How Which Media Outlets We Read Can Affect Our Views: Another Shout-Out to Local News

Vince Bzdek of the Colorado Springs Gazette wrote a piece on Sunday that described a Knight poll:

I’ve observed this myself:

“Recent studies have suggested the loss of local news coverage in many areas may be a factor in Americans’ current level of political polarization,” the Knight study concludes, “as national news outlets tend to focus more on issues that have a partisan angle or include partisan conflict.”

Bzdek goes on:

But this one surprised me. More than eight in 10 Americans also believe the news media has the ability to heal such divisions.

What? you say. How? you ask.

A separate Gallup/Knight Foundation web survey conducted in December 2019 asked Americans that very question.

The No. 1 answer was ensuring reporters cover people who have views different from their own with respect and understanding (89%). That was followed closely by hiring reporters who come from a variety of different backgrounds, both ethnic and ideological (80%).

About three-quarters of Americans (74%) think hosting forums that bring people from different backgrounds together to discuss their experiences (like the Gazette’s Community Conversations) are healing.

And 66% say it would be healing if we covered more stories about people trying to engage in civil discourse on issues.

In sum, a majority of you believe that local media can help restore sorely needed social capital to our communities. With your support, healthy vibrant local media can be the Gorilla Glue that helps put this country back together

About three-quarters of Americans (74%) think hosting forums that bring people from different backgrounds together to discuss their experiences (like the Gazette’s Community Conversations) are healing.

And 66% say it would be healing if we covered more stories about people trying to engage in civil discourse on issues.

In sum, a majority of you believe that local media can help restore sorely needed social capital to our communities. With your support, healthy vibrant local media can be the Gorilla Glue that helps put this country back together.

The bolded part reflects what we do here at The Smokey Wire. Sometimes I’ve found it hard to explain why we do this, but I like the idea of it being “healing.”

I’ll just highlight two stories that I think reflect the local vs. national tendencies (and, of course, funding by national groups can affect local stories).

State Political Antics:

NOTE: THIS HAS BEEN CORRECTED, THANKS TO MATTHEW, I MISREAD THE ARTICLE IN COPO, THANKS, MATTHEW!

This one from Colorado Politics talks about Governor Polis’ appointing some fairly unusual folks to the State Wildlife and Parks Board, and even a former WEG general counsel under a slot for production agriculture (which strikes some folks as odd, including me; imagine if the Forest Service in this Administration had a FACA committee with a slot for environmental groups and selected someone from the Farm Bureau?).

We can get an idea of nuts and bolts of State Government from local news.  Previously we’ve discussed an OPB story on how Oregon treats the timber industry. This Colorado Politics article talks about the nuts and bolts of appointments to the State Wildlife and Parks Board, and talks about representation from different parts of the State- or not – and did an open records search to see who was recommending folks and where they were from.  The CoPo article asked the question “if the idea was to get more people on the commission from the Eastern Plains, is someone who moved there three years ago and appeared to be splitting his time appropriate (Tutchton of WEG)?”.  But the fact is that Polis doesn’t have to appoint anyone from the Eastern Plains or the Western Slope to the Commission if he doesn’t want to.

But I think it’s important that someone reports on this, because otherwise we probably wouldn’t have an idea for how the State is working. Covering States is also important IMHO because that’s where governments have to get many things done, and they are the incubators for policy change. I don’t think we can get an idea of government in the US if we just focus on the Feds which of course national media tend to do. At least here in Colorado, there has been a history of working across party lines at the state level.

People Working Together To Do Good Things:

This one from this morning in the Gazette about a new conservation easement in SW Colorado-here the framing is ranches are better than subdivisions. In this framing, ranchers are partners, not enemies, of conservation and are good for wildlife and watersheds. Of course, this depends on the assumed alternatives, on federal lands it’s “no cows”; on private, it’s subdivisions and resorts.

The private ranches will remain that; the public can roam the peripheries, South San Juan Wilderness to the west, Rio Grande National Forest to the east and Continental Divide Trail to the north. The easements mean “what gets restricted and eliminated forever is subdivisions and any kind of significant development,” Quinlan said. “You’ll never see a resort in this valley.”

On Banded Peak Ranch, the easement preserves 33 miles of streams feeding a system especially critical to New Mexico. The tributaries benefit the San Juan-Chama Project, supplying drinking water for up to 90% of Albuquerque.

Along with water, conservationists had wildlife in mind in the mission. Elk, bighorn sheep, peregrine falcons and the federally threatened Canada lynx call the area home. As does a particular strain of cutthroat trout believed extinct until a 2018 discovery.

That all being said, if you run across a local story on our issues that you think has an interesting angle to it, please share with me at my email and I will round them up and post a collection. PSA if you can, please support your local news!

8 thoughts on “How Which Media Outlets We Read Can Affect Our Views: Another Shout-Out to Local News”

  1. Good Lord, Sharon. If you’re going to try and take down someone, at least shoot straight and get your facts straight. Seriously, check out what you just did because you apparently didn’t bother to do even some basic research, on top of apparently misunderstanding what was even written in the first place.

    RE: State Political Antics

    Here’s what the article from coloradopolitics.com says:

    “Gov. Jared Polis named three new members to the state Parks and Wildlife Commission on July 8. Those appointments, however, are drawing criticism from some.

    The appointees:

    • Dallas Laverne May of Lamar as a representative of agriculture,

    • Duke Phillips IV of Colorado Springs as a representative of agriculture, and

    • James Jay Tutchton of Hasty as a representative of a nonprofit organization that promotes conservation and recognizes non-consumptive wildlife use.”

    You then make the very strange (and false) claim that Tutchton was appointed “under a slot for production agriculture (which strikes some folks as odd, including me; imagine if the Forest Service in this Administration had a FACA committee with a slot for environmental groups and selected someone from the Farm Bureau?).”

    That’s entirely NOT TRUE, Sharon!

    Not only does the article clearly state Tutchton was appointed “as a representative of a nonprofit organization” but you could actually go directly to the Colorado Parks & Wildlife Commission page and confirm that Tutchton was appointed as a “Representative: Non-profit Organizations.”

    Ironically, in a blog post titled “How Which Media Outlets We Read Can Affect Our Views,” your source is coloradopolitics.com. While you clearly misread what was actually written at that news site (and then created a whole false story based on your false information), coloradopolitics.com is owned by a conservative Denver billionaire and Republican donor named Phil Anschutz. According to Forbes, “Over five decades, Philip Anschutz has built fortunes in oil, railroads, telecom, real estate and entertainment.” He’s one of the richest people in America and big funder of the Republican Party.

    Finally, for whatever it is worth, the full bio for Tutchton on the Colorado Parks & Wildlife Commission website says this:

    Jay Tutchton is the Preserve Manager for the Southern Plains Land Trust (SPLT) based in Bent County, Colorado. He spends his days managing SPLT’s reintroduced bison herd and improving its 32,000-acre network of protected lands for the benefit of all native wildlife species. Together with SPLT, Tutchton strives to persuade people to fall in love with the lesser known half of Colorado, the prairie, and join the organization in restoring a small portion of what has been aptly termed a lost “American Serengeti.”

    Born in Arapahoe County, at a time when it was a much more rural area, Tutchton grew up playing outside and became captivated by the idea of protecting nature from rapidly expanding urban sprawl. He only willingly left the state to attend college and law school, at the University of Notre Dame and UCLA respectively, graduating with honors from both institutions, and then promptly returning home to protect the wild creatures and places he enjoyed as a child.

    As a lawyer Tutchton spent 27 years litigating in the Federal Court system throughout the United States, typically representing environmental organizations and individuals seeking to protect the environment. Tutchton also helped to start the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law and has taught a variety of courses on Wildlife, Animal, and Environmental Law. Among his greatest joys is introducing young lawyers to the possibilities of pursuing careers advocating for wildlife protection and a clean environment.

    An avid outdoor recreationist, and one committed to taking the road less traveled, Tutchton hopes to ensure that less-traveled paths remain available to future generations and that Colorado becomes the best state in the country to be a wild animal.

    Reply
    • Sharon: Can you please make a correction and/or update the original post for the section “State Political Antics?” I don’t believe readers of The Smokey Wire are served by blatantly false information left without a correction in the main post. Thanks.

      Reply
  2. Thanks for pointing out my misreading. I corrected it.

    Your attack on CoPo I don’t think is well-founded. All large newspapers seem to be owned by rich people or corporations…

    It takes money to pay reporters to investigate and do open records act searches. I, for one, am glad that someone is keeping an eye on both kinds of administrations. Honestly do you think it’s wrong for a newspaper to cover appointments to State Commissions and what people in the state think about it?

    I also thought this quote was funny “that Colorado becomes the best state in the country to be a wild animal.” To me, what might be the “best state” for the wolf might not be the best state if you’re an elk. But perhaps I am taking a sound bite too literally…

    Reply
    • FWIW: Here is what I wrote about coloradopolitics.com. It seems to fall way, way short of an “attack.”

      “coloradopolitics.com is owned by a conservative Denver billionaire and Republican donor named Phil Anschutz. According to Forbes, ‘Over five decades, Philip Anschutz has built fortunes in oil, railroads, telecom, real estate and entertainment.’ He’s one of the richest people in America and big funder of the Republican Party.”

      Reply
      • OK, I guess you were just providing helpful information, not questioning CoPo as a source. As in the Oregonian is owned by Advance Publications, or the WaPo is owned by Jeff Bezos.

        Reply
  3. You can infer bias from who owns it, or you can go to “experts” like mediabiasfactcheck.com:

    “Overall, we rate The Oregonian Right-Center biased based on editorial positions that slightly favor the right. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing of information and a clean fact check record.”

    “Overall, we rate The Washington Post Left-Center biased based on editorial positions that moderately favors the left and factually High due to the use of proper sources and a reasonable fact check record.”

    Maybe they’ll look at coloradopolitics soon (I suggested it to them), but to get at your point about local reporting, here is their recently added “Florida Politics:” “Overall, we rate Florida Politics Least Biased based on balanced story selection and opinion pieces that cover both right-leaning and left-leaning perspectives. We also rate them High for factual due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.”

    Reply
  4. Sharon there was a link within the Colorado Politics article to another long article in The Fence Post which had background that might not of been as complimentary. I can see how very large land owner hobbyist absentee ranchers might actually like the appointment of a professional land manager. Less so an anti animal agriculture vegan to State Board of Veterinarians. The person Polis appointed is on record as looking forward to a time when we no longer raise animals to be eaten and is show in the accompanying photo arm and arm with Martin Ries first gentleman and animal rights activist. https://www.thefencepost.com/news/the-continuing-war-on-rural-colorado-polis-advancement-of-activist-agenda-marches-on/

    The article goes on further about the appointments to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission. Not sure if you remember but a while ago Colorado Parks was joined with the Colorado Division of Wildlife because Wildlife makes lots of money (from hunters) and Parks was losing lots of money. Tuchton is a Denver attorney who has spent his life advocating the whacked idea of animal rights, as if a racoon is going to protest for BLM or something. Wild Earth Guardians, Earthjustice, Defenders of (certain kinds) of Wildlife, and so on. There are lots of descriptors hunters might use for such a person, a friend to hunters is not amongst them.

    Overall when I read the two linked articles you talked of I was left with an overall feeling of disquiet. They might be sources of local news, but the spin was supportive of the elite and wealthy.

    Mangers for hobbyist ranchers and anti hunters appointed to the CPW commission, and a huge tax break for another piece of land locked away forever from the general public (Banded Peak Ranch)

    Reply
    • Yes, actually my boss at the time at the Forest Service was applying for and ended up getting the combined position, so I was paying attention.

      If it wasn’t for local press, I (who don’t get the Fencepost) wouldn’t have known that this is going on at all. In my dealings, I have found ideologues to not be very helpful in participating on commissions. It’s an unnecessary stick in the eye to rural Coloradans, and I don’t know why a politician would do that- make unnecessary enemies. Some might argue that they are already enemies because they didn’t vote for him. That is a scary place for our state, let alone our country, to go. I’m going to write the Gov and raise these concerns. But my point is that I wouldn’t even have heard about it so I could write if it hadn’t been for CoPo.

      Another story, last fall I attended the Society of Environmental Journalism conference that was held in Fort Collins. Folks interviewed Gov. Polis- the only one who asked a question about views on supporting the livestock industry in Colorado. If you look at what he said it’s completely rational and at the same time all businesses and sectors are not the same. You can build an app anywhere but you can’t grow soybeans or coconuts. anywhere.https://www.coloradopolitics.com/news/polis-makes-pitch-for-meatless-options-in-colorado-ag/article_342a2ea0-bf00-11e9-9240-e7fe9076d826.html

      ys https://www.coloradopolitics.com/news/polis-makes-pitch-for-meatless-options-in-colorado-ag/article_342a2ea0-bf00-11e9-9240-e7fe9076d826.html

      But then, I’ve never understood politics and politicians.

      Reply

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