FeedLocal: Clearing the air about smoking-hot journalism
December 29, 2007 in Local Tags: bars, bloggers, Scott O'Brien, Smoking
I was going to say pretty much what Scott O’Brien says about local media’s excessive coverage of the looming smoking ban:
Give us a break. Instead of continuing to over-cover this story, why don’t these media outlets instead focus on more important local stories.
I mean, let’s take a look at the current city government issues. Apparently several top level city employees are leaving, getting fired or looking for new jobs while denying so. What is going on? Is the city council that hard to deal with? And does anyone even seem to care about what that means for day to day business of the city while all this is going on? And is that old saying asking the last person leaving Peoria to turn out the lights due for a return?
I’m glad Scott mentioned it first. I wasn’t sure if I was just seeing more of it because I was laid up and watching more television than usual for me. But, yeah, it does seem to be the Big Story these days.
December 30th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
While I agree that City Hall is a story that merits watching, I also think the smoking ban is one of those issues that affects everyone. Smokers are upset. Non-smokers are thrilled. And the longterm economic impact on businesses, most notably bars, may be substantial.
So yeah, I think it’s a big story. Certainly worth the ink and airtime it’s been getting. And I don’t think it’s been reported to the exclusion of any other important local stories.
December 31st, 2007 at 12:13 am
There are a couple of factors that are probably playing into the over-coverage.
1. It’s the holidays and there are very few government offices open long enough to get any useful work done.
2. Because of the holidays, many local officials have time off.
3. Because of the holidays many TV and radio newsroom workers have time off.
4. It’s is easy to find people to talk about this because it impacts EVERYONE.
5. It is easily one of the biggest stories of the year, and the last time I was in Peoria it seemed a lot of people hadn’t kicked the smoking habit.
December 31st, 2007 at 4:23 pm
Tonight’s a night when every working band who wants a gig is playing somewhere.
Suggestion: ask band members what they think a smoking ban will do to the already endangered live music scene in Peoria.