I had a dream the other night that I showed up for the city budget meeting and no one was there to report on it but me, a blogger. No “real media”. Well . . . even tho the budget was over with before 10pm last night, I just watched Channel 3 report that you could testify tonight or tomorrow night on the city budget . . . sigh . . . I guess I should be happy they even noticed the city budget, it was more than others.
I think I had the dream because I saw a copy of this email:
Good Afternoon,
I just wanted to let you know that I’ve arranged for one of our Help Desk staff to be available in CCB 201 for the first portion of each meeting on Nov 5th and 6th in case there are basic PC or laptop needs. In addition, we have upgraded the wireless network in CCB 201 to be more powerful and accommodate heavier usage. Thank you.
Paul Kronberger
Chief Information Officer
City of Madison–Information Technology
I laughed. I was thinking about the days when you had to get to the meeting early to make sure you got a seat in media row with an electrical outlet. When the Isthmus did a live chat with their readers. When Channel 3 had a mobile editor with them to get the story on the air quickly. When bloggers were in question because there was so much other media present.
Sadly, my dream was just a little too real. When I got there last night, Joe Tarr from the Isthmus . . . and WORT was there (oops, I think I said no radio in my live blog, but that wasn’t quite true . . .). Jeff Glaze from the Wisconsin State Journal showed up a little while later. (Here’s his story) Another person was there taking pictures so I presume they were from one of the student papers. Maybe others were lurking at home watching online or on tv? Clearly Channel 3 wasn’t on it.
I did joke with Joe and Jeff. Asked them were the vans were, no one was ready to do live broadcasts from the city-county building? It was really surreal in many ways given the frenzy in the past.
In my dream, I was really annoyed because one by one, various reporters that were there in the past (and are long gone) walked in, handed me their business cards and asked if I could call them and let them know what happened. I told them to add it to the pile. Most looked embarrassed, many commented on the cut backs or about being short staffed, several of the reporters were their own camera people. Others were rushing back to the station to broadcast the news.
I always had a problem with them just relying on me to tell them what happened since, you know, I kinda have a lot of opinions about things and I worried that while I would be honest and tell them the truth as unbiased as I could, I wouldn’t trust a lot of other people to do that. I wondered if they let other people with less scruples do the same, and I began to worry that what I read in the newspaper or on the news was spun by a politician/fill-in reporter. It also annoyed me because, you know, they were getting paid, and I was not.
Well, sadly, I would have welcomed that last night, at least I would have known they were paying attention.
The sad thing is that only one reporter goes to the county board meetings, from Sun Prairie, I think. Sometimes I show up, but if I testify they won’t let me sit in the empty seats where I can plug in my laptop at a desk and reach the audio feed – so then I don’t cover them. Same with the council, but they aren’t as rabid about it. I try to respect their rules – sometimes I don’t intend to testify when I get there, but as the night goes on and people don’t show up, sometimes I do. That apparently annoys some people. Sorry, not intentional.
The concerning thing is where is that check on the politicians? Where are the city hall and county watch dogs? Who is paying attention to the details that matter, and are sometimes inconvenient for the politicians? Who is seeking out the stories they don’t write press releases about? Who is sniffing out the inconsistencies and keeping them honest? Who is educating the public?
In an age where the public won’t show up because they don’t think elected officials even listen to them, most activists consider it a waste of time; the media isn’t there. Who is paying attention?
Maybe no one cares any more? We’d rather see a story about wedding dresses for military veterans or the pet of the week? We’d rather read recycled AP stories and police blotter accounts? What did Lady Gaga and Jay-Z did this week?
I’ve been slacking and not covering as much as I used to, hoping that someone would take up the cause, that hasn’t happened. I was hoping forwardlookout would become a place for people to collaborate and help shine the light, it hasn’t happened to the degree I had hoped. For a while I thought maybe I could get paid and I’d do it right . . . no one has offered me an acceptable paying gig.
And now . . . its worse than ever. As our elected officials seem to care more about the next office they are running for than the issues before them; as they are more likely to complain about public input and the form you choose to give it in instead of looking at the actual issue before them; when they vote on an issue based who they like or don’t like; when the lobbyists are the only ones showing up for the meetings . . . where are we going as a community? Will we spend $47 Million in TIF for another hotel and the politicians will justify it because its sustainable because they will give their guests the option not to have their towels washed and not give their guests water unless they ask for it in their restaurants? Will the public even notice? Will our politicians spend their time wringing their hands over issues like Airbnb while patting themselves on the back for curbside composting and the crumbs they give groups through the Emerging Opportunities program? Does anyone even know what the county board does? Will we spend $120,000,000 on a new jail because no one points out we barely paid for the last one we built just 20 years ago? What about the school board, do we know anything except we have a high poverty rate and racial disparities?
Is this a comment about the media, the politicians or us as citizens? I’m not sure, but one of us better step up!
