Comments on: West Michigan Media Mostly Ignores International Climate Summit

By: Local Media Fails in Climate Summit Coverage « Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:19:38 +0000

[...] previously reported the local coverage of the massive Summit is paltry at best and leaves much [...]

By: Local Media Fails in Climate Summit Coverage « Chasing Truth

Local Media Fails in Climate Summit Coverage « Chasing Truth — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:30:32 +0000

[...] previously reported the local coverage of the massive Summit is paltry at best and leaves much [...]

By: Kyla

Kyla — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 19:24:00 +0000

The Press published an AP article today but cut out the section that talked about the ongoing protests in Copenhagen. The caption under one of the two photos included by the Press says “Activists dispersed: Danish police push a small group of demonstrators back to a sidewalk…” making it seem that demonstrators are a measly group. The Press probably won’t run another story on Copenhagen, at least not for a while, so readers will never hear about the 25,000 plus who marched today or the 600-700 who were detained by police. Even if the Press does run another story, it is not likely to include information about who these demonstrators are, where else around the world they are demonstrating (including locally, as Jeff points out), or perhaps most importantly, what their demands are.

Similarly, Press readers with fine-toothed combs probably noticed the picture of a locked-out Light Metals worker on page A4 next to an article about the weather. The caption mentions that he is picketing, but doesn’t say why (of course, there is not enough space in a caption). I found a Press article online from back on Nov. 2 about the lock out, but no updates since then, although to me it is pretty newsworthy that they continue to stand outside after a month and a half.

By: Jeff Smith

Jeff Smith — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:53:35 +0000

I would agree with the local media being more entertainment than news. The main reason we critique the local media is that it is a main source of information for lots of people, so it is important to understand what people in this area are getting or not getting from these media sources, especially if you want to do any education or organizing.

By: Doug Burkholder

Doug Burkholder — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:46:23 +0000

West Michigan Media has NEVER been my authoritative for information ! more or less a form of amusement
Although the Grand Rapids Press did put me on the front page holding a picket sign against Spiro Agnew in the early seventies !
Bring back the student informer !