In the past six months, the newsroom staff at The Chronicle broke two key stories that directly impact the quality of life of people living in our circulation area — and involve the responsible spending of our taxpayer dollars.
We have a series of libraries under the same umbrella, and the executive director was going to close several of them, specifically those in our rural communities. She told the staff to keep it hush-hush. We got wind, brought transparency into the process and those libraries are still open.
Then, the agency leading our transit bus system also went sideways, warning of erroneous impacts if a taxing measure did not pass and publishing such incorrect information in an “informational glossy flier,” that was deemed campaign material. The problem is there was no indication on the flyer where the information was coming from, or who was paying for it. The state Public Disclosure Commission is now investigating the matter.
Reporter Will Rubin didn’t stop digging. Employees of the agency started talking. They eventually put pen to paper and sent out letters claiming the executive director was failing. The director was ordered to stay away from the transit headquarters and an investigation began (he broke that directive last Saturday when he went to the office, much to the horror of some employees working over the weekend).
Our reporter didn’t stop his examinations. He discovered the director had been found guilty of embezzlement with a felony conviction. The director failed to disclose this on his job application form. This past week he resigned.
Without The Chronicle, vital community libraries could have closed their doors and the continuance of poor leadership at the transit agency would have continued unchecked.
What do these examples show? What we do really does matter.
Local, independent news is critical to a highly functioning society. Our work makes our communities more efficient and professional and assists our governments in spending our dollars wisely.
A study that came out this summer laments the loss of journalism efforts due to staff cuts at papers across the land, and unfortunately, newspaper closures.
Josh Stearns, the program director of the Public Square Program at the Democracy Fund, is described as a journalist, community builder and civic strategist. He has worked as the director of journalism for the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and press freedom director at Free Press.
In “How We Know Journalism Is Good For Democracy,” he wrote at least 900 communities in the United States have “profound erosion in their access to local news” since 2004. The term “news deserts” is now part of the lexicon in journalism circles in America.
Stearns believes a healthy democracy needs quality journalism, and he backs up his words with several studies.
He cites examples that conclude civic engagement drops when newspapers close. Political knowledge, voting numbers and the number of people running for office fall away.
Testimony to the Federal Trade Commission based on a study in 2009 stated those that read a newspaper can influence non-voters to vote by a 13 percent increase.
It is simple to understand. A lack of newspaper coverage leads to voters less informed and less interested, making them less likely to vote.
Another study found for every dollar spent on supporting local news, the community benefits. Examples include information sheds the light on corruption via taxpayer supported agencies and government officials. Sometimes it’s not corruption, but simply poor leadership and processes.
Another study states, “Congressmen who are less covered by the local press work less for their constituencies,” and that “federal spending is lower in areas where there is less press coverage of the local members of Congress.”
A separate study states “each dollar spent on stories can generate hundreds of dollars in benefits to society.”
A review of municipal bond data in the years following a newspaper shuttering its doors shows higher government costs due to the lack of the watchdog work of journalists. The review states cities lacking newspaper oversight have higher long-term borrowing costs which goes directly to citizens’ wallets and/or diminished services.
More press means more oversight on the bureaucrats and politicians running our cities, counties, states and the federal government.
Pamela Camps is the economics professor at the Stockholm School of Economics. She reports that polluters that are covered by journalist emit 29 percent less in emissions contrasted to businesses that don’t have a vibrant press covering their moves.
What we do matters. These are trying times with attacks on us over “fake news” in an industry struggling to maintain profits.
I remind our great community we do help build stronger communities — and we do need your support to continue in our role as The Fourth Estate.
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Michael Wagar is president of Lafromboise Communications, Inc., and publisher of The Chronicle.
