Local news is suffering at the hands of large publishing firms, judging by an attack accusing Lee Enterprises of “vandalizing” the Buffalo News.
Jim Heaney, an editor and executive director of the nonpartisan Investigative Post, took the News to task for allegedly letting the product deteriorate.
For instance, the News announced last week that it was “killing off Gusto, its weekly entertainment tab,” Heaney continues, although he adds: “It was a mercy killing in a sense.”
That’s one problem. Another is the charge that the News is relying too heavily on New York Times obituaries.
“A week ago Sunday, the paper’s local section included no fewer than five such obits, totaling some two pages, almost as much space as what was devoted to local news in the section,” Heaney writes.
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He continues: "As is usually the case, the deceased had no connection to Buffalo. In fact, most were complete strangers to a vast majority of the paper’s readers. For example, there was David Lodge, a British author who satirized academic life, and Jocelyn Wildenstein, a Swiss-born socialite."
And the number of obits devoted to Western New Yorkers? Zero, Heaney reports.
The report on the Sunday obituaries was not independently confirmed at deadline. And in the interest of full disclosure, it must be mentioned that Heaney worked at the News for 25 years. But Heaney argues the slackness is part of a pattern. He concludes: “Lee is doing a disservice to both the community and The News’ journalists, who are working hard to put out a respectable paper under very difficult circumstances.”