This letter to the editor appeared in this week’s Newton TAB..
Dear Newton Tab Editors and decision makers,
I was very disappointed to see this week’s edition of the Newton Tab almost completely devoid of any local news, except for a piece from the Mayor’s office. There was not one article on what is before the City Council, nothing about the School Committee, no meeting coverage, and no Letters to the Editor – my favorite part of the paper.
Did you know that the Council voted to approve a marijuana moratorium with an exemption for Garden Remedies? That our local union joined the Teamsters? That the Mayor is requesting $500,000 to develop a plan for the Washington Street Corridor that addresses land use, economic development, transportation, and zoning?
Instead of covering the important events and the business of the City you editorialize on “Sunshine Week” written by a bunch of out of towners. If you wanted to opine on Sunshine Week, certainly a worthy pursuit, then make it a special insert, not usurp all our local news! Please get your priorities straight and do a better job getting the public informed on the “facts” including “how government makes its decisions and how it functions”.
Kind regards,
Alison M. Leary
Newton City Council
Ward 1
Agree whole heartedly! While we’re talking about getting people up to speed on how local government works, lets petition the schools to reinstitute CIVICS/GOVERNMENT in all the schools. We have just had a drive to get students registered to vote, but, except for a very few students at NSHS, none of these young adults have been taught, in a non partisan way, how the US government works. Lets go school Committee, do your job.
If I’m not mistaken the TAB has not covered a single city council or school committee meeting since Andy Levin left the paper at least one month ago.
We have a record number of new councilors and school committee members this year as well as a new council president, new committee chairs, etc. But the public has no idea what their priorities, views, voting and even attendance records are.
It seems as though locals papers are a business model that’s close to dead. I admit I am no expert in this area, but folks seem to be upset that the Tab can’t or won’t be what it once was. Is this a product of poor management structure, or the inability to afford to sustain effective management in the first place? It may be tough for us all to accept, but local news as we know it will continue to deteriorate as long as the money generated is less than the cost to effectively operate it. I do see value in pushing the Tab to try their best to cover everything we want them to while they’re on their way out, but the real question is how do we support the next generation of local news? I believe there’s enough interest out there for local news to sustain a low overhead business model, but I don’t think that interest will be enough to create a pay to play experience via user fees. However, I do believe that a web-based system with free content, but sneaky good advertising, would be self sustaining. I don’t know if it would yield enough cash flow for a local reporter and editor, but I do think it could support a local reporter and editor in one.(If there is such a thing?)
I think the reason this strikes a nerve with so many people, is that it is hard to watch a good friend pass. Papers had a good run, but the curtain call comes for us all at some point.
Unfortunate to see the quality of the TAB tanking, but this is the gotcha with “free” content. If we’re not paying for it that just means we’re the product rather than the customer. From New Media Investment’s (Gatehouse’s parent company) about us page:
“85% of our daily newspapers have been published for more than 100 years and 100% have been published for more than 50 years. Our strategy is to acquire and operate traditional local media businesses and transform them from print-centric operations to dynamic multi-media operations, through our existing online advertising and digital marketing businesses.”
http://www.newmediainv.com/about-us/
Only going to get worse.
It’s not immediately clear, but Allison is referencing the lack of content in the 3/14 paper. I agree it was light in content, but I couldn’t help scratch my head at the “From the Mayor’s Office “article” on Preserving Webster Woods. Is it really necessary to convene an Advisory Panel of FOURTEEN to make recommendations on options for the protection of the woods. What the city needs to do is just buy it and leave it alone!!
It’s time to get over it: the Tab as a source of local news is gone for good, so let’s just move on and figure out how residents can find out what’s going on in city hall in the future. I just signed up for the city council newsletter, and currently receive the school committee newsletter. My hope is that these newsletters include an explanation of proposed ordinances and actions: what problem does a proposed ordinance address?
I don’t need to know all the pros and cons, but this parking ordinance is the perfect example of what happens when city hall works without input from residents. There must have been some reason for proposing a parking ordinance that seems to make no sense to anyone other than city councilors and has the potential to making life more difficult for senior citizens, people with minor disabilities or small children to tote around, etc. As an informed citizen, I want to know why this and other items are being proposed in Newton and what problem they are intended to solve.
In the very short period of time that the Tab has for all intents and purposes ceased to be a source of local news, the following items have been addressed in city hall:
-A unanimous council vote on a highly controversial item (the marijuana moratorium). While I oppose the moratorium, I was more disturbed that the vote on an item with strong opinions on both sides was unanimous than on the actual item. It speaks to a lack of public input.
-A proposed ordinance that changes parking regulations to be taken up by the full council in two days without an explanation of the problem it’s trying to solve.
-A request for $500,000 in a no-bid process to one company to deal with changes to Washington St. I don’t know enough about this one, but I’d like a complete explanation and the pros and cons of taking such a step. I’m sure it can be found somewhere but in this news vacuum we suddenly find ourselves in, I don’t know where to find it.
One of my concerns is that citizen email lists of like-minded individuals will gain too much influence over the direction of the city. I’m not on any of those lists (and was removed from one because my thinking wasn’t “pure” enough) and most residents aren’t. I don’t have the answers, but more robust communication from one official source seems like a good beginning.
The Tab’s local coverage is indeed getting thinner, but the total hijacking seems to have been a one-time thing.
Thank you Alison. Absolutely agree. I think this means we will be seeing many more unopened TAB newspapers piling up and littering front stoops and sidewalks.
Thanks for writing this Alison. It’s an important message.
This was not a one-time hijack though. The TAB is no longer a vehicle for reporting news or holding elected officials accountable. Maybe it will be again but I doubt it. Gatehouse has is not interested in producing high-, or even mediocre-, quality journalism. The company’s business model is focused on producing low-cost newspapers. Never the twain shall meet…
However, I hope people aren’t dismissive of Sunshine Law coverage. If done correctly, the TAB could have informed readers about City Hall employees familiarity (or lack thereof) with Public Records Law. Consider it another missed opportunity.
If you do a little research, you’ll learn it’s not just the Newton Tab…. In fact, Gateway Publishing has reduced the overall number of editors and fact is that Andy was handling work from several other neighborhoods while he was running the Newton paper. Would Newton residents be willing to pay for subscriptions? I think, Alison, you can’t demand more from a newspaper while you’re also benefiting from a free subscription AND free weekly at-your-door delivery! If you want to figure out a business model that will help them meet all their expenses (staff, paper, delivery, etc.) turn a profit, after all, they are not a charitable organization, I’m sure they’d be happy to hear your suggestions.
Sunshine Law coverage=good. No local coverage=bad. Thanks for the letter Alison Leary. If the Tab forgoes coverage of all local news then the Sunshine Law will have no bearing on the Tab.
@Jane Frantz – You are certainly right that Gatehouse’s issues are much bigger than Newton but I don’t think it’s up to Councilor Leary to come up with a workable business model for them. I think her point is that so long as they’re struggling to stay in the local newspaper business they’d be best to deploy their ever-shrinking resources on local news or else it’s direct to the recycling bin for all those newspapers – i.e. making a bad situation for Gatehouse even worse