May 2010

[Commentary] The Local Community Radio Act awaits passage in the Senate. Sen Patrick Leahy (D-VT), "This is a far different Senate than I have ever seen." He noted that in just the last eight or nine months, there had been more than 100 filibusters, a number normally seen over a much longer span — like, 50 years. Without saying so explicitly, he also insinuated that the Senate has been a tad preoccupied with some weightier matters: health care, financial collapse, war, etc. But low power radio remains important to him: "Because I live in a rural area in Middlesex where I see more and more of our radio stations homogenized by out-of-state ownership. These low-power stations really give you a sense of what's happening locally." Asked about the bill's prospects, he said, "It will pass. Soon."

[Commentary] As the fortunes of the press (and particularly of the newspapers that have long played a key watchdog role) decline, costs must be cut, especially news costs. That means fewer reporters on the beat. And when the statehouse is far away-when developments there are not a "local" story -- the capital bureau becomes an easy target.

The American Journalism Review reported last year that the number of full-time reporters assigned to state capitals had dropped by one-third in six years, to an average of just seven reporters per state. What is to be done about this? It is clearly impractical, at this late date, to propose the relocation of most of the nation's state capitals. And this is no time in the news business to recommend adding to the total reporting staffs at newspapers. Perhaps new entities, such as the online Texas Tribune (headquartered in Austin, and where I am a member of the advisory board) or California Watch (located in Berkeley and Sacramento) can provide some of the answer. Surely, my own home state of New York would be well-served by the creation of such a group. But at the same time, local publishers who think of themselves as serving their readers' broad interests—the sorts of publishers who continue to fund international reporting, for instance—need also to remember that their own state capitals may be out of sight, but cannot afford to be kept understaffed and thus out of mind.

[Commentary] It's clear that Philadelphians love their libraries. Now they have a historic opportunity to shape their future.

The timing is good. As the city struggles with the economic downturn, low high school graduation rates, and high levels of illiteracy and poverty, the Free Library of Philadelphia is embarking on a strategic planning process, and Mayor Nutter is looking to rebuild the system in the not-too-distant future. That's why the mayor and the library system have joined forces with the Friends of the Free Library to host a series of "Libraries of the Future" public forums. The Free Library, Nutter, and the Friends want citizens to imagine a properly funded, vibrant library system in which libraries are regarded as a necessity for all kinds of people: preschoolers, students, teens, parents, seniors, scholars, immigrants, entrepreneurs, and especially the city's disadvantaged - the 25 percent of us who live in poverty, and the 50 percent who lack computer access at home.

While governments and other organizations are stepping up efforts at providing more information for public consumption, they should also provide tools to allow people to interpret this data, argued a Microsoft social media researcher.

"Information is power, but interpretation is more powerful," said Danah Boyd, speaking at the at the O'Reilly Gov 2.0 Expo, being held this week in Washington, D.C. "We want this information out there. We want people to make informed decisions. But we also want to give them to tools to interpret what we see," she said. Speaking before an audience of mostly government executives and supporting contractors, she had stated that it is not enough to provide information to the people -- as government agencies are doing -- because tools must also be provided to aid in the interpretation process. "We need to think not just how we want to make data available but how to help people process it," she said. Such skills will not come about simply "because people have access to information," she said. Without such tools, information can be misused.