Recently, I was asked a question that was easily answerable, but I was surprised to be asked it. After all, the local news media had run several articles that made the answer to the question very clear.
But of course I answered the question politely, and then added, "There have been several stories in the local news about this issue. It's been in the news for some time, in fact."
I could not resist making that comment. I love keeping up with the news. I'm just plain curious. I grew up in a house that received at least two daily papers because my parents were voracious readers. My best friends today are voracious readers: Reading newspapers and books gives us an endless source of conversational topics. We read electronic links, too, as you can tell from our Facebook pages (I never thought I'd someday be writing that).
I majored in journalism, and worked on two college newspapers, editing both. I taught college journalism for seven years and I spent more than a dozen years in newspaper and radio newsrooms.
But that's not why I read a paper or listen to radio news every day. Like I said, I'm curious. You should be curious, too.
People who care about the community they live in read a daily newspaper. They read it to find out what's going on at city hall, at the courthouse and at the school district. They want to know what elected and appointed officials are doing. They have a right to know this. Open Records and Open Meeting laws give all citizens this right. News reporters ensure those rights are protected and exercised.
This, my friend, is something you need to care about. You need to care about who is spending your tax dollars and how they are spending them. And you need to know whether they are acting in your best interests.
In a world without news, we would not know these things.
When you read a daily newspaper, your are joining a group of other people who are also reading. You are getting the same information they are getting. You might have a different reaction. But if the information is controversial enough, someone will write a letter to the editor to express his or her delight or concern. You can do the same. Maybe someone else will respond. In the newspaper world, we call this "a community's conversation with itself."
Today, Facebook is providing another venue for conversation. This is especially evident now that most of us Baby Boomers have Facebook pages and we use them to communicate, like we used to use e-mail (which we still use, only not so much.)
But Facebook has few controls. Many of us local users are aware of at least one incident during which information was prematurely disseminated on Facebook by someone who did not understand the enormous responsibility that comes with freedom of speech. That incident showed us the downside of social media networking.
With a newspaper or radio newsroom, information is shared only when it has been verified, usually by two sources. It is shared in as objective a manner as possible (of course reporters have personal ideas about how things should work - call them biases, if you like, but good reporters truly make an effort to keep these ideas from showing up in their stories).
If you don't read a daily newspaper, you simply won't know what is happening in your community. You won't know which elected official is not serving you - and which one is. You won't know how your favorite school is doing during basketball season - or how students are faring with standardized tests. You might not know about an important community event that might need your help - last year's Maroon Makeover, for example. You won't know who your community leaders are, or who your elected representative is (I've seen that a lot).
You won't really know your community. So how can you be a part of it?
But of course I answered the question politely, and then added, "There have been several stories in the local news about this issue. It's been in the news for some time, in fact."
I could not resist making that comment. I love keeping up with the news. I'm just plain curious. I grew up in a house that received at least two daily papers because my parents were voracious readers. My best friends today are voracious readers: Reading newspapers and books gives us an endless source of conversational topics. We read electronic links, too, as you can tell from our Facebook pages (I never thought I'd someday be writing that).
I majored in journalism, and worked on two college newspapers, editing both. I taught college journalism for seven years and I spent more than a dozen years in newspaper and radio newsrooms.
But that's not why I read a paper or listen to radio news every day. Like I said, I'm curious. You should be curious, too.
People who care about the community they live in read a daily newspaper. They read it to find out what's going on at city hall, at the courthouse and at the school district. They want to know what elected and appointed officials are doing. They have a right to know this. Open Records and Open Meeting laws give all citizens this right. News reporters ensure those rights are protected and exercised.
This, my friend, is something you need to care about. You need to care about who is spending your tax dollars and how they are spending them. And you need to know whether they are acting in your best interests.
In a world without news, we would not know these things.
When you read a daily newspaper, your are joining a group of other people who are also reading. You are getting the same information they are getting. You might have a different reaction. But if the information is controversial enough, someone will write a letter to the editor to express his or her delight or concern. You can do the same. Maybe someone else will respond. In the newspaper world, we call this "a community's conversation with itself."
Today, Facebook is providing another venue for conversation. This is especially evident now that most of us Baby Boomers have Facebook pages and we use them to communicate, like we used to use e-mail (which we still use, only not so much.)
But Facebook has few controls. Many of us local users are aware of at least one incident during which information was prematurely disseminated on Facebook by someone who did not understand the enormous responsibility that comes with freedom of speech. That incident showed us the downside of social media networking.
With a newspaper or radio newsroom, information is shared only when it has been verified, usually by two sources. It is shared in as objective a manner as possible (of course reporters have personal ideas about how things should work - call them biases, if you like, but good reporters truly make an effort to keep these ideas from showing up in their stories).
If you don't read a daily newspaper, you simply won't know what is happening in your community. You won't know which elected official is not serving you - and which one is. You won't know how your favorite school is doing during basketball season - or how students are faring with standardized tests. You might not know about an important community event that might need your help - last year's Maroon Makeover, for example. You won't know who your community leaders are, or who your elected representative is (I've seen that a lot).
You won't really know your community. So how can you be a part of it?
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