Okay, so we're hip, us BlogCritics. We blog, we surf, we link all over the place. We know the big names and talk about them like they're intimates. But what about people in small towns?
I've worked for two small town newspapers as a reporter. As mundane and sometimes goofy as the news can be, it is very important to those who live there.
I wonder if there are any dedicated bloggers out there who've made a concerted effort to create the equivalent of a "newspaper of record" for their municipality online. And if not, how do we encourage movement in this direction?
The content model is straightforward. You need town council coverage, a police blotter and community listings — births, deaths, engagements and wedddings, national honor society rolls, military enlistments and assignments, fire hall bingo and bean supper announcements.
Stuff from state and federal elected reps is usually pointless, but necessary. Actually, could you imagine their surprise if these blog-gazettes published their voting records? What about their abenteeism? Their paid junkets and expense accounts?
Land sales and real estate listings are also good, as well as the occasional feature story about the rattlesnake in Mrs. Gertrude's cupboard.
Blogging is relatively free, of course, and there may even be the chance of actual advertising income, in ten and twenty dollar increments — especially if there's no other media outlet.
The biggest problem is journalistic discipline, actually keeping to the topics and getting it right — everyone, myself included, has considered their dental flossing habits to be a matter worthy of a post at times. To feed this urge, a personal column could be used by the homespun journalist.
Speaking of columns, there's no shortage of cranky oldsters to enlist in writing their curmudeonly vitriol — if only to be published!
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Article comments
1 - Mac Diva
Nah. Blogs are too opinion-oriented. People need to get as objective information as possible. Opinions should come second or third. Besides, if they already have computers and Internet access, they can read the paper from the closest city.
BTW, I kind of wish I had worked at a small paper. But, as a minority reporter, I knew that wasn't gonna happen. Loved reading about it in Annie Proulx's The Shipping News, though.
2 - KATE SHERROD
This is VERY INTERESTING.
What you're proposing here, Frank, is exactly how I got started blogging.
I was a reporter for my little (population, 1726) Wyoming town, but my editor and I hated each other (he thought the citizens were dumb bumpkins, I counted the masters degrees just among people I regularly had coffee with and said he was nuts) so I quit.
But people really missed my columns and my... stuff (they wrote me in for town council based on my editorials. Yikes!) and got on my case to keep publishing somewhere.
Voila! My blog - Life In a Northern Town.
I've been doing it for two years now, and I do several things with it. 1. I indicate to my local readers exactly what my position is on given issues that come up for a vote and invite them to disagree with me or try to persuade me otherwise. 2. I explain any changes of heart/opinion if such happen. 3. I do my damndest to educate my local readers about why some things (like the ammonia discharge of our sewer lagoon) are important â€" and expensive!
And also 4. When I'm not getting political, I also try to entertain everybody - which has earned me my international following. Sometimes I write about the ducks that fill my yard (I live on the North Platte River). Sometimes I dish out the coffee gossip. Sometimes I write book/movie/music reviews (hence my being a blogcritic). Anything to keep people reading, because who wants to read boring public policy stuff all the time?
Yes, it's opinionated, but that's why I got elected, and it's helped me achieve heretofore unknown levels of transparency in local government.
I have encouraged my colleagues around Wyoming to do the same, but this isn't a technogeek kinda state. I'm 33 and elected; most of my collegues learned to type on manual typewriters. C'est la guerre.
But I think you're right on the money, Frank. It's not necessarily an objective source, but it's a starting point for the citizenry to ponder local issues.
I love it when people disagree with me! It refines my thinking and keeps me mindful of the astonishing diversity in even my little town.
I recommend this use of blogs wholeheartedly!
3 - Angela Foreman-Bobier
I started this exact type of blog you are referring to in your article. I set it up yesterday. I got the idea from the closest city to my municipality (40 minute drive away) the St Thomas blog.
We do have a free weekly local paper, but I find many people scan through and say there's nothing interesting in it. I'd like to supply those interesting articles especially for those who want social versus print media.
I already have offers from business people I know to contribute articles. My real estate agent wants to write Home articles. A jewelry sales person wants to write about fashion trends. I am on the board of the local museum so have access to heritage and history of the area. We had 50 hits our first day with 14 people joining the blog's Facebook page.
I look forward to this new venture. Stop by and visit The West Elgin Blog.