[Kzyxtalk] Budgets & news

[Mitch Clogg]

Tim & Rick, this is thin gruel you're offering. You say that only Annie 
Esposito could give an hour's worth of news five times a week because 
nothing much happens "out here in Ruralland".

Nonsense! How many police departments are there in Mendocino County? How 
many fire departments, government agencies, schools, businesses? All are 
under-reported here. How many accomplished people live here? What are 
they up to? What is the condition of the mill site in Ft. Bragg, the 
Masonite in Ukiah? What's their status?

I have watched the shrinkage, nearly to invisibility, of our fishing 
industry and our timber industry. Our pot industry is facing a similar 
downheaval. What's the county's reaction to this among its citizens, in 
its halls of government? What the hell happens in Gualala, almost a 
breakaway community, for all you ever hear of it, almost a place that 
isn't there? Is the Coast Hospital solvent or insolvent? Will coast kids 
who want to go to a junior college be able to, without dangerous, 
hours-long commutes? Is the Navy resuming the violent killing and 
maiming of the life of the ocean biosphere here? Is the wine industry an 
asset or a liability? How much of its money flows through the county's 
veins?

This could go on and on. What's the matter with you people? This is a 
unique place, with unique people. It's a subject-rich environment and a 
social test tube. It has been for a long, long time, in ways that were 
and are sometimes extreme and sometimes daring and innovative.

How about KZYX? Is it a nest of autocrats, visionaries, snakes? Where's 
the open forum, the ONGOING open forum? How shuttered are your minds?

Mitch Clogg
Mendocino




On 2/21/2014 5:01 PM, Tim Bray wrote:
> Rick, you're absolutely correct about the difficulty of filling 
> Annie's shoes.  It took two full-time news people to make it work 
> after she retired.  Annie was a superstar.
>
> Brooksher voiced his frustration at the difficulty of filling a 
> half-hour with local news when he was here.  It's not an easy job, and 
> it is made more difficult by the fractious nature of our community.
>
> Money really is the root of the problem though; it's extremely 
> difficult to attract and retain someone with the expertise and talent 
> to fill a half-hour, much less a full hour, 5 days a week, with 
> non-partisan local news.
>
> Cheers,
> Tim Bray
> Albion
>
> On 2/20/2014 9:48 PM, Rick wrote:
>> I think the reason that KZYX can't sustain a 50-minute local news 
>> program is simple: Not that much actually happens out here in 
>> Ruralland. Only Annie Esposito could make a 50 minute news program 
>> work and sadly Annie, as we all know, has retired. (Come back Annie! 
>> Come back!). Sadly, nobody has been able to fill Annie's shoes and 
>> those were some big shoes to fill. But maybe the new news guys could 
>> take a page or two out of Annie's program and emphasize local human 
>> interest stories and the connectedness that makes Mendocino unique.
>>
>> Tim, there are days out here in Ruralland where nothing, and I mean 
>> nothing happens and that is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. 
>> Because the squirrel that has been raiding my birdfeeder gets run 
>> over doesn't mean that this is news. The current program of "if it 
>> bleeds, it leads" is interesting I suppose but not really 
>> sustainable. Just taking police reports and reading them over the air 
>> isn't really journalism in the Mendocino spirit if you ask me. Maybe 
>> the story behind the story might help fill the minutes. Hmmmmm.....
>>
>> For instance, there was a recent story about a man being eaten by his 
>> dogs beside the road. Yuck. But definitely news. However, isn't there 
>> maybe a less sensational story behind the story? Like about poverty 
>> and vicious dogs maybe? Or maybe about how this could happen in a 
>> civilized country like America, or maybe who the man was, or.... You 
>> know, like journalism and an actual story that would interest people. 
>> This would fill the minutes. Of course this would take time, 
>> investigation, writing and would cost money. But maybe it is more 
>> about journalism than it is about money?
>>
>> Rick
>> Little River
>>
>

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