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Losing local news coverage.
Tim O"Reilly has heard that the San Francisco Chronicle is in trouble, and Shelley Powers notes the fact that the real problem is that of local news coverage:
Dan doesn't think local news coverage is important, as compared to national and international news. I think, in a way, this is symptomatic of where much of the failure of 'citizen journalism' arises, because if weblogs would be good for anything, it would be local coverage. Especially since local coverage is also the area being cut by so many publications, such as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.[...]
It's the 'quiet' stories we're losing in the rush to get eyeballs. The small stories, the local stories, the stories that explore more than expose; inform rather than titillate. These quiet stories are those that weblogs could capture, but webloggers, excuse me, citizen journalists, see themselves as the next Edward R. Murrow and disdain such small stuff.
My local paper provides absolutely no value for me except for local news, opinion, and events. Everything else comes from wire services and I can get that information from any other paper or online. If the local paper stops covering local news then I will cancel my subscription immediately.
Local news is critically important, and is the reason why most local papers exist. Otherwise we would all just be reading the New York Times.
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