Dan GillmorDec 30, 2022

The Santos/fraud situation is bad news for journalism on two grounds, but the Washington Post noticed only one of them.

The Post's coverage highlights Big Journalism's utter failure to do its job in a timely way even when a smaller news org had blown the whistle on some of Santos' lies weeks before the election.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/12/29/north-shore-leader-santos-scoop/

1/x

(Edited to remove errant apostrophe...)

A tiny paper broke the George Santos scandal but no one paid attention

The North Shore Leader was onto his lies months before he was elected in New York.

The Washington Post
Show threadDan GillmorDec 30, 2022

That was bad enough. But there's another journalistic aspect to this situation that may be even worse.

The small news org that did cover the Santos deceit didn't have enough clout in its own community to make a difference.

There was a time in local journalism when coverage of (and scathing anti-Santos editorial about) the candidate's lies would have been enough to ensure his defeat.

2/x

Show threadDan GillmorDec 30, 2022

As local news orgs shrink in reach and authority, their ability to help set a public agenda is shrinking, too.

The North Shore Leader did timely and important work on Santos and his lies. (Example: https://www.theleaderonline.com/single-post/santos-filings-now-claim-net-worth-of-11-million) It deserves major kudos for that.

But we should all be worried that local news has eroded to such a degree that even this kind of work can't make the difference it should.

3/x

Santos Filings Now Claim Net Worth of $11 Million

By Maureen Daly Controversial US congressional candidate George Santos has finally filed his Personal Financial Disclosure Report on September 6th - 20 months late - and he is claiming an inexplicable rise in his alleged net worth to $11 million.. Two years ago, in 2020, Santos' personal financial disclosures claimed that he had no assets over $5,000 - no bank accounts, no stock accounts, no real property. A net worth barely above "zero". And his income was only just over $50,000 for the pr

theleader
Show threadJoseph Dennis
@dangillmor The local news in my area is nothing more than the police blotter. They totally ignored Ohio HB 458 and an ignorant public passed it based on misleading titles. Now people are losing more voting rights.
Dec 30, 2022 at 4:27amWeb
Show threadCypherDec 30, 2022
@jd1515151 @dangillmor is owned by Grannet?
Show threadDry as toastDec 31, 2022
@jd1515151 @dangillmor same here. Our local newspaper covers high school, sports, crime, & that’s about it. Of course, it’s part of a struggling corporate chain. Papers used to be profitable, now all the owners are stuck with these unprofitable community institutions - white elephants. It’s a shame that none of these cos bothered to build their local news team & strive for excellence. Most owners were just interested in siphoning money out of the local community.