AR&D Reinventing Local Media

John Edwards’s infidelity. Sarah Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy. Two big political stories this summer. Both broken by a longtime media outlet. Who says experience doesn’t matter?

Yep - the National Enquirer is doing a heck of a job with its investigative reporting.

Can you believe this? The Enquirer is getting the scoops this year. Isn’t anyone embarrassed? There were thousands of reporters at the Democratic National Convention covering the Same Old Same Old. Did they get any exclusives? Any real news? No.

I suppose you can argue that it was The Enquirer that started this dirty business back in 1987 with its infamous picture of Gary Hart lending a lap to Donna Rice. But really - political gossip is part of our national DNA. And once The Enquirer broke these stories, the rest of the media jumped all over them. So it’s not as though we’ve above “dirtying our hands.”

What’s going on?

Our lack of commitment to investigative journalism is killing us.

I know the argument - The Enquirer will pay for interviews, it’s dirty journalism, etc. But really - hasn’t strong, ethical, investigative journalism broken some great stuff in the past? And hasn’t local - and national - news pretty much given up on it? It’s expensive to pay these people who only come up with a piece every few months.

But isn’t it expensive to send local live crews to two national conventions, out of which will come either A)No news or B) News that is easily covered from the feeds? When your sports team makes it to the first round of the playoffs in a city across the country, do you really need to spend all that money to have your reporter standing in front of their stadium?

Investigative journalism is now coming from the Web and the tabloids. That should shake us in our boots. We bemoan the end of journalism, but we need to do something about it. And that “something” is what can set you apart from the other stations in town: look into the news, don’t just report it.

What has made some blogs great is their ability to go the extra mile - they analyze the news. Blogs - and yes, The Enquirer - dig around. Dirty? Perhaps. But that’s in the eyes of your editorial judgment. Do the digging in the first place. Certainly, we have no right to call “sleaze” if we run what the tabloids are running once they break it.

Use the Web to dig. It’s a great tool. Have people on your staff who know how to mine the Internet. Have reporters who will investigate, not just get two soundbites from either side of a story and call it a day. Break the mold. Break the news