Several years ago I wrote a letter to the editor published in the Orange County Register questioning its publisher’s column outlining a commitment to make the daily newspaper and its website the premier entertainment and lifestyle information sources in the county.
Indeed the publisher’s column reflected the Register’s obvious move away from newspaper’s primary role of government watchdog toward features and stories on things to do.
I pointed out that community blogs like the Dispatch had taken over the watchdog role. Citizens with backgrounds in engineering, business management, finance, and marketing develop general writing skills to keep the public aware of what’s going on in local government.
In professional business terms, the publisher’s letter would have been called a “prayer,” considering a virtually limitless volume of entertainment guides and features already on the Internet. He offered no insight on how to build advertising on the web. And he didn’t even mention government and community news coverage.
My letter welcomed the Register to hire qualified local reporters to cover city halls. Professional reporters have the time, training and resources (particularly now with a digital library) to cover complex local government issues. Newspaper reporters have a smoother time connecting with county and state officials than private citizens. I was a former newspaper reporter in other states and I know first-hand the difference in how reporters and citizens are received.
Instead, the Register and mostly all other newspapers continued to decline over the past few years in both advertising and circulation. But the Register has a new publisher and I feel comfortable now to recognize the Register indeed has transformed back to its responsibility as watchdog over government, but also business and private agencies which have major impact on the community.
Register reporters on countywide coverage and most other cities are headlong into controversies ranging from a $158 million tax giveaway to two hotels in Anaheim to bans on plastic shopping bags in Dana Point. The Mission Viejo reporter, Chris Boucly does little coverage on Mission Viejo City Hall but is thorough in covering complex water district issues like a sewage spill and charges that a water additive is causing corrosion of copper pipes in businesses and homes. The local water districts are part of his beat.
The Register’s re-awakening to its vital role in the community comes at an opportunistic time. The U.S. Postal Service’s plans to deal with a $20 billion accumulated deficit by closing down many post offices and up to 40 percent of its regional distribution centers.
This will have dramatic effect on direct mail advertising that clutters mailboxes at highly discounted, third-class rates. Direct marketers will have to look for other timely ways to reach potential customers. Newspapers are ideally positioned to fill that need. Already newspapers offer “total market coverage” in which advertising inserts in the newspaper are wrapped separately to be delivered to the driveways of nonsubscribers. I believe Register and Times are using the same delivery vans at a huge savings.
Community activists like myself welcome, as I did with my letter to the editor, the Register to take a more active role covering City Hall as it does in other cities.
Allan Pilger
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
The OC Register is no longer interested in covering local stories in depth. If you read the Saddleback Valley News it now only has puff pieces promoted by the City Hall Administrators.
Instead of reading the humdrum pablum in The OC Register, or the Saddleback Valley News, you can get the real scoop on goings on by watching the City of Mission Viejo Council meetings. Where else can you see the former Mayor make a complete fool of himself, and watch a former PTA President pander to the special interests and ignore safety issues concerning our parks.
How can I find out more about the water additive in paragraph seven?
I had been a Register subscriber for over 40 years until one election they recommended a vote in favor of a particular Proposition and that is so against what I stand for, I cancelled my subscription as I did not want to contribute any money to the paper.
Love your work.
We are hearing lot about copper pipe leaks in homes in the Santa Margarita water district. There appear to be a couple of action suits that have begun. Our association is experiencing these problems. Can you request input from other associations on your blog.
Thanks.
My letter agrees with Joe that the Register is not covering Mission Viejo City Hall much at all. My point is the Register is doing “local stories in depth” and genuine watchdog pieces on other communities, If the daily can do it elsewhere, it can do it here. No excuses.
I would like feedback here from other Dispatch readers.
As for the Saddleback Valley News, I dismissed it a long time ago. That’s why I didn’t mention it. Numerous residents along Mission Viejo’s eastern flank complained at the Feb. 7 City Council meeting they were not informed of impending classification of their neighborhoods as high fire-hazard zones. The city staff cited legal advertisement about the proposed change in the Saddleback Valley News.
One of the residents said, “The Saddleback Valley News? I don’t even know what that is.” It is not an isolated opinion considering that at least one of his neighbors or friends would have mentioned it at some time or another. The paper has shriveled to 28 pages.
Clearly the Saddleback Valley News has lost its franchise. In the publishing business, it means it is virtually impossible to regain lost readers uninterested in the weekly’s puff pieces. If it tries to make a comeback with real news, people won’t even open it. The Register would need to start all over with a new weekly title.
Joe makes another good point about City Council meetings. Those who cannot attend can watch live or later and at their convenience on the City of Mission Viejo website, cityofmissionviejo.org.
It is noteworthy that the two residents commenting were not aware of the Register story on leaky pipes as published in Local Section on Sunday, Feb. 19. Sunday has much larger circulation than other days, and these kind of stories usually get quite a bit of word-of-mouth circulation. Check out the story.
Thank you for the link. I am going to read the information and see if any of it applies to our condo Assn. We have a lot of problems with “slab leaks” here.
I am also not familiar with The Saddleback News.
Slab Leaks. Tell me about it. My home is just over 30 years old and had FIVE (maybe SIX) slab sleaks over the last 8 years. I recently had my entire house re-plumbed, overhead. I blame the builders. They just ripped the hard copper for making bends as great as 90 degrees. This extremely poor workmanship practice collapsed and over-stressed the copper at the bends, making it far more susceptible to pinhole leaks. Apparently, the builders couldn’t be bothered with either using a tube bender or fittings, as that would have cost them either a few more minutes or a few more dollars.
I am also more interested in the leak issue. We recently had a leak in a pipe in our 1998 house. Fortunately, it was an easy to reach line in the attic, but it was in a straight section, not at a fitting. Still, it cost over $1,000 to deal with it.
Slab leak? Check. I had a slab leak as well (or, “why is my kitchen tile warm right in front of the oven and dishwasher?”) and we repaired using epoxy coating done on the inside of the pipes. $8100 later, my water bill is back to normal levels. The install technician said this is a common problem with copper piping all over the Orange County area. I would be delighted to receive some sort of settlement from the SMWD to help pay down some of the costs of that piping re-do..
We had a slab leak, oh must be about 24 yrs ago now, in our townhouse in SJC. The smell from the mold when they pulled up the flooring sent everyone outside. And when the plumber showed me the piece of pipe that had the hole in it, I had to get a magnifing glass just to see it and that was before “over 40 eyes”! That place was about 10yrs old at the time.
Knocking on wood that my 44yr old house has better pipes – so far, so good.