“The Big Story Written Small,” about the shortcomings
of daily newspapers in the West was well- written and informative
(HCN, 10/13/03: The Big Story Written Small).
However, I
was taken aback to read that my own hometown newspaper, the Arizona
Daily Sun, was one of nine newspapers to be awarded the first
Wallace Stegner Award for exemplary environmental
reporting.
It is very sad to think that the Arizona Daily
Sun may be among the cream of the Western newspaper crop. Having
worked for two years as an assistant editor in the newsroom of the
paper, I know all too well how dimly the Sun shines upon my fellow
townsfolk, and how frequently its reporting is derided by these
same townsfolk. If you attend public meetings in this town, you
will very often find someone mentioning a significant factual error
in that day’s newspaper. It is no wonder that some people
call it the Arizona Daily Scum.
The only explanation that
might explain why the Sun won the Stegner Award is that at the time
that the paper was evaluated, it had two competent reporters on the
environmental beat, as well as a city editor with a passion for the
outdoors. All three of these folks have moved on. It has been a
long time since I have read an article in the Sun that delved
deeply into any local environmental topic.
After I left
the Arizona Daily Sun, my wife and I and a few friends started a
monthly newspaper called Flagstaff Tea Party. For two years, we
reported many of the stories that the Sun would not touch, mostly
focusing on environmental issues.
Unfortunately, the
donations that made our work possible never quite paid all the
bills, and we had to stop publishing.
If there is one
thing I learned from that experience, it is that we have a very
real crisis in this country when it comes to newspapers and
journalism. Too many important stories never get covered at all. I
still subscribe to the Sun but some days I have to wonder why. Some
days the newspaper is nothing more than a few skimpy scraps of
newsprint holding together a ream of pre-printed advertising
inserts from the big-box stores.
Dan Frazier
Flagstaff, Arizona
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The Daily Sun doesn’t shine.
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