Walt Rubel Commentary: Support reliable local news sources

I still have a vivid recollection of the exact moment I knew for certain that the industry I had toiled in since college was in trouble.

It was a TV commercial during the NCAA Basketball Tournament featuring one guy with a newspaper and another guy with a cell phone, which was fairly new at that time.

“It says here Johnson is going to be out for today’s game,” said the guy with the newspaper. “Nope, he’s been cleared to play,” said the guy with the cell phone.

My heart sank. I immediately realized our once-a-day delivery system could not compete with this new technology. I knew that my plans for a retirement party in my mid-60s were suddenly looking pretty shaky. But I didn’t stop to think about the larger ramifications.

For more than 100 years, the newspaper was the only source of local news for those living in towns that weren’t big enough for their own TV station, and the most comprehensive source for those who were living in bigger cities.

When newspapers reached the point where they were no longer commercially viable, there was no reliable alternative source adhering to journalism standards and ethics to replace them. But there were plenty of unreliable ones.

How to remedy that situation was the topic for an event Thursday sponsored by the Local News Fund. One attendee wondered why we even bothered.

Local political activist Lucas Herndon said news reports are unnecessary because all we have to do is look around; any news that has advertising can’t be trusted; and anybody who pays for news is getting ripped off. He essentially made an argument against the practice of journalism itself. 

For those who do value accurate, unbiased reporting on local affairs, and don’t have a job (or a life) that allows them to sit through City Council meetings, the diminishment of local news is a concern.

It was suggested Friday that the government could play a role in reviving local news sources. Perhaps, if that means contributing to organizations like the Local News Fund. But any direct government funding to a newspaper would ruin its independence and credibility.

At the end of the presentation, it was clear there were no easy answers or simple solutions. We do need to fund additional student internships to get more young people into the profession. 

But, given the economic condition of the industry, I don’t know if I would recommend that anybody just starting out should choose a career in journalism. It is a vital function of democracy and can be incredibly rewarding. But. anybody who starts down that path had better have a Plan B,

In a free marketplace, the consumer gets to decide. For news consumers, there are a whole lot of free samples to nibble from. And, sadly, far too many are simply looking for confirmation of their worldview by fellow travelers.

For those who do want reliable, trustworthy local journalism, as with anything in Las Cruces, if there is something here that you value and want to preserve, you need to help support it.


Walter Rubel can be reached at [email protected].

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