Local Journalism is Dead

And like The Academy, they congratulate themselves

In January of 2022, before I was writing this Substack, I discovered that the previous mayor of White House had moved to Florida. I emailed the city and asked for his new address after being told that his property had not only been sold to a developer, but the house was demolished. The response from the city was to give me his current address. After a quick property search, I learned that the property was owned by his boss. When I pushed for a lease agreement or utility bill, I was told I needed to submit a “formal” records request. I did. I got the same response, his boss’s address. Since I don’t live in the city limits, another resident had to pursue the issue. It was pursued, and Mayor Arnold agreed to step down at the end of 2022.

As far as I was concerned, it was a story. I reached out to News 4 & 5. Nada. I called the Robertson County Connection, specifically Tyler Graves. Over the phone, I laid out the entire story. He had moved to Florida. He vacated position and moved to Florida and told the people of the city he was living at his boss’s house. Graves seemed interested, and then he wrote the story. Here’s a link to the lovely little piece he wrote about a mayor that said yes to every SRPUD out there and then sold his property to a developer and moved to Florida.

He “oversaw a significant period of growth for the city,” is a gross understatement of what was actually done. (Arnold approved explosive growth and bailed) But, I digress.

After Graves wrote this glowing piece about a mayor that vacated his position and didn’t think he would get caught, I sent him an email.

My original email is on the bottom, his response is on the top. WTH??? Graves just won an award for his story on the resignation of the Millersville police chief. Makes a person wonder why they wouldn’t pursue a story with the previous mayor. As a journalist, how was the explosive growth, a mayor who received campaign donations from a developer, and then sold to a developer, and then moved, not a story????? According to his editors, it just wasn’t. They were NOT going to pursue it. If they were, they would have looked into him years ago and White House might not be in the same trouble we are in now.

So, how did this bee get in my bonnet today?

The Academy gives awards to themselves for crappy movies that no one watches. Apparently the TPA gives awards to writers that write fluff and the “occasional” serious piece. We the people want to know what is going on at the local level. We want the TRUTH!!! We want to know what is happening in our planning meetings and our school board meetings, and our city meetings. They bring us stories about who made the USA National Miss. Stories about growing up in a small town (that is disappearing) and about the annual city addresses. The addresses, yes, the fluff, how about less?

Which brings me to this lovely article today.

Tax credits for local papers. You read that right. Tax credits for the papers that cover fluff and “retirements.” Thank you congress for spending our money on the very people that let you get away with spending our money on CRAP.

Here was my response to Graves after the fluff piece on Michael Arnold. I stand by what I said and I would say it again. It’s the reason I now have this Substack.

I’ll leave you with that.