Farewell Column: Support Local Journalism

BIRMINGHAM, AL — I have lived in Birmingham for more than 40 years, and have worked in media for more than 25 of those years. When I was hired by Patch to launch this platform in the Birmingham metro, I jumped at the opportunity, knowing just how important hyperlocal news is to the communities it serves. And as today is my last day with Patch, I want to urge all of you to continue to support local journalism.

Yes, you read that correctly. After five years with Birmingham Patch, I am moving from Birmingham to take on another exciting opportunity in Huntsville. It is a bittersweet move, as I love the Magic City and all it has to offer. And I have been lucky to be able to cover news in Birmingham, especially on this platform.

You see, I have watched my profession change exponentially in the last 20 years. When I was writing for Fun & Stuff Magazine in college covering Birmingham City Council meetings, we didn't even have a website. Heck, the internet was really just in its infancy at the time. People read newspapers and magazines and didn't scroll through their phones to read news.

People didn't have social media and blogs that provided echo chambers where they could just read "news" they agreed with. People put their trust in local journalists to keep them informed.

My first newspaper job was with the Daily Home in Talladega, and while we did have a website, 99 percent of our readers read the news in the paper the day after the news happened. The 24-hour news cycle has been both a blessing and a curse to my profession. True, the public gets informed quickly, but the rush to be quick sometimes comes at the expense of accuracy. This is something we as journalists have had to really adapt to, and we are still catching up with the technology.

I have watched sadly as so many small newspapers and community news outlets have had to close up shop as the Walmartization of America has hit my profession hard. Large media companies have taken over small newspapers and when hard economic times hit, the small news outlets are the first on the chopping block.

This leaves a serious void in local communities that I feel is detrimental to them in so many ways. I mean, I get it, we all need to know about what is going on in Washington and what's happening worldwide, but knowing what is happening in your own neighborhood is just as important, if not more so.

Local news is where it all begins as far what is important. But social media, cable news and the million or so bloggers out there muddying the waters have taken the spotlight and importance away from local news. And that is not only a shame, but a catastrophe.

Nowadays, news media outlets are either "left wing media" or "right wing media" or "fake news" or whatever else you want to call it. The watering down of media has made people have to read multiple sources to get to what really happened. "Is this a left-leaning media outlet or a right-leaning outlet? Is this even really true?"

None of those questions should have to be asked when reading a news article. And that is why I love reporting local news. Take away all of the politics and tribalism and just TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED. That is what I came to Patch to do, and that is what I hope I helped create here in Birmingham.

I cannot stress enough how important it is that news reported by local people on local topics stay alive in our communities. Who knows better about how an issue impacts the community than someone who actually lives in that community?

So as I pack up my family and head to the Rocket City, I leave you with this: Please support local journalism. It is the lifeblood of our communities and it is vital to those who live in them. Knowledge, as the old saying goes, is power.