Saturday, October 17, 2015

FB Post by Steve Malagodi: Guest Blog

Here's a little snippet from an email that came in from a pissed-off friend.

"This is the second day the Climate March article is not in the print version of the Herald. We need calls to find out when it will be in and letters if it's not. Herald main: 305-376-2111. Follow prompts to newsroom."

What this person is angry about is that after an unprecedented coalition of over 50+ local community organizations from three counties come together and deliver 1000+ people to the streets of Miami at 5pm on a Wednesday afternoon to demand action and responsibility from local governments and industry (including media) on the crisis of climate change and sea level rise in South Florida, the #MiamiHerald throws up an inaccurate and superficial story on its web site and doesn't bother to put it in the print edition.

Go ahead and call the newsroom, but it's the editors and the editorial board that's the problem. That's always been the problem. I used to make a joke among my artist friends who would complain about the local arts coverage. The joke was "Listen, they cover the arts community better than they cover the Black community." Still true today.

Without competition, the Herald need only be concerned with managing the information affairs of its government and industry partners, and thus need only be concerned with content as a method of social management, not social change or benefit.

That's why they're irrelevant. That's why they're going broke.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

In 2013, the county's library was threatened with closing 22 of 49 locations. Even though the library system was created by neighborhoods binding together over decades, with investments of millions of tax dollars and serves millions of residents, the county mayor felt an attack on this institution, would not create a ripple of concern.

During the crisis, the MIami Herald's editorial board agreed. Their editorials linked the internet to the demise of the public library disregarding any educational programs, community involvement, or dealing with access to life long learning materials. Until there was a sit-down with key library advocate leaders, the newpaper paralleled the Mayor's "it is what it is" stance.

I can clearly see the papers disconnect with our community and know that they are determined to take sides. Thus they are irrelevant.