Journalism is important.
A reporter in Brunswick, Georgia reminded us all of the importance of it.
Sometimes the truth isn’t on the surface.
Sometimes news reporters have to dig a little.
Sometimes they have to dig a lot.
The Brunswick News reporter Larry Hobbs dug a fair amount and pushed for answers until he got some in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a black jogger who was chased by three men and then shot in the street.
Initially, all the police wanted to tell Hobbs was the mere fact that someone was shot dead in the Satilla Shore neighborhood.
Law enforcement must comply with the law, and in Georgia, the state’s open government laws require that all initial incident reports, including details, be posted in a timely manner.
Hobbs pushed on, kept asking questions and making inquiries about public records. Journalists do that.
The Brunswick News is a small newspaper with a small staff, but that hasn’t deterred their persistent pursuit of the truth.
The three men who participated in the Arbery murder have been convicted, and the family credits the local newspaper with its role in clarifying the truth.
Hobb rightly said he was just “doing his job” but he did it well.
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He was curious. He asked questions. When things just didn’t make sense, he asked more questions. In his own words, “I thought in the back of my mind he was black – we don’t always mention black and white or races in stories unless it’s a problem – but why was a 25 year old man dead? in the middle of the street and then they say, ‘We hear it could have been a break-in?’ Okay, if you break in, you shoot someone at home. No, is that someone who was shot in the middle of the street? It didn’t add up. “
Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, credited the newspaper during a press conference for collecting more information than it could get about her son’s death. Arbery’s Aunt Theawanza Brooks said, “I think media involvement has helped it circulate faster around the world. In most of the cases where the media is not involved in cases, it can be easily tossed aside and nobody cares. The media have helped shed light on the darkness. “
Would these three men have got away with Arbery’s murder without the media?
Imagine Braunschweig without a newspaper.
Imagine a community without a local newspaper.
Unfortunately, there are now news deserts in parts of our state and across the country.
Around 1,800 newspapers in the US have closed since 2004, according to the Poynter Institute, and the reason is clear. Since 2006, Pew Research data shows a huge drop in newspaper advertising revenue, from an estimated $ 49.2 billion in 2006 to just $ 8.8 billion in 2020. Subscriptions to print newspapers are also on the whole Land decreased significantly.
If there is no local newspaper, no one has an eye on the authorities, local government or the public purse. Corruption and taxes rise and accountability falls.
It is important for communities to support local journalism by subscribing to the local newspaper, purchasing copies, and promoting goods and services.
Journalism is important.
Larry Hobbs and The Brunswick News reminded us all why it is so important.
– The Valdosta (Georgia) Daily Times
