It must be hard to scroll through the Associated Press feeds each morning and fill up the business section of the RGJ with stories. I write this because most of the AP stories are pretty irrelevant to readers in Reno and Sparks and I want to show some compassion to the effort that it must take. With all the time taken up in this selection process, there obviously isn’t any time to send reporters out to actually report on local news.
Come on, has the RGJ fired all their business reporters in favor of those who can cover the Darren Mack story. Or maybe the RGJ is so worried about the Northern Nevada Business Weekly that they have reassigned all their reporters to The Business Report. Therefore, if I want local business news, I have to wait for the monthly issue.
The only reason I still read the RGJ is for local news. If I want AP regurgitation, I will open up my web browser, go to my new aggregator and see all the top headlines I want. But hey, at least the RGJ has a blog strategy right?
2 responses so far ↓
1 MadMonkey // Jul 25, 2006 at 9:14 am
A consistent irritation for me every time I pick up the Reno Gazette-Journal in its traditional print form is the fact that they regurgitate Associated Press stories incessantly. It is done so much that on any given day they comprise the majority of the stories. This is especially the case in the Business Section.
I understand that reporters are a significant operating expense for the paper. In fact, any employee is within any organization. But when the RGJ goes so far as to send a reporter on the trail that Darren Mack followed on his flight to Mexico, I question the RGJ’s priorities.
The paper is willing to pay the expenses associated with sending a reporter and photographer down to Mexico to cover a sensational story that costitutes almost a week of papers for what? Sensationalism sells papers. The guys shot a judge, killed his wife, fled to Mexico, and eventually was caught. Story done. To RGJ’s credit, I guess they know what commands readers’ attentions in this town.
But therin lies the rub. Are people that apathetic? How many stories ran in the RGJ on Darren Mack verses stories focusing on education, urban sprawl, traffic problems, political maneuverings, and various other social and environmental issues? The same goes for much of the news on TV. Everyone tunes in to watch some reporter stand on the side of the road and talk about how it is raining. I can look outside and see that it is raining! Or tune into the weather channel online or on TV. Forget the idea of discussing something that actually has some substance.
To further illustrate my point, can you remember the last time the RGJ ran a series of articles on one particular subject? If my memory serves me well, I believe it was on UNR and the deaths of sheep. I appreciate that the RGJ poured their resources into uncovering some of the administrative issues affecting UNR, but in their pursuit of the truth they further sensationalized the issue and adversely effected the national reputation of UNR. And, I don’t remember them allocating an equal amount of reporting devoted to the other side of the story i.e the University’s perspective.
Local media’s sensational and occasionally senseless and simplistic portrayal of human life is frustrating because they have such incredible control over the filtering of information. Consumer generated media like blogging is helping to lift the veil, but it is still primarily for intellectuals and early adopters of technology, and not for mass consumption.
2 Kenz // Jul 25, 2006 at 9:50 am
Speaking of regurgitation, this seem like a regurgitation of your comment over here: http://www.renodiscontent.com/2006/07/24/reno-gazette-journal-aspiring-to-be-national-enquirer/
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