Local media needs and deserves the support of local advertisers
By Lethbridge Herald on September 1, 2023.
LEAVE IT TO BEEBER
Al Beeber – managing editor
I read a saying once about journalism that hits home every time I think about it and I’m sure it’s one everyone in media can relate to.
It goes something like this: Journalism is a tough job with long hours and too much stress but on the bright side, everybody hates you.
Many of us know how long those hours can be and how demanding the job can be with the need to hit deadlines with multiple stories written or pages laid out each day.
I’ve done as many as 24 pages in one shift while others struggled to handle two. I’ve done three or four stories while laying out every page including Sports so I know how much work can be accomplished.
Even as managing editor, I still try to crank out two or three stories a day when possible to help out and when holidays beckon, I do most of the pages and still write.
In recent weeks, I’ve been trying to move more to a delegating role but with the size and experience of our newsroom, I feel I need to continue playing an active part in covering the community. We can’t possibly hit absolutely everything in the week – other media outlets are in the same situation and the amount of advertising dollars being spent on social media sites is a huge reason for that.
Local advertisers too often are spending their dollars on websites whose staffs don’t live here, don’t pay taxes here and don’t contribute to the economic prosperity of those local businesses. Governments also could be – and should be – spending fewer of their advertising dollars on social media and more in the communities which they serve.
As a person who has seen the size of this newsroom shrink since the internet first became a thing, it’s disconcerting. Earlier this week, I showed former photographer Kevin Kooy around the building and it was an eye opener for my old colleague who left here in 1994. When Kevin was chief photographer, the building was a bustling place, including the newsroom. On the morning of his visit, only I and Alejandra Pulido-Guzman were here which is often par for the course.
Not too many years ago, the newsroom was a hive of non-stop activity and sound with numerous reporters, page editors and photographers cranking out tons of work. Keyboards would be clicking, pens scribbling and voices interviewing, creating a cacophony of sound. For a brief period when I started, the air was often filled with the pungent aroma of cigarette smoke, as well.
(I was also briefly a smoker but I pretty much dropped the habit in about 1984 in Ontario when I accidentally lit my desk on fire with an errant match, creating a massive bonfire.)
Things have definitely changed over the years and with our manpower, I think we are doing a good job of covering this community. I would suspect managers of all media outlets here would say the same thing and I’m sure they’d all agree that local businesses should be supporting local media outlets instead of some huge American corporations which have no local presence.
I’m also sure others will disagree which comes with the territory. We can’t make everyone happy, nor should we because it’s not our jobs. We’re journalists, not publicists.
On the subject of disagreements, one issue for me that we need to resolve is the matter of demeaning comments made on our stories after they are published on our website.
Some people – on both sides of the political spectrum – can get absolutely vicious while hiding behind a cloak of anonymity.
One recent incident occurred last week and the author of that post which erroneously named a person who also had posted, reached out to me to apologize.
I am in the process of examining this situation to see how it can be avoided in the future.
While blanket censorship is not something I or anyone else want to do here, it has been done elsewhere with total bans on commenting. This, however, has the huge potential to impact readership and we don’t want to do that.
Ideally, people would censor themselves but that’s like expecting a toddler to stay out of the cookie jar if it’s left in easy reach. Some can’t – and won’t – resist temptation.
We who cover events for our respective outlets are a pretty close-knit bunch – when you see the same people day after day at multiple functions, you develop friendships and kinships.
While we are competing for stories when we cover the same events we try to co-operate on interviews which accommodates our subjects because they have to talk once, not repeat themselves multiple times.
Each of us also, I suspect, holds some of our cards close to our vests – we certainly aren’t going to tell each other some of the scoops we are trying to work on. We don’t share news tips – at least to my knowledge – but on assignments together, we recognize the ever-shrinking fraternity we are part of and which we give our hearts and souls to every day we’re on the job. I’m by far the elder statesman of the bunch and I’ll tell you all that the kids are alright.
While we have different backgrounds, one commonality among us journos is the criticism of the work we do – keyboard warriors can be vicious and it gets tiring after reading the negativity but sadly that’s now the world we live in.
It’s our job to reflect the world around us – to get the viewpoints of as wide a range of the community as we can.
In our ongoing series about downtown issues, we’ve had both praise and attacks.
That tells me we are doing our job here because we are touching a nerve in the community. There is a lot of sensitivity about certain subjects and while we can’t look back and change the past way we did things here, we are examining certain subjects in a more expansive way than we’ve done in the past – if we even considered certain issues at all previously.
A big focus justifiably has been on the issues downtown but other areas of the city have problems, too and as we continue to examine crime we will be looking at how it’s impacting other areas. We will also be looking at the positives, showing how the city and province are addressing homelessness, addictions and crime.
As I’ve written before, we will be covering every single aspect of these matters.
As I’ve also written, some subjects, for whatever reason, have been off-limits for scrutiny and I don’t think that is fair. Nobody, including politicians or bureaucrats, should be off a journalist’s radar.
Recently, we heard a very small number of concerns that we didn’t use the name of a retired police officer who I interviewed. No complaints were received here when we did interviews with homeless people who didn’t want to be identified which is a double standard.
Both, as far as anyone knows, can have valid reasons for not having their names splashed across the pages of the paper. Some could have nefarious reasons as well such as outstanding criminal charges or warrants, perhaps.
No media outlet ever has been able to satisfy everyone. If we did, we’d be failing our audiences because with awareness of community issues and events, always comes a public response both good and bad.
We all walk a fine line in this business – if we’re doing our jobs properly, we won’t have everyone slapping our backs.
Every local media outlet is trying their best to serve their communities in this country, service which would be made easier if more businesses supported local media so we could increase the size of our newsrooms to some version of previous levels.
If we Canadian newsroom managers had the staff numbers that our outlets did a decade ago, we’d need more pages and airtime to do our communities justice. We don’t, though, which is a reality all of us have to contend with every day.
The mantra of “shop local” needs to apply to media as well, a message that all Canadian communities need to understand if local media is going to continue to exist.
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Thank you Al! I do get agressive in my comments as well, partly because I know who that other person is and know they have openly attacked me, in one case using a group on social media to falsely accuse me of being a vigilante, even adding LPS to their social media rants. That group included a local politician and her mother and I did inform police of that false accusation and they did their own investigation to disprove that accusation. That was a serious false accusation since it is a criminal act!
Perhaps the answer would be to have all of those who comment use their real names as some other organizations now demand?
I would not like to see the Lethbridge Herald shuttered after over 100 years due to lack of community support.
We have already lost a big part of the TV media reporting for Lethbridge, with no one working on weekends and holidays, and much of what happens never seems to be reported by any of them.
I hope the Herald can find a way to adapt to the new era and survive, but I agree, that advertising is what helps to pay the bills!
Thank you again Al and keep up the great work and the balanced reporting!
I am not Yale Belanger, or any of the other handful of people I’ve been accused of being. That’s all I have to say on that.
I understand you’ve banned Yale Belanger. Given that the Lethbridge Herald has exhibited a marked bias on the homeless issue, and that Yale Belanger is a strong proponent of the opposite view, this seems suspiciously partisan. Nice touch implying homeless people who don’t want their names posted have “outstanding criminal charges or warrants, perhaps.”
I haven’t seen any sign that this issue is being examined “in a more expansive way than we’ve done in the past.” In fact, if anything, your coverage has become more one-sided with time. This new ban is part of this trend.
I, for one, value Mr. Belanger’s take on our homeless and addictions problems. I’ll be consulting sources other than the Lethbridge Herald in order to find non-partisan, scientifically informed information on this important issue.
I have talked to Mr Belanger and he will not post here because of the numerous gutless people who will not use their real names. I personally do not blame him because if you do not have the guts to state your opinion under your real name then you are just contributing to the ninja nightfighting drool, right Lethson?
I’m interested in opinions,views, info and facts of fellow Lethbridgians. This is a small town really. I could care less what you decide to call yourself. Many people here are afraid of their own shadow. They are very uncomfortable dealing with the small but shall we say loud group of bullies around town. As pursuitdriver seems to refer to?
My .02c worth
I think if you want the businesses to support the paper, the paper has to support the businesses or be seen to support the businesses.
When a business is being threatened to a point where they have to lock their doors and screen every knock at the door. Its time to do more than just report it. I can see where 2 businesses in particular having two gangs engage in a knife fight in the middle of the night right outside their doors and on their street would see that as an important step in getting assistance. Yet, the LH never even mentioned the confrontation.
Reporting another break in at the King of Trade, Is not what I personally feel is a sign of supporting business.
I personally believe if you want advertising (need) then you must be seen as supporting them. Other than when an incident did occur, when was the last time you interviewed a business owner to find out how he/she is doing?
Why must a business owner have to stick his neck out to show this city that have a downtown celebration involves more than just the walking street? Reporting happenings in our downtown as they appear is not actually getting involved with our society and the dangers now presented that will destory it.
Getting the population of Lethbridge to understand the struggles each and every Business is having during, gangs, arson, breakins, loss of foot traffic, esculating prices, esculating taxes, reduced margins etc will put you in touch with whom you wish to receive revenue.
What about a small section of the paper to have “Business of the Week” where you interview and post all complaints and compliments?
I am a critic of Lethbridge for various reasons. One being that most people just don’t care unless its driven by a political party or a church or a nonprofit.
So when they do care, their thought process is driven by one of those three.
I have yet to hear any of those three groups who think its a great idea to serve the homeless in the vary spot that destroys business, say, Gee, I wonder how we are impacting XYZ’s business? How can we help them while “Savin Lives”?
The answer is simple, Al, the three above ignore business, because Savin Lives, and killing livelihoods appears to drive all else. So the mere fact they see no support in trying to survive from their community and no defence of their plight by LH unless it makes a headline makes they feel unwanted and unappreciated for their efforts.
Time to reponder a different approach in my opinion.
I caveat all posts with I will debate anyone anywhere anytime including Mr Belanger, so far no takers!
Here is an example Al.
Robin James/LHA is applying for a complex to be built across the street from the bakery that will house FASD or high acquity individuals. Mr Kissick (SP) has purchased Eldorado’s property. Leaving a City Admin building a Gas Company and the Kitchen Center/ Lealta Lumber in the middle of this non Community Care Campus.
Has anyone interviewed the Bakery? Did you approach LHA and ask them if they think it will kill the surrounding businesses and if so, why proceed with the application?
LHA has a policy of “we just house them” we are not responsible for what they do when they leave our premises. So are their any and I mean any rule sets that say, wait a minute, you can’t house a building full of child molestors across the street from a pre-school or is this a free for all that allows anyone to put anybody anywhere, except, my plan where I want the addicts out of town and are comfronted with “you can’t force people to live where you want”! Seems to me we are doing just that!
So do I think LH is involved with the community? Not really, it reports what it sees, it does not report pending issues that can kill our society so that people form an opinion on facts before it happens.
So you get what we have downtown now, total complacency and acceptance of “they will do whatever they want” and your payee gets scr*wed royally and then you ask for financial help. Sorry, but as you know I call a spade a spade. Be proactive not continually reactive and you will get all the support you need.
Here is a great example of “reactive reporting”.
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/other/edmonton-business-on-fort-road-closes-after-string-of-problems/ar-AA1giZyM