Appreciating Irony and Sparking Discussion

There's been a lot of talk about how newspaper readership is declining, and perhaps some recent news can give us an inkling as to why.

This morning, Kevin and Bean at KROQ based a comedy routine on an actual news story about "Pasadena Now" outsourcing its city council coverage to two Indian reporters. And no, I'm not being politically incorrect; I'm talking about Indians from India. Sample material - while interviewing someone at Pasadena Now who professes to be an American, the man (who says his accent is from Glendale) emphatically talks about his great love for hamburgers.

And yes, I appreciate the irony of Bean talking about remote coverage, but at least he is familiar with the area about which he broadcasts.

Can you cover a local city council from thousands of miles away? James Macpherson (editor/publisher at Pasadena Now) argues that you can:

Whether you’re at a desk in Pasadena or a desk in Mumbai, you’re still just a phone call or e-mail away from the interview.

Foothill Cities responds:

That's true, to a certain degree. The type of journalistic coverage Macpherson is talking about really could be done by someone in another country, largely because their "coverage" often consists of little more than glorified press releases and parroting of the local media....

it would be very difficult to understand the issues Pasadena faces, from a development perspective, without having your feet on the ground, without walking the streets of Pasadena....

Of course, that's not to stay that the state of local journalism in Pasadena and the Foothill Cities is just hunky dory. If anything, McPherson's decision demonstrates that the opposite is the case. Expectations for local reporting are such that it's not beyond the pale for him to hire someone in India.

Is Foothill Cities being super critical? I'm sure that Pasadena Now continues to maintain wonderful, in-depth coverage of the City Council. For example, here's the beginning of a Pasadena Now article, with yesterday's date, that previews tonight's City Council meeting:

The Pasadena City Council along with the Pasadena Unified Board of Education meet together in a joint session on Monday, May 14 at the Pasadena Conference Center, East Pavilion, 300 East Green Street, Pasadena, at 6:30 p.m. Free parking will be available.

The meeting begins with public comments, followed by the introductions of new Board of Education members Bob Harrison (Seat 4), Tom Selinske (Seat 6) and Renatta Cooper (Seat 2) and new City Councilmembers Jacque Robinson (District 1) and Margaret McAustin (District 2).

Pasadena City Manager Cynthia Kurtz and PUSD Superintendent Edwin Diaz will provide updates on joint city/PUSD projects including pre-employment physicals, school policing, emergency preparedness, the Madison Elementary School/Park and tennis courts at Pasadena High School and John Muir High School....

And no, it turns out that this wasn't 100% sourced from the agenda. Ironically, I personally find the agenda more interesting. Here's the first part of the agenda:

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a special joint meeting of the Pasadena City Council and the Pasadena Board of Education will be held on Monday, May 14, 2007, at the Pasadena Conference Center, East Pavilion, 300 East Green Street, Pasadena and by Teleconference at 51 Buckingham Gate Hotel - Room No. 1001, 51 Buckingham Gate, London, England. The special meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. to discuss the following items:
A. CALL TO ORDER
B. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
C. PUBLIC COMMENT ? LIMITED TO ITEMS ON THIS SPECIAL JOINT MEETING
AGENDA (An opportunity for public comment on items on the agenda will be provided
when the items are discussed.)
D. INTRODUCE NEW BOARD OF EDUCATION MEMBERS
E. INTRODUCE NEW CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS
F. INTRODUCE EDWIN DIAZ, NEW SUPERINTENDENT
G. UPDATE ON CURRENT JOINT PROJECTS
* Pre-Employment Physicals
* School Policing
* Emergency Preparedness
* Madison School/Park
* Tennis Courts at Pasadena High School and John Muir High School

I praise the Pasadena Now writers for omitting mention of the Pledge of Allegiance (they probably realize that this would encite Controversy), and someone did some research to find out who the new board members are, but I find it interesting that they made no mention of the teleconference with England. Perhaps it's just me, but why didn't the Indian who was writing about the California meeting mention that people from England would be participating?

I know nothing of Pasadena politics - heck, I know very little of Ontario politics - but I'm just trying to imagine what would happen if David Allen (as opposed to Allen David) got kicked off the staff of the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin and they hired someone remotely to offer local coverage out here.

When the Ontario Mountain Village Association claimed that the new Wal Mart would be in a residential area, the remote person would BELIEVE it, and not worry about the old Toys R Us, the old Ralphs, the old Target, and all of the other stores in the "residential" area. (And perhaps the remote person wouldn't be disgusted by the empty, barren, graffiti-infested area that the Ontario Mountain Village Association has foisted on the citizens of Ontario.)

When Metrolink was discussed, perhaps the remote person would envision all of us walking to the nearest Metrolink stop for our morning commute to Irvine.

So...who's REALLY gonna cover the Pasadena City Council?

outsource

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