This was a wonderfully eloquent way to put it. My wife and I particularly loved the ridiculous bit about the air freshener comparison. You illustrated so well the deeply superficial view of our region that it represented, and the resource extraction analogy is going to stay with me for a while.
I live on Whidbey Island, in Island County, Washington, one of those counties with only one newspaper, and a sad one at that. Our paper was part of the Sound Publishing Group which also owned the Everett Herald. Sound Publishing was taken over by Carpenter Media out of Alabama. Several good friends at the Everett Herald lost their jobs during the ensuing layoffs. While a few have landed jobs at other outlets such as the Seattle Times, many are lost to journalism. I gave up on the NYT a while ago. I rely on the LA Times, and particularly their environmental reporters, Sammy Roth, Ian James, and Rosanna Xia, for example, for better coverage of the issues facing the west.
As if the demise of newspapers wasn't enough, in the past year we've lost Hakai Magazine and now Yes! Magazine, and we've seen Outside Magazine reduced to click bait.
Even though I live only 60 feet above sea level, I give thanks to High Country News. HCN feels like all we have left.
Fellow B-student here! Helicopter journalism is prevalent in the UK too (I'm in Scotland, choppers from London arrive regularly). Good read, very incisive. The pine air freshener reference is condescending and devoid of self-awareness.
Though I was totally opposed to what happened at the Malheur Refuge, I could see how it grew out of a mistrust of "helicopter government" by people I could identify with - and grew up around. Which are very similar feelings to those brought on by "helicopter reporting". People not from around here will not be able to explain or understand.
A big fat yes to all of this; flying in journos when we have plenty here who are excellent is a terrible decision that does disservice to their readers.
Can only agree from the bottom of my gut with everything you wrote here about this kind of journalism being extractive. It's absolutely true (and is also why I eventually stopped doing travel writing -- no matter how well done, it's still an outsider trying to tell the story of people and place). Thanks for holding the ground.
I still don't understand how my area got lucky enough to have both a daily and a weekly newspaper still (I'd love to know more about Hagadone, who own our daily and who do a lot of dedicated local reporting), but I'm grateful for them and am always worried they'll disappear -- not helped by knowing how few local people think it's important to read them.
That’s really interesting to hear this played into your decision. I think there is some merit to being a travel writer and admitting you’re an outside though, right? But how to ensure the final piece isn’t extractive is a fine line, I’m sure. I think there are also ways I have to thread this needle: I don’t live in Montana or Idaho, but I do write about those places. It’s all an interesting thing to think about.
I’m really glad you still have two papers! If I’m not mistaken Hagadone is based in Coeur d’Alene…? I don’t know much about them.
Well, I think it’s less that I was worried about my own writing (although there was still some hesitation about that) than the overwhelming approach of a lot of popular travel writing at the time, especially in Eastern Europe and Russia where I paid most attention. A lot of bro-dudes.
There was a line I read in Decolonizing Methodologies a while back, about anthropology research in Indigenous communities. The author talked about travel narratives from the early years of settlement in New Zealand (she’s Maori), and the concept of “traveling through” a place and people. I think about that all the time now, how slippery and subtle it can be, not always knowing when we’re doing it, myself included, obviously!
Your writing is always important and compelling.
Yes, Hagadone is. It’s family-owned I believe. It’s just curious to me because I don’t hear it mentioned much, but since it’s my daily paper I can see the dedication they have to local reporting. In the journalism climate, it’s an interesting outlier and I hope it survives.
"This sensory description — pine tree air fresheners — contains a callousness toward nature that snubs the place entirely."
Agreed. I'm also going to be that forester and point out to anyone who writes about pine (I'm looking at you, NYC and similar) that not all conifers are pine, a generic term that drives me crazy. Also, I tend to smell like a mixture of tree sap, bug dope and in recent years, smoke from all the fires we are having up here. My husband says I smell awesome and the cats find it very interesting.
Our local newspaper was looking like it was going under, but was purchased a couple of years ago by a local businessman (owns an independent games store), and while conservative leaning, he has managed to hire a couple of newbie journalists with some education and it seems to be (so far) fairly objective in reporting. It's something, given that the bigger, Vancouver-centred media never really pays any attention to Prince George and northern BC unless it is bad or controversial.
We also have a local gem of a journalist, Andrew Kurjata, with CBC, who is Prince George born and raised. He writes on Substack too (https://akurjata.substack.com/). CBC also went through a hiring of 39 new journalists to serve underrepresented communities across Canada. There is hope in public broadcasting, although in recent years very much threatened by calls to "defund the CBC".
A mixture of sap and bug dope honestly smells better than those air fresheners! I’m sorry to hear the decimation of journalism has hit your corner of the world too, but I’m glad the paper near you has found new life! I will check out that CBC reporter!
This was a wonderfully eloquent way to put it. My wife and I particularly loved the ridiculous bit about the air freshener comparison. You illustrated so well the deeply superficial view of our region that it represented, and the resource extraction analogy is going to stay with me for a while.
C student here, although it wasn't the math!
I live on Whidbey Island, in Island County, Washington, one of those counties with only one newspaper, and a sad one at that. Our paper was part of the Sound Publishing Group which also owned the Everett Herald. Sound Publishing was taken over by Carpenter Media out of Alabama. Several good friends at the Everett Herald lost their jobs during the ensuing layoffs. While a few have landed jobs at other outlets such as the Seattle Times, many are lost to journalism. I gave up on the NYT a while ago. I rely on the LA Times, and particularly their environmental reporters, Sammy Roth, Ian James, and Rosanna Xia, for example, for better coverage of the issues facing the west.
As if the demise of newspapers wasn't enough, in the past year we've lost Hakai Magazine and now Yes! Magazine, and we've seen Outside Magazine reduced to click bait.
Even though I live only 60 feet above sea level, I give thanks to High Country News. HCN feels like all we have left.
Fellow B-student here! Helicopter journalism is prevalent in the UK too (I'm in Scotland, choppers from London arrive regularly). Good read, very incisive. The pine air freshener reference is condescending and devoid of self-awareness.
Though I was totally opposed to what happened at the Malheur Refuge, I could see how it grew out of a mistrust of "helicopter government" by people I could identify with - and grew up around. Which are very similar feelings to those brought on by "helicopter reporting". People not from around here will not be able to explain or understand.
A big fat yes to all of this; flying in journos when we have plenty here who are excellent is a terrible decision that does disservice to their readers.
I’m so bummed you won’t be in Boston but hopefully we get to cross paths IRL very soon!
Me too! I was very much looking forward to that trip.
Can only agree from the bottom of my gut with everything you wrote here about this kind of journalism being extractive. It's absolutely true (and is also why I eventually stopped doing travel writing -- no matter how well done, it's still an outsider trying to tell the story of people and place). Thanks for holding the ground.
I still don't understand how my area got lucky enough to have both a daily and a weekly newspaper still (I'd love to know more about Hagadone, who own our daily and who do a lot of dedicated local reporting), but I'm grateful for them and am always worried they'll disappear -- not helped by knowing how few local people think it's important to read them.
That’s really interesting to hear this played into your decision. I think there is some merit to being a travel writer and admitting you’re an outside though, right? But how to ensure the final piece isn’t extractive is a fine line, I’m sure. I think there are also ways I have to thread this needle: I don’t live in Montana or Idaho, but I do write about those places. It’s all an interesting thing to think about.
I’m really glad you still have two papers! If I’m not mistaken Hagadone is based in Coeur d’Alene…? I don’t know much about them.
Well, I think it’s less that I was worried about my own writing (although there was still some hesitation about that) than the overwhelming approach of a lot of popular travel writing at the time, especially in Eastern Europe and Russia where I paid most attention. A lot of bro-dudes.
There was a line I read in Decolonizing Methodologies a while back, about anthropology research in Indigenous communities. The author talked about travel narratives from the early years of settlement in New Zealand (she’s Maori), and the concept of “traveling through” a place and people. I think about that all the time now, how slippery and subtle it can be, not always knowing when we’re doing it, myself included, obviously!
Your writing is always important and compelling.
Yes, Hagadone is. It’s family-owned I believe. It’s just curious to me because I don’t hear it mentioned much, but since it’s my daily paper I can see the dedication they have to local reporting. In the journalism climate, it’s an interesting outlier and I hope it survives.
"This sensory description — pine tree air fresheners — contains a callousness toward nature that snubs the place entirely."
Agreed. I'm also going to be that forester and point out to anyone who writes about pine (I'm looking at you, NYC and similar) that not all conifers are pine, a generic term that drives me crazy. Also, I tend to smell like a mixture of tree sap, bug dope and in recent years, smoke from all the fires we are having up here. My husband says I smell awesome and the cats find it very interesting.
Our local newspaper was looking like it was going under, but was purchased a couple of years ago by a local businessman (owns an independent games store), and while conservative leaning, he has managed to hire a couple of newbie journalists with some education and it seems to be (so far) fairly objective in reporting. It's something, given that the bigger, Vancouver-centred media never really pays any attention to Prince George and northern BC unless it is bad or controversial.
We also have a local gem of a journalist, Andrew Kurjata, with CBC, who is Prince George born and raised. He writes on Substack too (https://akurjata.substack.com/). CBC also went through a hiring of 39 new journalists to serve underrepresented communities across Canada. There is hope in public broadcasting, although in recent years very much threatened by calls to "defund the CBC".
https://www.cbc.ca/news/editorsblog/editor-s-blog-local-news-cbc-hires-1.7430811
A mixture of sap and bug dope honestly smells better than those air fresheners! I’m sorry to hear the decimation of journalism has hit your corner of the world too, but I’m glad the paper near you has found new life! I will check out that CBC reporter!