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Historical-Recipe892 t1_j2i4cqs wrote

As someone who owns a hyperlocal digital outlet, I can say with confidence these were the most read stories for the year.

We can publish all the "feel-good" stories we want, but the number of people who read them will be dwarfed by anything crime-related.

You want the news to cover more of the good in your community? Start reading those stories and stop reading the crime.

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ifeelwitty t1_j2je1dr wrote

I was a features reporter for seven years who also had to write the hard news stuff. The "fluffy" human interest feel-good stuff I hardly got responses to. The stories on crimes, politics? I always got emails or tweets about those stories.

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Insterstellar t1_j2jmevt wrote

I just don't read local news unless I am googling for something specific. There is nothing in it I really need to know. Its kinda like smoking: addictive, but bad for your (mental) health. I'm sure cherry-picking the worst tragedies in your community gets lots of clicks and ad revenue (or subscription fees), but it creates a distorted & depressing view of the world. Feel good fluff is also pointless, and also leads to an inaccurate view of the world.

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Historical-Recipe892 t1_j2kjbwe wrote

So much of what actually impacts your daily life is decided locally, and isn't going to be covered by any other outlet. Unless you regularly attend local municipality meetings (which everyone should, btw), you're in the dark about pretty important things.

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OscarTangoIndiaMike t1_j2k8qki wrote

For my local paper, anything aside from crime is behind a paywall. I’m not going to pay to read some bullshit put out by Gannett with USA Today on the cover.

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