Olympian Watch
At this Olympia City Council retreat, unlike in 2010, the reporter from the Olympian actually showed up. Unlike in 2009, once he showed up, he managed to not spend most of his time reading or texting.
He showed up on Friday, anyway. On Saturday, a different Olympian reporter attended. Apparently, the primary reporter doesn’t work on Saturdays. And apparently, sending the guy with the most knowledge and history of the council (among Olympian staff, that is) to write about the most important meeting the council holds all year was less important than making sure that the guy got his regular day off.
More importantly, how was the coverage? Well, it was okay. As far as it went. It quoted people accurately. Mostly. But that’s all it did. The two articles about the retreat covered bits and pieces of the conversation, and touched on the main issues under discussion, but never gave broader context or explanation.
Also, the second reporter left at lunchtime on Saturday and thus missed all the conversation about committee assignments, including the key interactions between Rogers and the rest of the council.
If we have to grade it (and oh yes, we do), after earning a D and an F in the last two years, this one earned a solid C. Given our local daily paper, is that the best we can expect?
2 Comments
tom hyde
In the post-traditional-newspaper age, I think yes, this is the best you can expect? In fact, I would expect less local coverage moving forward, not more. It’s a slow death.
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