Other day, got an e-mail from a nice lady:
Has there been any news reports on the new Sonic Burger opening in Bend? Just curious about it since the last couple days cars have been lined up down the highway waiting to get into the restaurant. I didn’t see anything about it on your website.
My reply:
Well, no, we haven’t covered the latest restaurant opening frenzy in Bend. The paper had a photo and caption, just adding to the hordes who got the word through word of mouth or passing by. We figured it was pretty well known and didn’t need a “free ad” from us- heck, even read a blogger waxing poetic over their little ice cubes.
Her reply – again, in a tone so much appreciated compared to the nasty, accusatory stuff we all too often get:
I appreciate your reply Barney, but I see it in a completely different way. So here’s an example of how one reader/viewer thinks:
It’s not just the latest restaurant opening frenzy in Bend; it’s so much more. It’s a traffic congestion story for one. On Wednesday, May 21st, traffic was backed up coming from the North as far back as the jail. It became such an issue that the highway department lit up a big flashing sign warning drivers of a heavy traffic area. Peoples lives and commutes were being effected.
You’re not the paper. Who cares what the paper had; not everyone looks at the paper. Is it your norm to pick and choose stories based on what the paper is doing? Isn’t every single news story you do a “free ad” in one way or another? Does KTVZ support the economy in Bend? What about the jobs that are being provided for by Sonic?
Who cares if you were criticized for doing a story on Trader Joe’s. Shouldn’t dictate how you handle something now. I believe the majority of us appreciated hearing about a new business opening in that area of Bend. Progress is beautiful. Improvements are wonderful.
People in North Bend and Sisters now have a quality fast food restaurant on “their” end of town. It’s been a long time coming. This is a big deal to us. A piece of land in our town is now bursting with life after years of being vacant and depressed. It’s nice to see improvement there after watching the Tom Tom close and the truck stop shut down. I love that things are happening there again.
Sonic has a really good bacon cheese burger toaster. My son really likes them and wants to go get one right now.
And last but not least…It’s a happy story as opposed to sad or scary…which is primarily what we’re used to hearing. We need more happy, exciting and fun in our lives right now. Times are hard. You’re missing out on all the fun. Let’s hear it for Sonic. Welcome to Bend.
And again, my reply:
…you make all your points very well. One thing I forgot to tell YOU was – I’m NOT the news director and am only one voice in about four (news director, show producers) on what we do/don’t cover. And I win some, lose some. Every day I do a list of 30 or so story ideas, and on good days, roughly a third turn into stories. There’s always hundreds more story ideas than there are time in the show, reporters not already tied up, time conflicts etc.
Yes, the paper influences what stories we do and how we treat them, to some degree. So does radio, our TV competition, etc. We don’t necessarily DO or NOT DO stories based on what others do, but it DOES play a role – as it does for every media outlet.
We sure don’t want to look like we’re chasing the paper (or anyone else’s) tail – some folks think we just rip stories out of the paper and read them – nothing could be further from the truth. Give me two stories of roughly equal importance (a judgment call there!), one that other media outlets have had and the other newly discovered by us, and we’ll always do the latter – we don’t want to look/sound like everyone else.
This is a worthwhile discussion…”
…and I went on to ask if I could post it here. Haven’t heard back, so I figure it’s safe, leaving out her name (I’ll add it if she’s comfortable with it.)
So, let me add on a few thoughts. Some folks think we should cheer good economic news. Others think we should spend more time on the bad things folks do. Heck, we did what I thought was an innocuous story on the crummy weather heading into the weekend, and … well, here’s the post by someone labeled “Stay positive”:
Can we keep the negative news confined to the TV broadcast please? Why does everyone in the world with an internet connection need to know that we’re having bad weather during the first big weekend of the summer season? What good does that do for the Realtors and tourism-driven businesses?”
That prompted the predictable reaction from other commenters of “what in the world???” – and I have to admit, I even wonder if it was tongue-in-cheek? Surely, no one expects us to tilt our coverage to not tell outsiders the weather isn’t perfect every holiday?
We also had a story recently about a USA Today article that referred in its headline to Bend as “the new Boulder.” The reaction in postings was strong, and predictable – many incredulous that anyone could do a nice write-up about Bend – asking if he’d ever even VISITED the place – and others pointing to the long, familiar list of problems here (housing prices dropping like a rock, not enough well-paying jobs, a city government running short of cash, etc. etc.)
It all reminded me of one of my first stories at The Bulletin, back in 1991. Talked to authors of a book called “50 Fabulous Places to Raise Your Family.”
They started with a list of 250 or so metro areas. They thought they’d have trouble narrowing it to 50 – they had trouble coming up with 50 – and they decided they needed to talk to newcomers, because in just about every city listed, the longer folks had lived there, the more incredulous they were that anyone would ever think that town was a good place to raise a family!
That’s because the longer you live somewhere, the more familiar you are with its shortcomings, the more you take for granted its niceties – or miss what it was like when you arrived (wishing someone had shut the gate behind you).
People in Bend like to think that’s something unique to here. It’s a universal trait. Reminds me also of what a fired city manager told me years ago, after he got the heave-ho after many years in the job: “Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate.”
So if you do a positive story about the place you live, you’re a chamber-of-commerce suck-up, a member of the Good Old Boys. If you do a negative one, you’re unfairly attacking, etc. etc. It’s gone from “you can’t please everyone” to “good luck pleasing anyone.”
But still, we keep trying. 😉 What do you think? What if you were a news director – what would be your guiding principles about “free ads,” story selection, etc? Because if nothing else, the Internet has made it possible for everyone to play the role of “news editor,” picking what topics they’re interested in, etc.
Leave it to Barney 
