In all seriousness, it’s really interesting to me that Watch Duty, a nonprofit app, gave me way more local news about what was happening with the fires and whether I should evacuate than any local media.
Your comparison to the change in the pension system is apt. What can we do about it?
I’ve tried to follow journalists I respect into other platforms (eg Substack, and far in the past, Twitter) but social media is like navigating a boat made of cardboard through a snake infested swamp now. I keep up with traditional media but scream at skewed headlines and PR pieces.
Grateful for the journalists trying to keep their souls together in this.
That sentence about the pension system is spot on. I’m old enough to remember when the 401k thing kicked off. I remember thinking at the time, that this is probably not going to end well for a lot of folks.
Well written - local news matters - local reporters matter - I am tired of reading that the "business model is broken". It can be fixed but will not be fixed by private equity or people that want to strip assets and make tens of millions of dollars.
I am a founder of a nonprofit, local, digital newspaper. Nonprofit (small) or small (independent) for profit is where it’s headed it seems. Hard to make other models work.
I think that's right. I am frozen by the tasks involved. Separate from the actual news business - How do you raise money, how much capital do you need, where do you find it? It all seems incredibly daunting.
How do you fix it? If people don’t subscribe to digital and complain about paywalls and advertisers go to social media platforms? Is it a legacy media failure or a public failure whose attention is distracted by Tik Toks.
I generally agree tho I have to say I watched KABC (online) from morning to night on Wednesday and they did a great job with reporters in the field, two choppers and in studio anchors. Day to day I NEVER watch local news because it’s so insipid. But that team rose to the challenge in this crisis. Bravo.
Yeah, is the one thing I didn't touch on (because I'm a cord-cutting millennial and don't own a TV or radio in my home) -- the broadcast work I have caught has been excellent, as has the Watch Duty app, which has been the breakout star of the disaster on the data side.
This was a great article. I'm also wondering frequently to myself where, and how we go from here. I'm hopeful for the completion and implementation of more node-type interfaces like bluesky, mastodon, and threads; but only up to a point. it still seems off the mark somehow, not in a way I can put words to yet.
This is not good "news." This seems to be an almost unprecedented catastrophe, yet a huge swath of the country's population is hardly noticing. The news feeds we all weed through on our phones are continuous and nothing more than quick sound bites. We are in fast mode and time is a blur. The days of the daily paper in the driveway and the 6:30 news for all are about done. We all lose in this race to nowhere.
It’s a people problem. So many people complain about paywalls. And then say media has let them down because they can’t access content for free and do not support reporters by paying for a subscription. And then it’s easy to blame “big media” or “legacy media”. You get what you pay for. Which is garbage.
In all seriousness, it’s really interesting to me that Watch Duty, a nonprofit app, gave me way more local news about what was happening with the fires and whether I should evacuate than any local media.
Your comparison to the change in the pension system is apt. What can we do about it?
I’ve tried to follow journalists I respect into other platforms (eg Substack, and far in the past, Twitter) but social media is like navigating a boat made of cardboard through a snake infested swamp now. I keep up with traditional media but scream at skewed headlines and PR pieces.
Grateful for the journalists trying to keep their souls together in this.
That sentence about the pension system is spot on. I’m old enough to remember when the 401k thing kicked off. I remember thinking at the time, that this is probably not going to end well for a lot of folks.
For now help build up Bluesky and support your (hyper)local news source if there is one. And continue to follow trusted journalists if you can.
This hasn’t launched yet, but is coming soon. https://www.localnewsforla.org/
great reflections- "Today, whether you get fire news is something you have to proactively seek and even weed out for."
Well written - local news matters - local reporters matter - I am tired of reading that the "business model is broken". It can be fixed but will not be fixed by private equity or people that want to strip assets and make tens of millions of dollars.
I am a founder of a nonprofit, local, digital newspaper. Nonprofit (small) or small (independent) for profit is where it’s headed it seems. Hard to make other models work.
I think that's right. I am frozen by the tasks involved. Separate from the actual news business - How do you raise money, how much capital do you need, where do you find it? It all seems incredibly daunting.
How do you fix it? If people don’t subscribe to digital and complain about paywalls and advertisers go to social media platforms? Is it a legacy media failure or a public failure whose attention is distracted by Tik Toks.
News daddy always leaves us with hope
I generally agree tho I have to say I watched KABC (online) from morning to night on Wednesday and they did a great job with reporters in the field, two choppers and in studio anchors. Day to day I NEVER watch local news because it’s so insipid. But that team rose to the challenge in this crisis. Bravo.
Yeah, is the one thing I didn't touch on (because I'm a cord-cutting millennial and don't own a TV or radio in my home) -- the broadcast work I have caught has been excellent, as has the Watch Duty app, which has been the breakout star of the disaster on the data side.
Well this is is working so well maybe we should privatize the police and fire depts, just pay a subscription fee for service.
Don't think the repubs wouldn't love this....
This was a great article. I'm also wondering frequently to myself where, and how we go from here. I'm hopeful for the completion and implementation of more node-type interfaces like bluesky, mastodon, and threads; but only up to a point. it still seems off the mark somehow, not in a way I can put words to yet.
This is not good "news." This seems to be an almost unprecedented catastrophe, yet a huge swath of the country's population is hardly noticing. The news feeds we all weed through on our phones are continuous and nothing more than quick sound bites. We are in fast mode and time is a blur. The days of the daily paper in the driveway and the 6:30 news for all are about done. We all lose in this race to nowhere.
It’s a people problem. So many people complain about paywalls. And then say media has let them down because they can’t access content for free and do not support reporters by paying for a subscription. And then it’s easy to blame “big media” or “legacy media”. You get what you pay for. Which is garbage.
I’m a former journalist as well; Miss that profession almost daily.
You're forgetting about LAist.com
Frequently updated blogs at legacy sites are helpful and I've not seen enough of them here.