It’s depressing to see print newspapers fail.
I worked for two, one that no longer exists, the Tampa Tribune, and The Binghamton (NY) Sunday and Evening Press, which today is hanging on by a thread.
When I was hired by the Tribune it was the second or third largest circulation paper in Florida. There were six daily newspapers in the Tribune circulation area when I joined it in the late 1960s. Today there is only one, The Tampa Bay Times, and it didn’t even exist in the late 60s.
The Gannett owned Binghamton paper, which I joined later, had a circulation in the early 1970s of almost 60,000, all across the southern tier of New York. The city’s population went from 89,000 to 56,000 as several manufacturing industries were shuttered. The paper’s readers dwindled as well and today it’s a shell of what it once was.
Locally, the Fernandina News Leader remains the area’s oldest and most successful print publication. It hit some rocky spots along the way, including a couple of recent editors who nearly drove it into the ditch with left-leaning piffle. It also had columnists who seemed to think screeching and jeering were the best ways to make their points, along with another whose only topic was herself. Fortunately, all three are gone.
Publisher Todd Frantz has managed to right the ship with columnists that provide informative and thoughtful material that no longer elicits guffaws and wild outrage. And reporters are keeping their opinions out of the traditional news writing formula of who, what, when, where, why and how.
Regaining trust is key to the print media’s survival as recent polls say that today more than two in five Americans have little to no trust in information they get from journalists.
A once promising newcomer, the Nassau Community Press, got off to a good start but recently floundered.
Maybe it expanded too fast and lost sight of its mission of being an objective journalistic vehicle for accountability.
The paper that initially showed so much promise, has turned into a sloppy vehicle unfit to be of much help to anyone in these interesting times.
The most recent edition looked like it was edited by an English-as-a-Second Language dropout and laid out by an alcoholic that fell off the wagon.
Headlines are a paragraph in length while articles abruptly stop and then repeat halfway through and photos run without captions. Entire front-page articles jump from 12-point typeface to miniscule eight-point typeface. Publisher Melissa Mitchell is a nice gal dedicated to producing a solid paper. But it appears she is overwhelmed. She apparently lost her editor, Jennifer Jensen, and is currently running a one-woman show.
Columnist Jerry Turk is in a mindless rut. If it wasn’t for President Trump Turk would be mute. His monotonous repetitious hatred for Trump is repeated week-after-week, ad nauseum.
Initially former Time Magazine correspondent, author and columnist Ken Timmerman and I contributed weekly columns. It was embarrassing to be on the opinion pages with this venomous hack, and we made our feeling known. We were told that Turk was a financial contributor to the paper so we both bailed. Neither of us are willing to buy our way into print and didn’t want to appear anywhere near the guy.
A talented and knowledgeable writer that traditionally contributes well thought-out columns is local author and financial guru Pat Keogh. He has written a number of books on finance and understands local government better than most. However, his proximity to Turk’s maniacal word salads must have negatively affected him. His latest piece titled “Trump Announces the Launch of his TDS Acute Care Clinic” was meant to be humorous. I think. If so, it missed the mark by a wide margin but nicely complimented Turk’s blithering piffle on the next page. Pat should stick with finance and local politics, topics he excels at intelligently explaining and analyzing.
Steve Nicklaus, a veteran reporter and columnist who fled the News Leader when Tracy Dishman was attempting to edit the paper, is an asset to the publication and writes intelligently about business and politics. He would be a great editor if he could be talked into taking the job, which is highly doubtful.
Another excellent local columnist is Barb Kent, whose real estate insights offer a refreshing, useful look at buying and selling local property and at what is happening in the Nassau market.
A local online “news” outlet that fails miserably in its mission is the Fernandina Observer, a left-wing haunt edited by former City Commissioner Mike Lednovich, who distinguishes himself by what he doesn’t cover and what he doesn’t know.
The outlet acts as newsletter for the City of Fernandina, with Lednovich operating with the understanding that his drivel works best when his audience doesn’t realize it is pure repetitive propaganda.
Lednovich’s most recent and favorite target is the lone reasonable City Commissioner Darron Ayscue. Fresh out of rotten tomatoes to toss, Lednovich has accused Darron of ”bullying” a local citizen while answering a question online and “running and winning his seat unopposed”. No, it’s not satire.
In an attempt to kill what it hates, the Observer is killing itself. RIP.
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My Election Selections: Several folks have asked me who they should vote for in the August 18 Primary Election.
Instead of recommending candidates I let folks know how I’m casting my vote:
U.S. Senator: Ashley Moody
Governor: Byron Donalds
Chief Financial Officer: Blaise Ingoglia
Commissioner of Agriculture: Matt Taylor
Board of County Commissioners, District 2: Hupp Huppman
Board of County Commissioners, District 4: Alyson McCullough
School Board Member: Angel Cole
City of Fernandina Commissioner: Scott Inglis
City Imitative Ordinance Requiring Voter Approval for Paid Parking in the City of Fernandina: Yes
Nassau County is the Worst Run county in the State regarding property taxes and one of the most WASTEFUL per capita
Out of the 67 counties Nassau’s revenue is 56% generated from property tax-#1 in the state- Fla counties average 25-35% per state Dept of Revenue so when the COMMISSIONERS brag about holding down the millage rate they are deliberately misleading the citizens – over the past 5 years property values have increased from $12B to $18B so the $$ they take from its citizens increased far beyond any reasonable spending need
Per Fla CFO Ingoglia Past 5 years Nassau population increased about 18% while the Nassau County budget increased 96% and he put out a white paper displaying ” Nassau County Waste” of $43m in just a single year
We need fresh ideas in the Commissioners seats unless we want more of the above
I was at a meeting with Hupp before he was elected. I asked him if he was going to vote for Riverstone and he said “No.” Once on office he voted for Riverstone, the huge development at the Southbend of the island that no one wants. You are wrong to support him.
Diane – Hupp is a blows with the wind guy – lies on taxes and budget – Laura Dotson whose family has lived here 45 years is a strong choice
I’m w/you Jen ,he has lied twice on developments……Laura Dotson is my vote.
Our commissioners and local idiots like Mike Leadnodick make me miss my days in third-world countries where and when little kings like them were so easily and expediently removed from significance.
That’s one of the downsides with living in a civilized society of first order: only good people hold themselves in check and accountable—the others take advantage of the rest.
It is largely hoped that the boycott of Poynter puts him out of business. That would be as good a feeling as the tar and feathers treatment that spread to the US from Europe in the late 1700s.
These comments are not hateful They reflect what most people I talk to about local politics feel.
Fortunately, Dave, you cannot vote for a District 2 candidate.