Less than a month ago, we had an election where every local district seemed to have a well-organized slate of candidates running against Critical Race Theory, Comprehensive Sex Education, and distance learning to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
As I started learning about this, I kept hoping that I would find that someone was tracking it, and making sense of it and telling people. I wanted to be able to share reporting on it. Eventually there was an article that this election was "weird", and it drew an unusually high level of cash contributions. The only contribution that drew much attention was one from Ben Edtl, but that seemed to die down once it was confirmed that he was not actually a member of the Proud Boys; he just spoke at a pro-Trump rally with a Proud Boy.
The only person I saw covering that a Trump booster was going around to different states teaching people how to win elections was me, an obscure blogger. As I talked to people via phone calls and direct messaging, it's like I was being my own reporter.
I don't have enough of an audience for something that important, let alone the training and resources.
It is interesting writing this when the Pulitzer committee has given a special citation to Darnella Frazier for her video recording of George Floyd's death at the hands of Derek Chauvin. The initial report filed by the police officers showed that it could easily have been swept under the rug, despite the presence of many witnesses. Because one witness had filmed proof, Chauvin was convicted, but even such strong evidence did not make the case a slam dunk.
That was a traumatic experience for Frazier, and I am not sure how much good the citation will do her. In this case one cannot fault there not happening to be a reporter at the scene. However, are there other places where the press should have been? Were there patterns that should have been investigated? What is being missed that needs to be known?
In addition, how often do we see that what does get covered has misleading headlines, or false equivalencies, or other shortcomings?
There are multiple factors that have contributed to us getting here.
First of all, local coverage definitely started going downhill when layoffs at The Oregonian started in 2009, and ownership and leadership changed, looking for ways to cut corners. Not all papers managed the transition to an online world well, and businesses need to survive, but putting profits over people is not going to result in better quality.
Before that, when The Oregonian did miss stories, it was almost always on issues with the sex lives of local politicians. Local reporters and editors may have had overly cozy relationships with the politicans, though I am sure some of that was also normal power dynamics.
That may not be that different from The New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman (and many of her colleagues) giving soft treatment to Donald Trump. One could argue that they did not want to risk losing their access, but so much of reporting on Trump didn't really require special access to someone who blared everything so loudly.
Here's another thing about that: Haberman is well connected. Her father was a long-time journalist for The New York Times and her mother was in media communications and her clients included Donald Trump. There were some short cuts to her access, regardless of her individual merits.
And, because of those relationships, she might be more naturally sympathetic to Trump.
I want to add to that knowledge the understanding of how difficult it is to break into news. Theoretically free internships have been done away with, but until internships pay a living wage for the area they are in (and New York is super expensive), it simply becomes a practical matter that aspiring journalists with family resources or supportive connections are going to have an easier time getting their foot in the door. That cements a privileged point of view in the press corps.
There is more awareness of police brutality now because it has been caught on video so frequently, but stories of it go back decades. If there were more Black reporters, could that story have been picked up sooner? Even now with proof there are still people denying it, because racism is powerful and denial is strong, but how much further along could we be if we listened to people more directly connected.
As it was, now when Asian Americans have been the target of violent attacks, Asian-American reporters are not being allowed to report, especially with the Atlanta shooting. In many cases they had languages and contacts that would have improved their access, but they were considered to be to biased
The status quo has its own bias.
One thing I really appreciated reading Audre Lorde recently is that when she talked about representation, she included not just race, gender, and sexuality, but also income level. If you are not including poor women, you don't know the obstacles they face.
For a reporter who is white and better off financially, people who are aggressively against sex education might seem interesting as an oddity. For transgender students at the school, where a lot of the agenda is about not affirming their identity, it becomes a matter of whether or not school is a safe place to learn.
We need not just a free press, but one that serves the needs of all people, not just those in power.
There are questions about the original source of the quote, but there is still this idea that the role of the press is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2019/02/01/comfort/
That purpose is not being filled.
I do not have an answer for that. Certainly, if you are paying for a paper that is failing in that regard -- that no matter how many people try and move forward, they just keep interviewing more Trump voters -- you can cancel that subscription, and transfer those funds to someone better. A better source can be hard to find.
If you come across something that is a concern, then maybe you should start filming, or asking questions, and try and find ways to pass that news on. Remember that for Portland local news, there are two Fox affiliates and one Sinclair affiliate. (But it used to be three Fox affiliates, so progress!)
Even if we don't have the answers yet, we need to be asking the questions.
Related reading:
The View From Flyover Country: Essays by Sarah Kendzior, Sarah Kendzior, Flatiron Books, 2018.
Culture Crash: The Killing of the Creative Class by Scott Timberg, Yale University Press, 2015.
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches, Audre Lorde, Crossing Press, 1984.
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