater, or of Walworth County, and so I wish all these efforts the best. It’s not just coverage, but plentiful coverage, that assures a better reporting. (If, for example, we had only a single local weekly newspaper, and no other news at all, then we’d have not a newspaper, but a municipal press release, re-issued periodically.)
There’s a powerful, natural tendency of local politicians to push a story their way — one cannot fault a politician’s staff for trying to shape coverage favorably. When a publication seems to be failing, politicians will move on, to find another reporter to beguile, with praise, attention, and promises of special access.
The challenge — and in a small town it’s a huge challenge — is that young or inexperienced reporters are easily captivated, and will sacrifice their objectivity, curiosity, and integrity to flak a story in exchange for a politician’s attentions, for feeling like an insider in government.
It’s hard to resist that temptation, and it ruins a good many people, who might otherwise have had promising careers, committed to true standards and principles of journalism, with the assurance of their own integrity.
A man or woman, raised in a proper tradition, and having lived in the world, would be better to lose anything and everything than conscience and integrity. No society, neither small nor large, is so worthy that one should bargain principle for access.
This desire to belong, to be part of a clique, or to stay silent for fear of being shunned, is the Sirens’ call of politicians, self-important town squires, and is hard, even for serious people, to resist. We are social by nature; the manipulative exploit our natural tendencies to their selfish ends.
More publications, competing for the same readers, will compel some to consider politics, and politicians, more seriously, less compliantly. From that competitive environment, a better press will emerge.
I am a great optimist in this (and so much else), as there are many good and hopeful possibilities from new ventures, and new media.