The America major media ignores

Sam Smith – During more than four decades of covering the capital, one of the things that fascinated me was how the national media ignored local stories. As Wikipedia notes, “Washington, D.C. has had several notable Black mayors, with Marion Barry being one of the most prominent, serving multiple terms from 1979 to 1991 and again from 1995 to 1999. The current mayor is Muriel Bowser, who has been in office since 2015.”

Although mostly ignored by the national media, ethnic relations were notably different in DC. One cause were matters that joined  ethnic groups together such as home rule and freeways.  For a native Washingtonian like me, there was nothing unusual in this. For example, in the 1960s I was helping black activist Marion Barry handle media issues.

Lately, I’ve been struck by current matters being poorly defined by the mass media, namely those in which local positions and problems are ignored in favor of those preferred by major political personnel. Thus, for example, the cost of gas is considered far less important than what Trump has to say today.

In part, thanks to my long experience with local and national Washington, I am struck by how matters that affect humans on a daily basis are so frequently ignored by the media. For example, when I scan the news  I look for stories that will directly affect ordinary Americans and, on a daily basis, I am repeatedly disappointed.

I have come to think that there are two Americas: one belonging to the powerful, the rest to just plain people. I try to find what is happening to ordinary Americans but find little news assistance.

One of the things I learned in Washington was to search out the local because the reality of life doesn’t only belong to newsworthy but to far less covered aspects of being such as what churches, schools, communities, and local organizations are up to.  Now living in small town Maine, I see this daily. I haven's met anyone as rotten as Donald Trump.

Unfortunately, us small times aren’t going to find a lot of the real because our society has chosen to let itself be defined by television, the internet, and mass promotion. But if you want to help save a decent America take another look at things that did work, like the 1960s,  and don’t define life only by what the bigshots say today.