Hello all, I would like to ask you to consider helping me get a needed change started. We need to change the archaic law pertaining to public meeting notices. In the internet age we should not be spending money on newspaper ads when Cities and towns can communicate directly to their constituents. Newspaper readership is declining and government at all levels have a cost effective way to increase the dialogue and participation with the internet. The law was written in an age when no viable options existed and should change to reflect the times we live in. I sent the following to my State Senator Austin Allran:
Dear Mr. Allran,
I would like for you to consider sponsoring a bill that would permit Cities and Towns to advertise public hearings, meetings. propery auctions, etc. via the City's website. Cities have to spend considerable money to advertise in newspapers and would benefit from the cost reduction the internet would allow. In addition, newspaper readership is declining and the use of the internet would be just as broad if not broader in the number of people reached.
In the age we live in, governments can communicate directly to citizens more effectively without third party intermediaries. Thank you for your consideration
Would you please consider contacting your Mayor, City Council members and State Senators and ask their consideration?
Merry Christmas. Harry Hipps
|
| Join To Get Blog Update Notices |
| Visit the Hickory Hound Group |
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Harry,
I think this is very smart. I read the comment to my "Accountability on Jobs" article and it got me to thinking about a lot of things.
If the City of Hickory is the largest account that The HDR has and the city isn't shopping around for a competitive rates, then we once again have a situation rife with the appearance, and at least the potential for, conflicts of interest. We have got to get to the bottom of this.
This certainly explains why there are never any substantive articles, when it comes to City issues, produced by our local paper. All we read are marketing articles for city official's interests.
May as well call it "The Hickory Daily Pravda," because basically our City Government has creative and editorial control over our local paper's content.
I don't think we can prove that one or more of our local officials is threatening the paper, because neither party will ever admit to it, but we can certainly shed a little light on this money situation.
I believe the city is required to publish notices in the publication reaching the largest number in their population. As sad as that can be sometimes, for the City of Hickory that would be the Hickory Daily Record. As much as I would like to agree in a change to how notices are shared with the public, there simply are some people out there who have as much a right to meetings notices as we have, who do not have any real access to the news other than a newspaper delivered daily to their home. As long as there are homebound citizens who do not have internet service and rarely if ever get out of their homes to access it elsewhere, a newspaper delivered to their home is the only means of getting this information.
Believe me, we are going to look at all of the statistics behind this. How much circulation does the Hickory Daily Record have and in what direction is that growth headed.
I suspect that that circulation is in decline and I think most of us can surmise the reasons why.
Does it serve this community's interest, if there is a conflict of interest that is keeping the Record from reporting the pertinent issues of the day or giving us both sides of a story?
Theoretically, if the city is the Record's largest advertising account and a city official were to use the influence of that account to chastise (or threaten) the Record, because of creative or editorial content, then can you not see that there is a moral hazard involved in such an action?
The agent of such action would be using their position of influence, which is granted by Hickory's citizens, to keep the people that have granted him/her their trust from getting information that they should have the right to receive.
They also would be using the influence of the taxpayer's money to influence or censor the informational content of a private corporation.
Does that not represent a scary thought to you?
Certainly it's disturbing to think the newspaper is only printing what city official(s) will allow under subtle threat of loss of their largest account. I'm naive enough to think if that were me...the newspaper that is...my next morning headline would be "Blackmail Attempt?" If there IS evidence of such corruption, it ought to be exposed rather than hinted at. I know of folks within the city who have become accustomed to working the system in order to enjoy simple perks such as saying "I'm going out to check on a business", doing that, and then doing whatever they personally please for another 2 hours before returning to the office. That's bad enough. Do we really have officials who would lean toward blackmail in an effort to hide things from its citizens?
I think the main issue is the better dialogue between government entities and citizens. There is no use to use money to disseminate information that could be sent out virtually free. There is no need to use third party intermediaries when direct communication is available. The web is faster, cheaper and would possibly get the reader to look at other areas of the website.
True there are some elderly people who simply won't use the internet but these are few and getting fewer. On the other side of the coin, younger people seldom read a paper. There is little difference between the cost of a basic internet account and a newspaper subscription. I really believe that the printed paper is going to be a relic within a fairly short span of time and like the pay phone will be replaced by the better technology.
As far as the influence of city money on the paper goes it's probably an unspoken gentleman's agreement but it is clear that the Hickory media has no interest or inclination to do anything other than look at the surface and print the obvious facts and fluff. Other than an occasional Charlotte Observer article and this blog, there is no real journalism in Hickory.
Hipps has a strong case for the internet; moreover, these notices could be added to the City Snippets sent out each month with the water bill alleviating Anon2's concerns about access for those without the internet.
As for the HDR, well, I'm sorry the hickory hound has been banned from their comments section, but it's to be expected. It's as vanilla, light, saccharin-sweet as possible, and really, it's shameful whether the conflict of interest exists or not.
Thank You Ant,
That is an excellent idea about adding the Public Notice documentation to the City Snippets bulletin sent with the water bill each month.
I will add this idea to the solutions forum. Between the internet and the city snippets how can it be justified that the HDR is the best forum to post Public Notices and Information?
I this time of tight cash flow, we don't need to spend needless money on these notices.
Post a Comment