Farmers Weekly Review

Nick Reiher

Ah, election time. When television and radio ads for candidates compete with ED, nose-flushing and ambulance-chasing attorney commercials.
A time when creative writing moves from resumes to the airwaves and beyond. I hear campaign ads or speeches from people I have known for years, and I think, “Really? Have we met?”
There was a time when I was part of newsrooms buzzing with reporters contacting candidates, getting quotes on various subjects prior to elections, so we could give voters a more in-depth look at each candidate and what they brought to the table … or not.
This was not just in Joliet or for state or Will County government. We covered as many towns and school boards and fire districts and the like as much as we possibly could, ferreting out the most important issues people were concerned about.
Sometimes, those issues clashed with what the candidates were campaigning on, which could best be described as smoke and mirrors.
This gave us, and the public, a greater sense of what the community wanted, what the candidates offered and any disparities in between.
In many cases, we reporters knew this already. We had been covering these communities day in and day out. There were few surprises.
In those days, it would have been unthinkable to not cover a school board on a regular basis, let alone a municipal government. We covered towns and all that they were, including a lot of fun “people” stories.
For even the consolidated elections, we would bring in candidates to interview them before releasing our endorsements. Again, many times we knew the candidates already. Although now and then, there would be a few new faces who just moved to town.
Slowly, as revenues tightened, editors had to choose which towns we could cover, and which towns we could just keep an eye on if necessary, as in, if a source or two from the old days gave us a call.
It wouldn’t be long before a lot of newspapers went from man-to-man coverage to zone, to put it in football terms, all the while losing a little more contact with the towns and the people.
Now, if we do have endorsements, many newspapers will send out questionnaires to the candidates, print their responses and decide whom to endorse.
We have done that here for some state and county races, except I never wanted to use the responses for endorsements. I didn’t think there was enough to warrant that without meeting someone.
Tammy and I were driving around the other day, and we noticed a lot of political signs up for the April 4 Consolidated Election. Mayors, councils, board members, school board members, fire trustees and a host of other local candidates will be elected to positions that have a direct impact on residents, more so than in most other elections.
Very few of the names were familiar, and we are pretty in-tune with the local political landscape, certainly more than many in the public.
This sad commentary is a sad commentary on the effect of the disappearance of the local media in communities. A couple thousand newspapers have folded in the past 20 years for various reasons, including those in New Lenox and Manhattan.
Even if local newspapers managed to “keep up” with the times by having a website and other social media avenues, the connection between residents and them was getting dimmer.
Offices where people could come in to buy ads, drop off news items (the potatoes that looked like Elvis), old pictures, or meet with a reporter, are storefronts where maybe you can do some of that. Minus the potato, probably. But many reporters work from home or coffee shops.
When I worked nights at the Herald News, there was an elderly lady (probably my age now) who would call, seemingly knowing I was there. She would ask about a certain issue, but then we would chat for a few minutes about all sorts of things, like old TV shows.
I enjoyed that. I enjoyed the connection.
The loss of those types of connections is one reason why newspapers have folded, and the rest are struggling to survive. Years ago, I could not imagine a community without its own newspaper.
Now, most don’t have one, and people need to try to pick precious stones out of the mire of social media to get their “news.” “There’s nothing in the newspaper anymore,” I hear and read.
With fewer subscribers who have chosen to use Facebook as their source, and advertisers who follow them, frankly, there isn’t enough money to do much more anymore.
I hope there is a time when people once again want a newspaper in their community. I hope there is enough interest so it can be a good newspaper that, judging by the comments on Facebook, you seem to sorely miss from the good old days.
If you really do miss it, and you are lucky enough to have one now, support it. Fight for it. Buy a subscription, buy ads and support the businesses that do advertise. They are a blessing.
Thank all of you who support Farmers Weekly Review. You are a blessing, too.
And good luck with the election.