Personally, I've tired of most of the media outlets in WNY. They all generally pander to the lowest common denominator, and the status quo. In fact, it's a primary reason I started this blog, to act as a sort of media outlet (Hey! I cover the news sometimes).
Generally speaking, when I want to find out what is going on, I don't bother with WIVB, WGRZ, Buffalo News, etc. I usually head over to WNYMedia, Mike Blake, Artvoice, and the Buffalo Beast (They got a new website, and it's a lot better now) and for global stuff, WikiNews.
All of them are a more democratic form of journalism, something much closer to "The Press" that our founding fathers envisioned. Small, hyper-local rags, producing content much closer to the populace. Not mega-media empires, where all content is the same no matter where you go. Currently, there are 6 media organizations that control 99% of your news, and it's all uniform, throughout the country.
An example of where nation-wide coverage fails, was the housing market crash. It was on the lips of every person in America. Want to know something? It barely brushed against the housing market here. Yes, it had a little effect. Credit was a bit tighter to get, a slight uptick on local foreclosures, and maybe a smallish dip in home values. By and large, people in WNY would hardly have noticed, if not for the nationwide focus of the news, giving the appearance of it affecting us.
Hell, had it not been for the nationwide coverage, home prices most likely wouldn't have dipped here either. It was all psychological, with a touch of trending affecting it. So, for no reason other than news coverage, people here took a small hit on home values.
Then, of course, there's the lack of critical reporting on local issues, such as the credit rating of the cities here, actions by politicians at a local level, etc etc. I don't agree with Blake about half the time, but at least he's doing critical reporting of the happenings in the county and city legislatures.
But, since the Snooze signed it's death certificate, we might as well shift to our local media outlets. And, if you can't find one, make one. It's not much of a money investment, just some time to research, and write your thoughts on it. Or, contribute to your local alt rags, and their writers.
If you are adventurous: Start a local radio station. It's not as hard as it sounds, and can span from extremely easy to quite complicated.
It's just like shopping: Shop local, and money stays local. In this case, it's ideas (And sometimes money) that stay local, and go to work in the local information economy. Heck, Artvoice thinks this might be the very thing that sparks a resurgence of local alt rags.
Generally speaking, when I want to find out what is going on, I don't bother with WIVB, WGRZ, Buffalo News, etc. I usually head over to WNYMedia, Mike Blake, Artvoice, and the Buffalo Beast (They got a new website, and it's a lot better now) and for global stuff, WikiNews.
All of them are a more democratic form of journalism, something much closer to "The Press" that our founding fathers envisioned. Small, hyper-local rags, producing content much closer to the populace. Not mega-media empires, where all content is the same no matter where you go. Currently, there are 6 media organizations that control 99% of your news, and it's all uniform, throughout the country.
An example of where nation-wide coverage fails, was the housing market crash. It was on the lips of every person in America. Want to know something? It barely brushed against the housing market here. Yes, it had a little effect. Credit was a bit tighter to get, a slight uptick on local foreclosures, and maybe a smallish dip in home values. By and large, people in WNY would hardly have noticed, if not for the nationwide focus of the news, giving the appearance of it affecting us.
Hell, had it not been for the nationwide coverage, home prices most likely wouldn't have dipped here either. It was all psychological, with a touch of trending affecting it. So, for no reason other than news coverage, people here took a small hit on home values.
Then, of course, there's the lack of critical reporting on local issues, such as the credit rating of the cities here, actions by politicians at a local level, etc etc. I don't agree with Blake about half the time, but at least he's doing critical reporting of the happenings in the county and city legislatures.
But, since the Snooze signed it's death certificate, we might as well shift to our local media outlets. And, if you can't find one, make one. It's not much of a money investment, just some time to research, and write your thoughts on it. Or, contribute to your local alt rags, and their writers.
If you are adventurous: Start a local radio station. It's not as hard as it sounds, and can span from extremely easy to quite complicated.
It's just like shopping: Shop local, and money stays local. In this case, it's ideas (And sometimes money) that stay local, and go to work in the local information economy. Heck, Artvoice thinks this might be the very thing that sparks a resurgence of local alt rags.
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