When local reporters in California stop being scary to politicians, democracy suffers | Opinion
My hometown newspaper is The Woodland Daily Democrat. It has been a daily part of my life for close to 50 years (despite it now not publishing on Mondays). I crave a daily dose of information about what’s going on in local government, high school sports and local events.
For 27 years, the editor of The Daily Democrat was Jim Smith. He attended and watched thousands of city council, board of supervisors and school board meetings during his time as editor and reporter.
In the community, people complained when they disagreed with “that Jim Smith.” But there were also many times when people would silently nod when they agreed with him. He put facts — and, often, his opinions — out into the community almost daily for public consideration. Sometimes, I thought Smith was right. And other times “that Jim Smith” could not have been more wrong.
Opinion
You know what local politics and government need more of right now in Woodland and across California? Thousands of Jim Smiths.
Smith was a reporter who knew what a general plan was, what needed to be included in an environmental analysis and how open meeting laws actually worked. More importantly, he could write about the last local government body that went through a policy process and how it worked out. His historical knowledge of the community allowed him to wave a “BS flag” when no one else possibly could.
Woodland had Smith, who retired in 2021. But other communities have had similar journalists making an impact. Readers of The Sacramento Bee would be quick to point out Theresa Clift and her coverage of the Sacramento City Council. Without Clift, the indicted Sean Loloee would likely still be on the dais representing District 2 despite his evident political and professional shortcomings.
But what about the school boards or special districts in the Sacramento region and throughout the state with sizable budgets and power? We need to watch them, too.
The problem is that in California’s small towns there are dozens of wrongdoing elected officials — if not more. I believe we have local governments in our state right now that are as bad as the City of Bell, which lived for years in the shadows of Los Angeles County until its self-serving corruption was unearthed by a free press. We just don’t know about what’s going wrong today because of a lack of knowledgeable journalists who are not out there to investigate. The sort of local press that audits local governments no longer exists.
Surely, some people think the answer is bloggers and social media influencers. It is not. If you want an indication of how few Americans understand civics, spend an hour on Nextdoor. Journalism depends on asking good questions, reviewing campaign finance reports, poring over budget documents and then writing comprehensive stories. Journalism cannot be replaced by web platforms with basically no standards or staff.
As a political campaign consultant, one of the factors I consider is the potential push back from the local press to an idea or candidate. That’s not a factor anymore. The knowledge and experience to push back no longer exist in most local press corps. Today, the local rarely has the power to define a political candidate for readers and voters as they did years ago. The political consultants shaping campaigns will do that.
As both a consultant and a citizen, I want a robust local press and editorial board process that will fairly call balls and strikes, as Jim Smith did at The Woodland Daily Democrat.
So what do we do to change the course of local journalism? Engage. Conservatives, like everyone else, should read the local newspaper. Even if you disagree with the editorial page, accept the information provided in the news stories and then write a letter to the editor making your case on why you disagree. View the local newspaper as part of the community you live in. Read the news and evaluate it. Of course, this also means that the local newspaper needs to meet the readers halfway by giving them the information they need.
Local government reporters provide an important auditing service to the taxpayers. The good ones bring professional skepticism and rigor to their work. They serve as an important check to elected officials. This essential check-and-balance on local government is now absent across rural America and is quickly becoming an afterthought in the suburbs. This is bad for taxpayers, local government and democracy.
Matt Rexroad spent 16 years as a local elected official in Yolo County. He was often praised and criticized by Jim Smith of The Woodland Daily Democrat.
