Last week I was lucky enough to catch the University of Mary Washington’s DTLT crew getting set to broadcast episode 40 of their daily web show. I saw in a tweet that they were planning to talk about the stuff I had been doing with social media around the Bloomsburg, PA flood and the apparent lack of news converge. I happened to be home, working in my home office when I replied to the tweet and asked if I could be a part of it. We got hooked up with Skype and the results are below.
I really can’t thank these guys enough for not only having me on, but for taking the time to really think about the things that are happening in Bloomsburg. The fact that they only know about this via the social web is astonishing to me and continues to point towards a need for a more open local news approach.
I really enjoyed listening to your interview and discussion of lack of information on the 2011 flood around Bloomsburg. I thought it was because I live in California now (grew up on farm on Riverhill/Hollow Rd in Catawissa Twp across from Fairgrounds). I could find little local news and it did seem odd I could find little information on the Internet when searching, Most of my information comes from many relatives still living in the area. My brothers house near Catawissa had 4′ in basement (where he was living while remodeling upstairs) and 8′ in workshop. It is baffling how such and event of such enormity and effect has not generated any national coverage. It almost seems like there is an editorial effort in this country to not report or diminish local/national news that does not serve some bigger agenda. I found of this information only thru Facebook (my wife’s account) after we posted our plans to raise money with a tamale sale for my brother’s enormous losses…incredible response within 4 hours of posting so we will be busy making tamales!
Thanks for your good reporting and accounting of what is going on with this flood. I believe the only way to get complete news out these days is thru channels other than large corporate media. People must unite and stand up against the corporatization of all aspects of our lives.
Hi Max … thanks much for your comment. Through all of this it has become clear to me that the cone of silence that falls on small local towns is real. The unfortunate thing is that it appears as though it happens all over the US. We are a culture that craves news stories of missing children, young and beautiful victims, and political arguments that have no real answer. We love to hype weather, but fail miserably when comes time to report the outcomes and loss. The Bloomsburg flood has been eye opening to me on so many levels — both in how bad our news really is and just how amazing the spirit of our town is.
This Thursday I am addressing the PA Newspaper Association at their annual conference. I plan to make a case for wider release of information outside the paywall of news hoarding. I am sure it will fall on deaf ears, but it needs to be said. I bet there is as little coverage in State College, PA where I live as there is in CA where you are! I enjoyed reading your comment and feel so much for your brother and the others who have lost lost so much. I drove through Bloomsburg yesterday to find huge trash piles everywhere three weeks later. I’ll keep sharing things! Take care and get those Tamales rocking!