We’re not sure if it is a case of disingenuousness or merely extreme naivete, but a recently elected (non-Fairfax) Northern Virginia governing-body leader has been on social media of late, lamenting the ongoing, accelerating demise of local news coverage in what the younger crowd has taken to calling the deee-em-veeeeeeeeeeeee.
Her comments were precipitated by the cleaver currently being applied to local-news staff by management at The Washington Post, proving that even the richest man in the known universe isn’t willing to continue hemorrhaging cash to keep a corps of (often) lazy reporters employed.
Perhaps this newly elected official hasn’t gotten the memo yet, but it’s pretty clear at this point that, here as well as across the fruited plain, local governments, no matter their public pronouncements, are overjoyed at the ongoing degradation in serious media oversight of their operations.
It used to be that grizzled and perpetually cranky reporters and editors, many with more institutional knowledge of their coverage areas than government leaders themselves, wouldn’t stop until they had answers to tough questions. They’re a dying breed, having been replaced, if they are replaced at all, by a rotating band of new arrivals with little to no knowledge of the communities they serve and little to no time in their day to work on serious oversight.
There are some exceptions to the rule. We count our own staff among them, as well as some TV-news reporters and a precious few doing the work in print or online.
Kid yourself not, local residents – those tears flowing like rivers from government leaders as news reporting becomes ever less and less serious (and aggressive) are decidedly of the crocodile variety. They’re thrilled to see it die.
