A few weeks ago the Internet was all atwitter due to a video showing a brief physical altercation between two Sonoma Valley High School students, The video went “viral” and in no time mobile Bay Area news crews were trolling Broadway across the street from the High School hoping to cash-in with some juicy “air-time” interviews devoted to the incident.
Newspapers got into the action, posting the video on their websites. That action alone became part of the local news cycle, eliciting comments from students and the school district Superintendent. Almost alone in deciding not to feature the video or participate in the media “feeding frenzy” we at the Sonoma Valley SUN chose to exercise discretion, believing that no journalistic purpose was to be served by contributing to the embarrassment or negative self-image of two still-developing young lives.
While the “news-is-news” argument can be made, the SUN believes that not all news is created equal, and that in presenting itself to the Sonoma Valley community, it bears the responsibility to act, well…responsibly. While it is undeniable that stories of human failure, shame, stupidity and the like have gained widespread popularity, that fact itself does not determine our journalistic standards; if it did we would be stooping to the level of tabloid journalism, itself a contradiction in terms.
We’re not saying that entertainment has no value, or that heinous crime should be ignored, but we do believe a small, independent newspaper provides the best value when it focuses on matters of consequence and creativity. Moreover, the SUN is not a daily that strives to capture the day’s events just to fill space; that gives us the luxury of taking time to prepare articles in depth and to plan for upcoming editions. The various distractions of people acting badly, do not rise to the level of news worth reporting, even on our website, which is updated every day.
In an unfortunate way, America’s fixation with the sordid and its “ratings value” has replaced the public’s interest in journalism in depth. The rise of new media such as Twitter has accelerated a trend that began with radio, enlarged with television and culminated with the Internet, namely the dominance of distraction. Reality TV pandering has even overtaken our national political process and has itself become an industry constantly producing disconnected, fragmentary bits of information, lurid click-bait, rumor, insult and expressions of passion. The days of in-depth journalistic reporting are fading, along with budgets to support it.
Despite all this, we at the SUN believe that if bona fide journalism has a future it will in large part be found at the local level, where events and people intersect directly and where change is often a function of citizen involvement. An informed citizenry insists that local government is accountable and relevant to the community. An informed citizenry speaks up, participates and makes sure the needs of the community as a whole are placed ahead of the needs of special interests. An informed citizenry is educated, sees the big picture and appreciates being treated with respect.
At the Sonoma Valley SUN we strive to not be distracted by the lurid, and to empower the Sonoma Valley community by providing important, thoughtful information and opinion it can use in a meaningful way.
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