By Mike Paterson
President/general manager
Mid-West Family Broadcasting
The other day I saw a picture of a small business owner wearing a T-shirt that simply said “LOCAL” on the front. It was in all caps in white letters. The word was printed on a faded red T-shirt.
I’m not sure where I saw the picture. I’m not sure what publication or social media site posted the picture. I’m not sure what business the woman worked at or owned.
I am sure the idea of the T-shirt was to look trendy. Maybe it was to look hip. Maybe it was a unique selling position for whatever business it was. Maybe it was that woman’s motto – like “Hey everybody, I’m LOCAL.”
Was she local in her professional life? Was her business local? Was she local in her personal life?
On second thought, maybe I don’t want to know about the personal life.
I’m still not sure what the T-shirt was for, but it got me thinking a lot about local media.
It really got me thinking about why local media matters, especially in a world where so much of the information we get each hour comes from national sources like Facebook, ESPN, Google, Apple and others.
Related: Why did we start the Rock River Current? Here’s our mission
And when thinking like that about local media, and our own RockRiverCurrent.com, I began to realize that all of these services rely on the local media to gather the information to shovel to you through your social media feed, your iPhone alerts and other distribution methods.
Without local sourcing of this information, your alerts would be all celebrity or national political news because the Chicago Bears, and especially the Jacksonville Jaguars, are a local story after all.
That’s why LOCAL media matters. Because without local media digging into facts and having conversations with influencers, the information put into the world would be opinions and observations from men and women on the streets, not necessarily trained or experienced in the nuances of tax increment finance districts, voting records of elected school board officials, or the permitting of construction sites.
And here are some of the reasons why local media, beyond the car crashes, shootings and court cases that are sensational and generate pageviews, matters:
1. When was the last time Google, Facebook or Apple showed up at a local business association meeting or sponsored a nonprofit’s gala? I’m waiting. Local media members participate and contribute expertise in these organizations through their employer, whether that employer is headquartered in Dallas, Atlanta, Connecticut, or on Sandy Hollow Road. Google and Facebook will take our small businesses’ money for advertising and conversions, but will they run free advertising to support awareness for hospice care like our group did for Northern Illinois Hospice in November? Local matters as we can show compassion to our local community when it matters most, AND our colleagues will participate to better the community we call home.
2. LOCAL matters when it comes to reporting. Sure, everyone wants to know about the three crashes on Alpine Road during the first snowfall of the year, but the real reporting happens when trained journalists dig into property records, tax rolls and building permits to help our citizens better understand what’s happening to propel our area forward and innovate for a better tomorrow. Without this tedious work, real stories about economic development and pending business opportunities wouldn’t happen. Stores would open and the community would say, “Hmm, I didn’t know that was being built there!”
3. NBC News and Lester Holt reported on the COVID situation at UW Health SwedishAmerican Hospital on Dec. 10 in their Nightly News. However, trained and experienced LOCAL writers will tell the story of why it’s happening – health disparities in the neighborhoods surrounding the hospital, the compassion of the hospital to make sure it cares for all patients, and fear plus mistrust of the COVID vaccine by residents in the immediate area surrounding the hospital. A producer from NBC isn’t going to dig into that story.
4. LOCAL media matters when it comes to propelling the community into an innovative future. LOCAL media needs to be critical and fair, but not a 100% positive cheerleader. LOCAL media tells all sides of the story, not just one point of view. LOCAL media, when it becomes a cheerleader for a community, means that the community is on death’s door and the good times have passed it by. LOCAL media needs to highlight stories in the community, positive and negative, to make sure that there is a foundation for a dialogue to create a sense of place and a genuine, authentic, accountable community for businesses and people to make a home, not just further an individual or group’s agenda. LOCAL media needs to highlight how and who is making a profit off of investments, whether those are private or public-funded with tax dollars.
LOCAL media needs to be critical of elected officials when they’re grandstanding for votes instead of doing what’s best for all the citizens. In an era where individuals can create their own media with the click of a button, LOCAL media needs to further the dialogue with all elected officials, good and bad, to make a community the best-place possible for living and growing.
Lastly, what makes LOCAL media important is that it creates a sense of place and placemaking. In a world where music can be found on Spotify, video is found on Roku, and news can be found in 25 different places, LOCAL media creates a sense of place and tells a story.
That story can be good.
That story can be bad.
Yet LOCAL media tells that story every day to an audience that needs to hear it, as LOCAL media works hand-in-hand with the citizens to place make a community that defies borders. Without LOCAL media curating interesting news for the community, the world of media and information becomes one big algorithm and not reflective of the people that make up the community.
While media is often a bad word in too many individual worlds today, LOCAL media helps a community grow, prosper and be held accountable for its actions. Without LOCAL media, we face a future devoid of the checks and balances necessary for a functioning community.
As we’ve established why LOCAL media matters, how can you support local media organizations? If you’re an individual, tune in and pay attention. Tell a friend about great local information found via a local media organization. Share those local stories on your social media feeds. If you’re a local business, work with a local media organization for your advertising and marketing. Almost all local media can provide access to the national platforms with an expertise to help your local businesses grow with an efficiency and focus on your top (and bottom) lines. If you’re an elected or appointed official, participate with your local media and share all the information – good and bad. Lastly, if you’re any of the above, please don’t trash your local media. By falling victim to labels, right or left, you’re only perpetuating the decline of the local media infrastructure. While you might not always agree with everything a local media member shares or reports, without a solid local media infrastructure, the community is not a better place to live, work, grow and prosper.
Mike Paterson is the president and general manager of Mid-West Family Broadcasting. He can be contacted at mpaterson@rmgmwf.com.