Since the demise of the Prince George's Journal several years ago, the Gazette (owned by the Washington Post Co.) has been the most comprehensive available source of local news about Prince George's County politics, crime, and upcoming events.
Adam Pagnucco of Maryland Politics Watch (a liberal blog) has written a three part series, "Crisis at the Gazette," which suggests that all is not well at the Gazette and, as Mr. Pagnucco puts it;
It does not matter how hard the Gazette reporters work or how good their coverage is – it is irrelevant to the Post Company’s ultimate goals.
The Gazette’s business model and the pressure it is enduring from its parent company represent a dangerous threat to political discourse in its service area.
Five parts--One, Two, Three, Starting Gazette Salary . . ., and Reaction . . .--of the "Crisis at the Gazette" are now online. I will update this if additional parts are posted.
Thanks for linking to this. I'll have to read it. I think that while the general point of the Post preference is for the Growth Machine, community newspapers always have a strong good government focus, so that won't change, maybe. Plus they are still strong ad machines...
ReplyDeleteI think that the Post has little respect for the electorate in DC and PG, and little respect for the PG Council, and because regardless of what they write (i.e., credit card fraud, etc.), the people get re-elected...
But the Post cares most about the Growth Machine agenda in DC, and then VA probably, before it gets to PG County.