I wrote a few days ago about an event I had personal knowledge about:
> The local newspapers were the best. They didn't report false facts - they verified them. They had the most detail (continual coverage over months rather than random sensational headlines).
Unless they're directly copying from press releases or, worse, police reports. Too many local (and for that matter, even national) papers don't have the money left to do actual boots-on-the-ground journalism.
(re)Publishing statements from police/Gov/bigcorp - verbatim & w/o vetting for accuracy or context - is a scourge in local news rooms.
Bigger news orgs are absolutely guilty of this but I can pick up any local paper, anywhere/any day, and find an example. It's pretty discouraging.
Of course, this was a big case in the region. For small cases, I find that both the local and national news outlets simply suck.
He was, of course, not merely acquitted but proven innocent later. I think they made a movie about that this year, but due to Covid it's been a long while since I've seen anything.
This was 15 years ago, I imagine it's only gotten worse.
The idea that news is only printed media long ago passed.
edit : the idea here is at the local level the source of news is flipped when compared to what is valuable at a national level.