The Tennessean has a liberal editorial policy and sometimes conservatives disparage the newspaper as biased. I criticize the paper for what they don't report, but I think that may be a function of being understaffed rather than bias. I often think their news coverage is shallow and weak but occasionally they cover an issue in depth and do a good job.
I am often surprised at the number of otherwise informed people who seem to care about local government and their community but who do not subscribe to The Tennessean. I know sometimes it seems like there is not much news in newspapers and they may not be worth reading but I think that may be more reflective of readers who do not care much for real news, rather than newspapers that do not want to report the news. Unfortunately, as readership of newspapers fall, newspapers have smaller staffs and can report less news. I honestly think Americans have shorter attention spans than in the past and they want large pictures and lots of graphics rather than in depth news coverage.
Despite the availability of lots of sources for news, I think we may be less informed, especially about local issues, than ever before. When I served in the Council in the decade of the 80's we had two vibrant newspapers competing for the story as well as the three local TV stations and WSM and WLAC radio with actual reporters digging for news. Now it seems the radio and TV news contains less real news. If you take away the sports, car wrecks, shootings and weather there is not a lot left.
With social media and bloggers you may get lots of opinions but not much news. Facebook is no substitute for a daily newspaper. To have the dirt and corruption exposed and complex issues explained you need paid reporters whose job it is to report the news. I think the disappearance of newspapers and declining readership does not bode well for our democracy.
The Tennessean has provided great coverage on the race for governor. If you want to know the position of each of the candidates on medicaid expansion, or immigration or transportation policy or any number of other issues or you want to fact-check an attack ad, the Tennessean has provided good coverage.
I could not be more pleased with the Tennessean than I am with the profiles the paper has written on each of the major Republican candidates for governor. The profiles tell the life story of each of the candidates and something of their position on the issues. They do not demean or mock or make snide remarks about any of them. They do address the negatives of each candidate but I think the reporting of each in these profiles has been insightful, balanced and fair. In fact, in each case it almost seems like the reporter actually likes the person they are covering. If you want to know more about the candidates than just the info you get in a 30 second commercial, read these:
Randy Boyd, a former economic development chief, hopes to 'come back and finish the job' as governor, by
Diane Black says her aim is to 'protect our Tennessee values,' by
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