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In reply to the discussion: NPR is becoming a joke [View all]not fooled
(5,833 posts)I have existed (moving this week, yea!) in an area (SW AZ) lacking any effective media--the local teevee outlet is a joke, the local paper is a hollowed-out private equity-owned husk, and the local NPR station doesn't do investigative stories or cover controversial issues.
Because there is no significant coverage of local government (no reporters at public meetings, no investigations of local matters, no one explaining the consequences of actions taken by local government, such as that they are on a path to wreck the local aquifer with overdevelopment), this dingy, drab armpit of a town (hi, Yuma!) isn't a well-functioning civil society but instead sure looks like a sordid little cesspool of self-dealing run by developers, connected insiders, and outside money. Residents and neighborhoods are treated as sacrificial victims for investors, i.e. your neighborhood will get screwed if some outside interest wants to put in a noxious project nearby. Residents who express concerns are treated with contempt, scorn, and ridicule by local government. "You wouldn't believe what they get up to" is something I heard from a retired county official, referring to local government.
That's the consequence of living in a news desert. I called the local NPR "reporter" a while back and asked why no one was covering local matters such as the family with a big-time developer + his sister county supervisor, + another developer in-law, obvious conflicts of interest between local politicians who also work for developers and vote in their projects, why the county refused to release what should be public records (I was told by a county official that "we have their own policy for disclosure and we don't have to tell you what it is" which per the state office overseeing public disclosure is completely wrong), why no one was explaining to the populace about water policy, etc. He literally didn't see a problem and said he "didn't have time" to cover local government. Worse than useless.
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