May 28, 2022Liked by Claire Berlinski, Rachel motte
You should see the condition of local news in the States, Claire. It is abysmal. There is so much corruption that investigative reporters could dive into in Richmond, Virginia, and the surrounding counties, but the new-minted VCU Journalism School grads who work for our local media outlets would rather be social justice activists. During the “mostly peaceful” riots we had here, the regular news outlets were useless, so I joined Twitter to follow the AntiFa accounts to know whether the mobs were marching towards my house. (I later asked a policeman friend of mine why they let AntiFa use Twitter to coordinate, and he told me that’s how law enforcement tracked them, too.) Meanwhile, my local press regales me with restaurant reviews and silly human interest pablum from around the country. I’m much more concerned about the skyrocketing overdoses in our county jail’s drug rehab program or election fraud at Richmond City Hall than an alligator loose in a Weeping Waters, Nebraska, retaining pond or a kid selling a record number of boxes of band booster candy in Arkansas, but guess which stories our local outlets push? It’s infuriating.
You should see the condition of local news in the States, Claire. It is abysmal. There is so much corruption that investigative reporters could dive into in Richmond, Virginia, and the surrounding counties, but the new-minted VCU Journalism School grads who work for our local media outlets would rather be social justice activists. During the “mostly peaceful” riots we had here, the regular news outlets were useless, so I joined Twitter to follow the AntiFa accounts to know whether the mobs were marching towards my house. (I later asked a policeman friend of mine why they let AntiFa use Twitter to coordinate, and he told me that’s how law enforcement tracked them, too.) Meanwhile, my local press regales me with restaurant reviews and silly human interest pablum from around the country. I’m much more concerned about the skyrocketing overdoses in our county jail’s drug rehab program or election fraud at Richmond City Hall than an alligator loose in a Weeping Waters, Nebraska, retaining pond or a kid selling a record number of boxes of band booster candy in Arkansas, but guess which stories our local outlets push? It’s infuriating.
I know. Local news and international news alike--it's a graveyard.
And once Craigslist gutted the classified ads, traditional journalism was doomed.