Local News Will Save Us
And how to stay sane over the next four years of political reporting
Today we’re putting on our nerd hats and talking media literacy. Specifically, how to stay sane while consuming media over the next four years.
What qualifies me to write this? I’m a former local journalist (anchor and reporter), and I fully believe that local news is the last great bastion of truly objective reporting.
So being trained on those grounds, I want to share a little wisdom today.
Now let me be blunt (with all due respect to my fellow former/current local journalists): Local news is not the Dream Job many broadcast journalists aspire to.
We are trained to dream of the Big Desk (anchor) in the Big City (New York). The job with the makeup artist, customized anchor desk lighting scheme, and field producers.
We don’t dream of the one-man-banding. (That’s when a reporter not only pitches, sources, and interviews the subject/s for their stories, but also then shoots, edits and goes live with it on their own.) Or the working on every holiday. Or the daily grind of pitching stories, getting 9/10ths of them turned down, finally landing a pitch, shooting and writing it, only to have its teeth filed down by three passes through corporate HR.
(We do, however, remain grateful for the large hot pizza on Election Night. IYKYK.)
So what can the humble local journalist really bring to the table in this world of ever-increasing media noise?
Integrity.
And that brings me back to the point of this article. Why is local journalism our last great hope? It’s simple. We just don’t have time to be biased.
No one with a four-hour deadline and a relentless, overly-caffeinated 5pm newscast producer trying to stack their show has time to insert slant into a piece. Trust me.
As it turns out, when you take away the million dollar budget and the simple benefit of time, you end up—inadvertently or otherwise—sticking to that one vital journalistic tenet, the only one that matters. Report the facts.
Why You Should Care
I think we can agree, no matter our individual political leanings, that Big Media has really and truly lost the plot. And man does it hurt my little 90's-era-Katie Couric-loving heart to say it.
From the cadre of legacy network reporters who refused to report the truth on what millions of American eyeballs saw for themselves in the deteriorating health of President Biden; to the unwillingness to question the necessity of continued school shutdowns during COVID; to a general smarmy sense of superiority when reporting on anything conservative-leaning—and it pains my little classical liberal heart to say it out loud—they’re, to use a phrase, yesterday’s news.
As it turns out, we Americans can smell the moldy cheese. Stop telling us it’s not gone bad.
So all of that being said, let me tell you how to stay sane over the next four years of intense political reporting by tapping into some of the things I did as a local journalist, and continue to do on my podcast.
You can take it or leave it, but I’m just trying to offer up a little hope in this crazy media space. Let’s get into it.
1: Use Media Bias to Your Advantage
Wait, Sonni, you just spent all this time saying that big media is biased, so why would I want to partake?
Biased media isn’t going away just because we want it to. FOX will stay FOX because conservatives want their views to be reified. CNN will stay CNN because liberals want to think they’re better than everyone else.
Yep, I hate it too.
But let’s use that bias to our advantage. A truly media-savvy person who’s trying to find the center can expose himself to both angles, then work his way inward from there. (You could also grab a pen and pad and head to Washington to start your own political news reporting service, but I advise against that.)
Go to FOX for their take on the Pete Hegseth nomination, for example, then go to CNN. Read the two articles fully. Choke down any bile that may arise as a result because now you are starting to see media bias everywhere and realize, Oh my gosh I have been wading in a cesspool of feelings over facts for decades now!!
Oh my gosh I have been wading in a cesspool of feelings over facts for decades now!!
But don’t fret!
In this part of the exercise, what you’ll likely notice is each stretching to support the views of their readers/viewers. Remember, bias means more readers means more money. So they’re sticking to their formula. That’s why it’s more important than ever to find yours.
Here’s what you’re going to do. Find the bias first. You can do this by recognizing things like, Hey, they’re only interviewing Democrats/Republicans for this story! I wonder what the other side thinks…
Second, ask yourself what perspective could be missing as a result. In reading the FOX coverage of the Hegseth nomination, for example, what, specifically, would Senate Democrats who are against this nomination have to say about this?
And finally—this part is a little woo-woo, but consuming media requires us to soothe our suffering little souls so bear with me—take a deep breath. I just forced you to read an article from a site that normally makes you break out in hives, but I promise, like any good exposure therapy, you will react a little less virulently every time you log on.
When you’re done, move on to Step 2.
2: Make Like a Local Journalist and Find the Facts (and Only the Facts, for God’s Sake)
The key in getting the real story is simple: Ask yourself, what’s really happening? Not, what do I think about it?
Now let me get on my soapbox for a moment before continuing. Because you may be saying, DUH. FACTS.
Well.
Humans are conditioned people to seek out edification. Acceptance. To find a sense of belonging.
As it relates to politics and media, it means we’re all looking for people to agree with us.
Is it because we all have Junior High Complex and simply want to feel included? Is it because cable news has spent decades now giving increasing air time to editorial opinions and heated debate panels over simply reporting the facts? Is it because social media creates the echo chamber of all echo chambers?
Yes and yes and yes.
Is it because we all have Junior High Complex and simply want to feel included? Is it because cable news has spent decades now giving increasing air time to editorial opinions and heated debate panels over simply reporting the facts? Is it because social media creates the echo chamber of all echo chambers?
Yes and yes and yes.
And look where that’s gotten us.
Repeat after me: I can find my own facts! I do not need a news corporation to tell me how to feel! I am a grown up with a big and beautiful brain! Look at me doing my own work and research!
Okay, moving on. Let’s use the Pete Hegseth nomination as an example again. Breaking it down to only facts would look something like this:
Pete Hegseth was nominated as defense secretary.
He is a veteran (insert all other credentials here). He has no experience working in government.
A woman accused Pete Hegseth of sexual misconduct.
Senate Democrats are opposing his nomination as a result.
Many Senate Republicans still support him.
A Senate panel (including Republicans) is asking for access to the FBI report on Hegseth, to see what it may reveal about his past and past allegations against him.
We still don’t know what will happen when his confirmation hearing happens in January.
See how easy a story becomes to digest when it’s only the facts?
Let’s move on to my final piece of advice for staying sane and cultivating your media intake.
3: Freaking Let It Go
After you’ve gone through Steps 1 and 2, you’re entitled to land wherever the hell you want to on said news story.
But for the love of all that’s good and true, stop thinking you have the only opinion that matters.
This is a harsh, but necessary, reminder in the Age of the Echo Chamber.
When we think we have the only opinion worth considering, we begin feeling justified in icing out people who don’t agree with us. Our circles become smaller. Our judgment grows and our empathy dissipates. We start to see people as checklists of acceptable positions and not as humans.
I think that if we’re going to move on united as a populace, the whole I-know-better-than-you shtick has got to go. (Exhibit A: All of legacy media reacting to Trump’s win. Also, this remarkably smug Nancy Pelosi interview where she jUSt Can’T FigURe OuT WhaT DeMOcrAtS haVE to ChANGe!!!)
If we need to take anything from this latest Trump victory, it is that we do not know what our neighbor is thinking politically. And now more than ever, we need the facts, and facts only.
And you can choose to judge people harshly on how they vote if you want to, but look where that got us.
Oh, and if you’re looking for truly objective reporting, here are the three sources I always point people to—local-journalist approved ✅:
I love everything about this post, including the working from the edges back in. That's essentially what I have been doing for awhile now.