JONESIE: The importance of local news? Please

OPINION “Write something about the importance of local news or something.” That was the suggestion from Kelowna city councillor Mohini Singh as part of a campaign with fellow councillor Rick Webber to keep the axe from falling on Global Okanagan, where they both once worked. She wants to keep the campaign in the news because there’s a decent chance this might all come together, perhaps turning to employee-ownership and restoring the tradition that CHBC was known for since Webber was in short pants. I hope they succeed. Global isn’t always first with a story, but they prove why that’s never the best metric. You can trust them when they do report it. They raise standards of even the most popular of local news competitors and that's important. They’re also the only news outlet from Penticton to Kamloops that didn’t treat us like lepers for the last 12 years. We’ve cooperated from Day One on news and scoops and photos. Some of the best people in the industry work there. It’ll be a shame to lose them. But write about the importance of local news? This subject is sprayed like graffiti on the hallways of my mind; I can’t go anywhere without reminders. Every column I write veers down those halls before I come to my senses and delete them. Because no one wants to hear it. And because there’s very little evidence anyone thinks it is important. No one thought it was important in Kamloops when the Daily News went down in 2014. The hubbub over the closure of Kamloops This Week last year died down pretty quickly. I didn’t see anyone panic when Black Press, publishers of the Kelowna Capital News, Penticton Western, Vernon Morning Star, Salmon Arm Observer and many other local titles went into bankruptcy. No one is alarmed by the state of the hollowed-out Kelowna Daily Courier or the Penticton Herald with rented staff and one reporter left between the two daily newspapers. Old business models and mediums, perhaps? Sure, but the new guys aren't doing so hot either. This website, iNFOnews.ca, and Kelowna Now have both had their collective hair on fire since Facebook blocked news from your newsfeed and cut off our traffic. Which leaves the 800-pound gorilla in the browser — Castanet, big enough to negate this entire column and as much a reason for the last three paragraphs as any. Singh and Webber need only look to the City of Kelowna itself for proof. Local news isn’t important to the city, they’re glad to be rid of it. They now employ 15 full-time permanent employees in the communications department to push out their biased messages. The city also steals stories from all its local news outlets. They have one person clip all stories mentioning the city, then put them in one email to share among staff. No clicks, no ads, no newsletter, ie — none of the things that pay our bills. That’s a minor but annoying quibble and it’s a service many companies and governments use (some at least pay for it) but it illustrates my point about the city’s priorities and our struggles. Last year, Singh and Webber’s city spent zero dollars advertising in local media. But it did spend $30,316 on Facebook and another $8,413 on YouTube ads. (That’s quite unlike Vernon, Penticton and Kamloops, which spent no money on social media but supported at least some local media, each spending in the tens of thousands of dollars.) If you want to convince someone about the importance of local news, start there. My words won’t make a difference. But it’s not about Global or Kamloops This Week or even about iNFOnews. Accountability is what’s at stake. As a journalist and an informed citizen, I know we are better served by a dynamic and competitive local news scene. It makes our governments better, our decisions better, our communities better. Democracy requires it. We already see local governments basking in the freedom a hobbled press provides. They refuse to answer questions so they can aim their crap-o-matic media machines directly at residents, like in Rose Valley, where the City of West Kelowna lectured taxpayers for complaining about brown water from a new $75 million water treatment plant staining their clothes. "IT'S AESTHETIC DISCOLOURATION!" Somewhere between terrible business models and unscrupulous owners, old titles lost public support. And our complete failure, despite all our words and pictures, to explain to readers what we do, what a journalist is, what it isn’t, how we do our work and how to properly consume it has failed to shield us from the backlash. So to my friends at Global Okanagan, we are all hoping for you. I know what your loss would mean, even if no one else does. I’d be delighted to see a rescue coming, because it would mean I am wrong and people do see the importance of accountability. I’d throw you a life preserver, but ours is occupied at the moment. — Marshall Jones is the Managing Editor of iNFOnews.ca We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor. mailto:news@infonews.ca