Power of the blogs are a concern to local communities.
Your typical beat reporter needs to have a good rapport with council members and city management in order to be in the loop for news stories. While there are some reporters or members of the editorial staff who take these same people to the wood shed, they are few in number. In the past few years technology has created a P.R. problem that they cannot cleanly solve. Bloggers. Citizens who spend their free time advising the public of issues that are not subject to council or city staff approvals.
Our city manager recently sent me four emails asking me to basically change one of my posts that I still feel was correctly stated. As such it was not revised.
The following text is from a Mission Viejo based blog that exposes their concern of our reporting. This comment was just published on that blog.
“Council members have indicated to the blog’s publisher they don’t like getting negative reviews. It’s quite easy to avoid being criticized by following a few suggestions: 1) be honest, 2) keep your campaign promises, 3) do your homework and read the packet before coming to the meeting, 4) represent your constituents and not outsiders or the city staff, 5) protect homeowners’ rights and property, and 6) do the right (moral and responsible) thing in the best interest of Mission Viejo residents. One former council member is often mentioned as a good example: the late Norm Murray. Norm was eventually defeated for reelection, probably because he was dedicated to doing the right thing rather than being popular.”
PS: Norm Murray passed away recently. He was one of two mentors in my early political ambitions in Mission Viejo. I do miss our many discussions on policy matters and what should be the best interest of our city. Norm opposed our city declaring a huge section of Mission Viejo as being “blighted” in the same year that we won an award for being the “finest planned city in America” in 1992.
Our responsibility to you the readers is to present articles that are not subject to any filter, be it an advertiser of the blogs or any elected officials.
Filters? We don’t need no stinking
Filters!
“It’s quite easy to avoid being criticized by following a few suggestions:”
The commenter forgot the all-important number 7)agree with me on the issues.
In other words, one can do 1-7 perfectly and still be subject to criticism based on 7…perhaps rightly so.
You are quite right to point out that our mainstream media is losing it’s “adversarial” punch when it comes to investigative journalism and that blogs are filling some of that void. Judy Miller’s coverage of the run-up to the war for the New York Times is a well-known, national-level example.
Time Russert, during his testimony in the Libby case, said that he just simply gives officials off-the-record status from the outset. Way to ask those tough questions, Tim!
ooops…I meant one can do 1-6 perfectly.
And obviously I meant Tim Russert.
email response:
This is a good news message for me, Larry. Keep up the good work.
Responding to post No. 2, some elected officials who are being criticized can’t get by the first suggestion, be honest.