WE STILL NEED NEWSPAPERS #2

Back in April I wrote an item here about the necessity for newspapers.

As I wrote then, “Talk all you want about weekly alternatives, bloggers and citizen activists – and we need them badly as prods and sometimes even more – but newspapers have the heft, expertise and man/womanpower to go in depth on issues.”

Well, we have a bit of proof in the coverage by the Plain Dealer of the latest scandal in town.

The coverage of the raids at County offices and the detail contained in the Plain Dealer shows just why we will always need a newspaper – or something very much like one - for there to be enough reporters to gather the news. It takes people to gather and sift such information from numerous sources.

I counted six PD reporters dealing with the FBI/IRS probe and related matters and likely a number of others played some small roll in three pages of information today. I counted 10 PD people who worked on the breaking news story of the targets Commissioner Jimmy Dimora and Auditor Frank Russo and related individuals. That doesn’t count editorial or all the graphic work that goes into such a story.

Even the TV coverage I’ve seen has had some “meat” to the reports and TV news made interesting viewing with its helicopter shots of the rather extravagant homes and grounds of Russo and Dimora.