Category Archives: The media

News You Should View: Local News FTW

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Apologies for another belated posting of this feature and the general lack of posting recently, but last week was kind of all over the place. Plumbing problems, likely mold issue, business trip out of town, blah blah, trying to catch up. Here we go!

When local coverage really matters. A couple weeks ago in this space, the lead item was a piece in The Stowe Reporter detailing the tremendous number of short-term rentals owned by non-locals. And now, reporter Aaron Calvin gets to follow up in what must have been a satisfying way: the town Planning Commission is considering limits on short-term rentals, and as Calvin writes, “the need for such a cap is generally agreed upon; the discussion centers around how best to go about implementing it.”

We can’t say for sure that the earlier story influenced the Planning Commission’s approach to short-term rentals, but the timing would suggest that it did. This is an excellent example of why good local coverage is so crucial.

The Commons continues to track the Trump damage. Last week, The Commons grabbed the lead spot in this space with a good piece about how Trump’s Big B**** Bill is likely to impact Brattleboro Memorial Hospital. For those just tuning in, the story quoted BMH’s chief exec as calling the bill “vicious” in its effect on rural hospitals. Well, reporter Joyce Martel followed up with an equally vital story about Grace Cottage Hospital, the state’s smallest hospital. Grace Cottage CEO Olivia Sweetnam was more measured than her Brattleboro counterpart, but she did say that dealing with the BBB “is going to be very difficult.”

As I wrote last week, every local outlet in the state should be covering their hospitals and other major health care facilities in the same way. (For example, I would suggest to my co-conspirators at The Hardwick Gazette that there’s a story in how the BBB will impact the Plainfield Health Center, a major provider of primary care health care for miles around.)

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The Curious Case of the Squandered Scoop

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A very strange thing happened a couple weeks ago at VTDigger. It’s been on my backburner for a while, as other events have clamored for attention. But I didn’t want to let this pass into oblivion without comment.

Digger published a very important story by Ethan Weinstein about the Vermont Department of Corrections’ difficulties and frustrations in dealing with federal immigration authorities.

It was a terrific piece. But it was posted at 7:01 a.m. on Saturday, June 28. Saturday is the lowest day of the week for news consumption. When daily newspapers were actual dailies, the Saturday edition was always the scrawniest paper of the week. And it was the first to be jettisoned entirely when “dailies” became less than that. Weekend TV newscasts are long on canned features, weather and sports. Most of their field people don’t work weekends. They don’t waste their good stuff on Saturdays.

I’ve been in charge of news operations, and I know that all we did over the weekend was fill the space as painlessly as we could. In fact, much of the effort on Thursdays and Fridays was devoted to banking solid content for the following Monday, when the audience/readership starts paying attention again. Digger publishes very little content over the weekend, and what they do produce is generally soft feature material or shared content from other outlets.

This was a big story. The state’s relationship with ICE and the border patrol was a major issue before the Legislature this year. And the article was the product of a public records request — a vital journalistic tool that’s rarely employed these days because it requires a lot of work. Journalists write their PRR’s as broadly as possible so they don’t miss anything. As a result, they often get a ton of material to sort through. Weinstein did the scutwork and found a bunch of telling details that added up to a meaty scoop worthy of maximum attention.

So why the hell did Digger effectively bury it?

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News You Should View: A Commons Trifecta

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I think this is a first in the brief history of NYSV: Three separate entries from a single outlet. That would be The Commons in Brattleboro. The honor does come with a pair of asterisks, because only one of the three is actually a piece of journalism. But all three are worthy of note.

The local impact of the Big Brutalist Bill. The Commons did something that every other outlet in Vermont would be wise to do: Evaluate the local consequences of Trump’s mega-bill. In the Brattleboro area, three separate medical centers are at risk of closure due to Medicaid cuts in the bill. Reporter Joyce Martel quotes Brattleboro Memorial Hospital CEO Christopher J. Doughtery as calling the BBB “vicious” and saying it would “disproportionately affect rural community hospitals.” Given the fact that Vermont’s community hospitals were already in severe straits, there are plenty of stories just waiting to be told in every corner of our B.L.S.

The Commons expands. Vermont Independent Media, the nonprofit that operates The Commons, has acquired The Deerfield Valley News, a weekly that serves a bunch of small towns in south central Vermont. The combined entity hopes to achieve some economies of scale without visible changes in either publication. Here’s hoping it leads to better financial sustainability for both.

Poking Pieciak. The Commons’ opinion pages were graced by a letter from Nick Biddle, a retired professor and Brattleboro resident, urging Treasurer Mike Pieciak to run for governor — or else get out of the way. Biddle observes that Pieciak has clearly been planning a run for governor someday, and is “in the leading financial position to run.” Biddle urges Pieciak to “Run, Mike, run – and announce it loudly… Or step aside now, so that another strong candidate can ready a powerful campaign” to challenge Phil Scott, assuming he seeks a sixth term. Amen, brother.

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News You Should View: What Podcasts Are For

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The gaggle of 50s throwbacks pictured above, tightly bunched around a single print newspaper, would have no idea what a podcast is. But in these days, when The Burlington Free Press‘ readership is not much more than the… 14?… avid readers in this image, podcasts have become a vital part of the Vermont media scene. We have two worthy entries atop this week’s roundup, followed by some worthwhile stories from Vermont’s doughty local outlets.

Liberal lawmakers speak out against H.454. The latest edition of “There’s No ‘A’ in Creemee*,” the newish podcast from former state senator Andy Julow and Joanna Grossman, chair of the Chittenden County Democrats, is an insightful interview with two Democratic lawmakers who voted “No” on H.454, the education reform bill that split the Dem caucuses and won the support of almost every Republican. Rep. Erin Brady and Sen. Martine Larocque Gulick, both professional educators, barred no holds as they spoke of their disappointment bordering on betrayal. “A gut punch” is how Brady described the maneuverings on the House floor that left many lawmakers feeling hornswoggled by leadership. Gulick’s verdict: “Some serious harm has been done with the public education community.” My only disappointment is that the hosts didn’t take my suggestion that they ask Gulick why she got swindled out of chairing the Senate Education Committee. So maybe a few holds were barred, after all.

*The podcast issues new episodes on Mondays, so there’s likely a new edition available by the time you read this. But I close the books on this feature every Sunday night. Gotta draw the line somewhere.

Four perspectives on civil unions. David Goodman of The Vermont Conversation devoted the latest episode of his weekly pod to the 25th anniversary of the passage of civil unions in Vermont. He had previously interviewed former state representative Bill Lippert, who played a key role in getting civil unions through the Legislature. This time, Goodman wrapped three interviews into a single program. Most memorable were Stacy Jolles and Nina Beck, two of the six plaintiffs in the court case that prompted the enactment of civil unions. Goodman asked them if they feared for their safety during the overheated Statehouse debate, and Jolles replied “Okay, well, we’re both martial artists,” and laughed.

Other moments weren’t so funny. Both women said that when civil unions became law they felt defeated, because it was a halfway measure that didn’t provide anywhere near the full legal protections of marriage. They didn’t celebrate until full marriage equality became state law nine years later. And Jolles believes her rights are unlikely to survive the Trump presidency. “I think it’s going to get very bad, and I’m going to be active until the very last minute I can be active,” she said. “We’re going to have to fight harder than we have before.”

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News You Should View: A Double Pair

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Well hey, not one but TWO of our local newspapers landed a pair of entries each in this week’s news roundup. Some serious stuff, some not so serious, a healthy serving of meat and potatoes. Kind of a well-rounded buffet.

Turns out, short-term rental registries are good for something. The Legislature has tried and failed to enact a registry of short-term rentals, mostly due to opposition from, you will be shocked to hear, the short-term rental industry itself. But the town of Stowe enacted a registry of its own, perhaps because there are roughly 1,000 short-term rental properties in a town of 5,000. Seems like a lot.

Reporters Aaron Calvin and Patrick Bilow of The Stowe Reporter used the registry as a research tool. Their story reveals that the vast majority of Stowe’s short-term rental properties are owned by people who don’t live in town — and more than half are owned by out-of-staters. The story is sure to feed into an ongoing discussion of short-term rentals as part of a broader examination of housing issues in the resort community.

“Internal wrangling” continues to plague southern Vermont school board. The eye-rolling continues for Shawn Cunningham of The Chester Telegraph, whose duties include covering the Green Mountain Union School Board. It has been a great source of unintentional humor of late, or tragedy if you prefer your governmental bodies to serve the interests of the people. The Board is deeply divided on appointing a new trustee to fill a vacancy. If you read between the lines, it seems obvious that there’s a partisan divide on the putatively nonpartisan board. The apparent conservatives are throwing out all kinds of entertaining objections to a nominee who seems to be of the liberal persuasion. The result is a lot of wasted time, and a portion of the district that doesn’t enjoy its full measure of representation.

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News You Should View: We Need Our Local Weeklies

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A whole bunch of community journalism in this week’s media roundup, which is great to see. No matter how strong our statewide outlets are (Narrator: They aren’t), our local weeklies are a vital link in the chain. They provide on-the-ground news and information that no one else will. Got some great stories from the local press to tell you about, but first let’s dip a toe into community access television, shall we?

Becca Balint didn’t have to do this. U.S. Rep. Becca Balint did a half-hour interview with All Things LGBTQ, a weekly news/interview show that airs on community access television outlets around the state (and is posted on YouTube). The interview is a couple weeks old, but (a) I only saw it last week and (b) it’s well worth your time. Balint talks about maintaining sanity in Trump’s Washington, the importance of reading books, and even performs a song. Our Congresscritters have plenty of fish to fry, and Balint didn’t have to take time for community access TV, but I’m glad she did.

A grassroots look at the Copley closure. Last Friday evening, Copley Hospital in Morrisville announced it would close its birthing center. I have decidedly mixed feelings about the move — we’re going to see cuts in our community hospitals, and some will be painful — but it’s a real sign of cowardice to announce it after hours on a Friday. Which just meant that ace News & Citizen reporter Aaron Calvin had to give up part of his weekend to turn out a report on the decision. The story was covered by several larger outlets, but only a local paper will focus on what the move will mean for the community it serves.

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News You Should View: A Great Picture, a New Journalism Org, and Way Too Many Sugar Gliders

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Belated weekly roundup of the best reportage in Vermont, postponed due to the education reform vote and related stuff. Reminder: Although this post is coming out on June 18, it only covers material posted/published/promulgated no later than the 15th.

Glenn Russell strikes again. The best part of VTDigger’s Friday story about Gov. Phil Scott and the Legislature coming together on an education reform bill? Glenn Russell’s photograph. Not reproducing it for copyright reasons, so click on the link and enjoy.

Mmm, that’s the good stuff. In a single image, Russell perfectly captures the House-Senate conference committee dynamics that led us down this prickly path. The three Senate conferees are pictured. Two of them, Sens. Seth Bongartz and Scott Beck, strike identical poses, leaning forward, peering intently over their pushed-down glasses, holding copies of draft legislation, looking more than a bit skeptical of their House counterparts. The third Senator, Ann Cummings, leans away from the table with an expression that says, quite clearly, “I want nothing to do with these jamokes.”

In case you haven’t been reading me lately, Democrat Bongartz and Republican Beck share a common background and purpose. Both have substantial ties to the private schools that hoover up public education dollars, and both repeatedly centered those private institutions in what was supposed to be a discussion of how to improve the public schools. To capture all that in a single image? Chef’s kiss.

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News You Should Have Been Able to View But Weren’t Given the Chance

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My weekly roundup of the best of Vermont journalism will again be posted late, most likely Wednesday. The delay in posting is because of the Legislature holding its final vote on H.454, the education reform bill, on Monday. Had to leave the decks cleared for that. And before I can get to the best of Vermont journalism, I have to begin with a massive media fail that reflects our sadly depleted news ecosystem.

Last week, a House-Senate conference committee was meeting to try to hash out a compromise education reform bill. The six conferees (three Senate, three House) met multiple times. Every meeting was warned in advance and was open to the public. And we got virtually no coverage at all of their highly impactful deliberations.

Now, I know legislative hearings can be a big fat drag. You can spend hours on an uncomfortable chair, sharing a tiny room with too many people, and wind up with nothing at all to report.

But this wasn’t your average legislative hearing, not at all.

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News You Should View, Local Hijinks Edition

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This post is a bit later than usual* because it’s taken me a while to get my feet back under me after an exhausting but rewarding trip last week. I attended a conference organized by the Institute for Nonprofit News, one of several organizations dedicated to fostering a new wave of nonprofit journalism.

*I’m only including items published on or before Sunday, June 8 in hopes of returning to my usual schedule with the next installment.

It was intense, and I’m still processing what I learned. But my single biggest takeaway is that there’s an amazing amount of talent, energy and dedication in this relatively brand-new field. People all over the country are creating nonprofit news outlets at local, state, regional, and national levels, and coming up with novel strategies for achieving sustainability. (There are also a lot of organizations and foundations eager to promote and invest in this new, nonprofit model of journalism.) It’s not easy and success is not assured, but I was blown away by the quality of the people involved in this effort. Made me more optimistic about the project.

INN’s membership includes about 500 organizations. More than 400 people gathered in Minneapolis for three days of panel discussions, workshops, and one-on-one meetings with experts. I was there as a board member of the Hardwick Gazette, and I was determined to bring back as much information and as many ideas as possible. That meant taking full advantage of everything I could fit in. Let’s put it this way: I’d never been to Minneapolis before, and I still feel like I haven’t. Almost all my time was spent within a couple blocks of the conference hotel.

Coincidentally enough, this week’s edition of NYSV is heavy on content from Vermont’s own local outlets, many of which are now nonprofit. Some of the stories are about the local repercussions of state policy debates, while others are about the vagaries of small-town politics. These are services that only a grassroots outlet can perform, and Vermont is lucky to have as many small “papers” as we do.

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Oh No! The Scrappy Little Dyke Said a Bad Word!

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I really wish that U.S. Rep. Becca Balint had said something short, sweet, and sacrilegious when VTDigger called to ask her about her recent deployment of the word “ass” in a public setting. I really wish she hadn’t taken the politic route and apologized.

Honestly, I don’t know why Digger even pursued this story. Well, that’s not true. I do know. It’s low-hanging fruit. But sometimes you need to leave that apple on the tree. Seriously, we’re talking about an organization that, so I’ve been told, hasn’t bothered to report on Lt. Gov. John Rodgers being a right royal asshat to his small-town neighbors, threatening to close access to a public road and take his town to court if they don’t accede to his wishes, because Digger doesn’t have the capacity.

And yet they had the capacity to publish a story on this ridiculous, trumped-up “controversy.” Ugh.

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