“IS IT TRUE” December 29, 2019 NEWSPAPERS

IS IT TRUE that tomorrow’s CCO “Community Service Awards” luncheon is completely sold out? ...that book author Joe “Jack” Wallace has just flown in from California to attend our “Annual Awards Luncheon” at Tropicana-Evansville on Friday? …that Joe “Jack” Wallace will be signing his book entitled “Working Outside The Box” at this event? …that  Holly K. Dunn will also have autograph copies of “Sole Survivor”?  …”Uncommon Heart” authored by Olympian Anne Audain will also be available to those in attendance?…it looks like its book signing time in ole Evansville

IS IT TRUE that since the first newspaper was published in 1690 through the turn of the century defined by the year 2000, newspapers have served as the most important medium for holding politicians accountable in an objective and fair manner?…the journalists of old were all about accuracy, fairness, checking their sources, and of course being good citizen businesses?…capitalism has rewarded newspaper owners with status, prestige, and profits turning names like Hurst, Bingham, and Scripps into household names?.

IS IT TRUE newspapers have always been seen as game-changers in exposing corruption and government waste in a fair and honest manner?…sometime around the turn of the century things began to change?…with the widespread availability of the internet, cable news, and the opinion obsessions that followed, newspapers changed from their humble but noble calling into mass disseminators of the same national stories intermingled with biased opinion pieces about things that local people are not in tune to?…the downfall is near complete now as many small papers have folded, dozens of large papers have had to seek bankruptcy protection, and the one the street journalist corps has been depleted to the point of being ineffective?…this has prevailed in nearly every town in America and the fall-off in subscribers and advertisers has punished the editors and publishers for selling their souls for partisan ideology?

IS IT TRUE it is time for good journalism to make a comeback and it is of concern where a young cub reporter can learn the skills that made newspapers great?…the first lesson should be to focus on what impacts the people of the town that a paper claims to serve?…local papers have fallen into the trap of fawning over pet projects of local politicians without questioning the financial sustainability associated with such things?…newspapers have even put on sufficient blinders to make them believe that moving some jobs from one street to another street in the same town constitutes creating new jobs?…it doesn’t if anyone is thinking straight?

IS IT TRUE that one newspaper even believed that a 150 room hotel would create over 800 direct jobs?…one would have to be really bad at math to believe that a hotel with 65% occupancy that rent for $120 per day could survive with $320 per room day in labor costs? …this nonsense all happened right here in River City and the only publication to call all of this out was the City-County Observer?…the real question is why has the cognitive ability of reporting turned into mush?…the survival of news reporting depends on getting back to honest reality about local interests?

IS IT TRUE we could go on for several pages about biased TV journalism is a topic for another day? ..the harsh reality is that between biased reporting and intentionally reporting falsehoods, the business of reporting the news has turned off nearly everyone?…with Facebook and other social media making every human being a reporter without any truth filters, we are becoming an amazingly misinformed nation but most of us don’t seem to know it?

IS IT TRUE that it is no secret that the newspaper industry has been falling on hard times for at least a decade?…from the New York Times to every daily news based paper in the country the struggle to survive has meant cuts to staff and the associated lowering the bar when it comes to quality?…it seems as though any small to medium-sized daily paper that once captured a reader’s attention for a half-hour a day is now only capable of keeping one’s attention for less than 10 minutes? …we are being told by friends in the mainstream media if the out of town conglomerate that owns the Evansville Courier and Press don’t pay strict attention to the business at hand they could be forced to publish online only? …we hope that this doesn’t happen because we also enjoy reading a printed newspaper?

IS IT TRUE when former CCO editor and celebrated innovation CEO from Palm Springs, California was asked about the CCO publishing a printed newspaper his answer was surprising?…Mr. Wallace quickly pointed out that newsrooms across the country that are delivering print products are on a 20-year shrinking spree with some newsrooms having less than half of the reporters they had 10 years ago?

IS IT TRUE we are told by reliable sources that business tycoon Ron Geary will be in town today to meet a group of well-heeled business people to discuss a possible multi-million venture capital opportunity in Evansville proper?  …we are pleased to hear if Mr. Geary decides to move forward with this mega capital venture he will not be asking for any governmental handouts?

IS IT TRUE we are told that the CVB board will once again hire an out of town search firm to hire a new Executive Director?