Read the comments in our post Miami Herald Today.The discussion in the comments on this post moved over to the fluffy Neighbors Section of the newspaper. For those that don’t get the Herald, it is a pretty useless section that is a vehicle for local ads for your neighborhood.
I don’t like Neighbors, because, God forbid, they print a good article, the rest of Miami Dade County doesn’t see it. We don’t know what is going on in neighboring communities. Also, they arbitrarily separate us into neighborhoods. I used to get a “Black” news neighbors. Now I get a “White” news neighbors (you can tell by what they put on the front page). It is themed for the particular background of what the Herald perceives the readership is. There are a few articles that are pretty much meaningless, such as a picture of someone at a nursing home watching clowns perform and a short article on the performance. The best Neighbors is the one that serves Coconut Grove. It is much better to get your local information from neighborhood papers like The Sunpost or the Biscayne Times where they have hard-hitting news on your hood. The Neighbors section truly sucks. And one reader left a very good comment and a direction the Miami Herald should take:
Anonymous said...
"The Neighbors section is a disaster."
"It's the way the Herald executives believe they are answering the problem of news specific to communities... they should just scrap it, and put the reporters and resources into the Local section."
What is your view on the Neighbors section?
14 comments:
Scrap it and divert the funds to Metro: My favorite section of the Miami Herald (except for letters, I like those too.)
I like Neighbors because it highlights good and bad happenings in my neighborhood. It's great for areas that lack community newspapers to provide local information. After reading Issues and Ideas in Sunday's Herald, I jump immediately to Neighbors to find information about activities and people in my area. So leave my Neighbors alone!
Which neighbors do you read?
reader who likes neighbors,
couldn't you read that in the local section if it were expanded? Or do you enjoy the stories about what's up in schools and nursing homes? Would you like other people in Miami Dade County to know more about happenings in your particular neighborhood?
The Herald should divert its resources to the Metro Section. Too much of the Metro section is lame and/or useless.
And what happens if I want to know more about another area of the City?
If the Metro section is expanded to cover the entire county, it will be as thick as The Reporter. My Neighbors informs me of goverment-related meetings whose outcome might affect my area; contains bio info on candidates running for office in local elections; local shows, etc. that you rarely find in other sections of The Herald. If I need information on another area, I read that particular Neighbors on line.
The information on the Metro section is very limited as most of the important news are covered on the front page. Unless you like to read the obituaries what other relevant information can you include there?
I've made the point before: the Neighbors section periodically covers suburban sprawl issues, and especially, opposition points of view, but only in the sections where the sprawl is occurring.
On the other hand, tax payers county-wide end up paying for the costs of sprawl. One reason that people don't know much about that, is the Herald won't cover it except in the Neighbors section, and there-- mostly in the Letters to the Editor.
It's a way to dodge the issues that affect its advertising revenue, while still claiming the coverage is there.
I read the neighbors section first. It is the best way to find out what my local politicions ? are doing or not doing. Without it I would cancel my subscription.
Neighbors promotes nimbyism...we should know what other neighborhoods are doing.
Mensa, we are not saying the information should not be covered. We are saying what YOUR politicians are doing effect us all. So why shouldn't we know about your city, which is having a crime wave that no one knows about outside your city (according to another writer on my previous blog, that I mentioned).
I don't like Neighbors either. There is nothing worth reading in mine. Just a lot of ads...
We've got 13 Commissioners in 13 different Localities; we only vote for the one in our district.
They vote on appeals from Community Councils and CDMP changes etc. that affect ALL of Dade County. The Neighbors only covers the areas you live in, so I am not getting pertinent data of other districts. Soap Box is a way of venting & should be county wide & even commissioners can read the comments. Also, events are happenening all over the county
that readers would like to know
about. Expand the Neighbors.
.
Absolultey there is pertinent info in Neighbors, especilly the public notices posted by local authorities re upcoming council meetings etc...this should not be done away with, but would be wonderful to have countywide info included. Give us a "real" Metro section - we're all part of Metro. So twice a week we get a big fat metro section - makes sense to me.
I have a love/hate relationship with the Neighbors Section. Love that it tries in vain to cover important going-ons in my immediate area...but HATE the lackluster reporting. No real insightful reporting (just the basic who, what, why, when and how of journalism 101). Absolutely no effort to report a fleshed out story on issues impacting the locals. The few talented reporters assigned to the Neighbors Section are quickly moved into Metro/Local. So I'm for dumping it and redesigning Metro Section to incorporate the puny Neighbors. Sadly, the Miami Herald has become a second rate publication.
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