Saratoga News

Reporting the News in Our Little Corner of the World

By Dale Bryant

The Saratoga News is an unabashedly local community newspaper. That means we publish news about Saratoga. I don't think for a minute that Saratogans get all their news from our paper. In marketing parlance, what we're doing here is filling a niche. Our role is to write about what's happening in this community and, as best we can, let those who live and work--and visit--here know how it affects them. It doesn't mean we think nothing else in the world is interesting or that we think Saratogans aren't interested in anything outside of this community. It's just that we've drawn our parameters, and it's where we intend to stay.

That's why the real estate company that sends me a press release every time the firm hires a new agent for its Palo Alto office is wasting its time. And why we don't run stories about street fairs in Mountain View or festivals in San Jose. It's the reason that every fax from the Business Wire about software companies in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., gets tossed. I must admit, though, as someone who once worked in the public relations field, I do wonder if those PR firms are charging clients for every press release they send out!

In the four years that I've worked for community newspapers, I've often wondered what possesses people to send out so many press releases to community newspapers. I suspect there's a list of every media outlet in the state, and with the flick of a switch, we all get copies of useless information every day. If the computer made the paperless office a possibility, the fax machine certainly became the antidote.

State Attorney General Dan Lungren, for instance, sends us lots of "suggested op/ed" pieces. And when he was pushing the Three Strikes legislation a couple of years ago, we were invited, via fax, to cover--live--a "Three Strikes and You're Out" victory party at 305 E. Harvard St. in Fresno.

Isn't anyone worried about how many trees lose their lives so everyone in the world can try to clutter up the desks of community editors?

I once received via the old-fashioned U.S. Postal Service a 16-page, single-spaced communique from a "retired scoutmaster and World War II veteran" who talked about Ben Franklin and the Continental Congress, socialism, the fall of the Roman Empire and lots more. The bottom line, I think, was that the author, a resident of Alexandria, Va., was proposing a people's amendment to the United States Constitution, a partnership between government and the people, the "final Bill of Rights."

I often get on email lists of mailing services who send me URGENT! information on everything from intrigue in Bosnia to software releases in Boston to announcements of new Web sites.

On occasion, I've been the recipient of orchestrated mail-in campaigns intended to convince me that many of my readers were members of some group or other. The campaign that sticks in my mind involved the National Rifle Association.

I received little pink postcards, each with the same typed message demanding that I give gun owners "fair and equal treatment," and pointing out that I would be offending a huge number of my readers if I didn't behave myself. The problem was that the postmarks were from Morgan Hill, Gilroy, Redwood City, San Jose and many points in between. Frankly, I don't care what anyone in those communities thinks about guns.

And this brings us to that issue of local versus nonlocal news. In my role as editor of a community newspaper, I really don't care what the NRA thinks about the media. And I don't care if they convince 1,000 of their readers to send me a form letter demanding that I give gun owners "fair and equal treatment."

I would like to know what gun owners in Saratoga think. In fact, I'd be delighted to run a commentary from a local gun owner that helps expand the discussion on the role of guns in society. I already know why the NRA doesn't want any controls on guns. I'd like to know if local gun owners and/or hunters are as concerned about such issues as bans on assault weapons. We can do that without PR firms sending us press releases or legislators including us on their fax distribution lists or orchestrated mail-in campaigns.

In an era of instantaneous news, at a time when an editor could theoretically throw together a weekly newspaper just by pulling press releases off the fax machine, I believe the greatest contribution a community newspaper can make to readers is to provide a forum for community dialogue. A place where we can talk to our neighbors about concerns and issues. An over-the-fence chat, if you will.

And I also think it's my job to ensure that the Saratoga News stays on top of local issues and presents them objectively as part of our contribution to the community forum.

I'm looking forward to a long, continuing dialogue.

Dale Bryant is the editor of the Saratoga News.

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