Read the full story here.
Sooo...what happened in Brome this week? Well, according to the local paper not a heck of a lot was worth reporting on...Residents of Brome Lake were quite surprised to pick up the latest edition of the Brome County News and see an issue that didn't even have any teensey-bit of coverage of the Municipal Election in Brome Lake that were held Monday...not even a list of results!
This was one of the wildest Municipal Elections in memory and when the dust had cleared there was nothing in the local paper...no chest thumping from the victorious, no wailing lamentations from the losers...just the sound of crickets emenating from the pages of the local paper...the silence was deafening!
The front page of the local paper actually had a huge color photo and story of the election in Sutton! Has Sutton suddenly become part of Brome County? With the emotional campaign that raged in Knowlton and Brome Lake we would have expected at least minimal coverage...perhaps the right people didn't win?
With all the anticipation for the election here in Brome Lake one would have thought that there would have been some coverage of the election that had one of the highest turnout rates in Brome Lake history? Nope...not one mention of the results, the drama, the dissapointment...nothing. No feedback from townsfolk...no editorial...no analysis...nothing! Surely it wouldn't be too hard to at least put the results in the paper?
Isn't this what a local newspaper is about? A small town newspaper should be filled with the personal stories from community groups and volunteers. It should talk about card games and club outings and happy news and sad news from the locals. Recipes, thoughts, jokes....it should reflect who we are...but when an election takes place once every four years you'd have thought that there would have been at least an ounce of coverage...not even!
They seem to have support from advertisers but when there is zero coverage about major local issues then it seems likely that this issue will be lining puppy cages before Friday...how will advertisers feel about that?
Once again this week the best part of the Brome County Snooze was the "Pet of The Week" and they should have put Tommy the Brown Dog on the front page instead of a picture of the Mayor of Sutton! Woof Woof!
For the election results visit our 2009 Municipal Election Page.
Note: These results were published on this website on the same day as the election...once again hinting that newspapers might not be able to compete against online publications. Advertisers may soon start to see more of a return advertising on websites like DestinationKnowlton.com instead of spending hundreds of dollars on printed advertising locally, especially if the reporting doesn't touch on the important issues of the Town.
For advertising rates please visit this page.
posted by DestinationKnowlton.com
on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 
3 Comments:
It is also interesting to note that the newly elected mayors of Cowansville, Sutton, etc all took out ads in Le Guide and Voix de l’Est to thank their constituents / electors for their confidence. Nice gesture. Our new mayor chose instead to remain silent.
For anyone interested, the first town hall meeting of Brome Lake’s new team of councilor’s and mayor is scheduled to take place at the Centre Lac-Brome next Monday, Nov 9th.
For those that know me, I am web oriented.
I worked for the last 12 years in the newspaper industry installing computer systems, training people on them. So I know a little bit about them.
Why does a community newspaper like Brome County News not print the results of the election? Old news? Not interested? People could actually get the results on the web?
You see, with high speed internet not available to all in the region, it’s easy to think that people already got the information and don’t need it anymore. Newspapers are dying in the city where the internet is ‘omnipresent’. La Presse is a good example.
That is not true in the regions. Newspapers are still the most current method (apart from TV) to get the information from.
Why does Tempo not print a thing about the Duck Festival in their November publication concerning the success or the issues with it? They dont have time to speak with the organisers? with the citizens?
A lot of concerns citizen are saying a lot of things about the CCLB and we just dont have the facts as we can see with the directors removing another director because of a conflict of interest and not about some other rumor about TLB new administration removing the director in question because of an issue with TLB funding of CCLB. Do we have now rumoring facts instead of the actual facts in the paper?
I was under the impression that the community Newspapers was supposed to give us that information. Maybe I am wrong. I am used to big Newspapers like Toronto Sun, Journal de Montreal among others…
We may be only informed on when the next Woolrich sale is going to take place at the Lion’s house or some bake sale at some remote corner of the county because that’s all the information they have to offer. No one is contacting them and they dont know whom to contact to get the stories.
I understand they got a whole page to print from the goverment on the AH1N1 and space might be tight in the paper, but I would have bumped the Sutton story instead of our election story?
Was there no story for our town? No one covered the election?
I am not mad at our regional papers.
I just dont understand the reasoning they have in getting what they think is relevant information out to us public.
What happens with the brown water situation some of the citizens are still complaining about? What happens with the Lake’s health? Cianobactery and such? What happens now with Mr Decelle’s rise to the mayorship? What will he tackle first? I hope to read more about the going on’s in the TLB in the future. What will happen with the Festival of Lights in town? What is and what happens with Rues Principales? How are commerce doing and the funding of CCLB by TLB? Why is this being done and what would happen if we were left without the CCLB? Would we still have a town? Would we like the results?
I like that Sutton had a new Mayor. How will this affect me as being a citizen of TLB, I still dont know.
I dont like having to go to a Cowansville or a Granby paper to read about what happens here.
I think that the local papers just need clarification of what citizens want to read about. We want facts about what citizens are talking about. If you need ideas, read this blog. If you dont like this blog, read destinationknowlton.com. If you dont have high speed internet, I would suggest you invest in research and editorial management. Having a letter from Mr Timmins created some very interesting comments. I didnt see any follow up however in your paper. Was it intentional or was it because it wasnt taken seriously? When you print something, it affects everyone who reads it. I dont speak in the back of others and I dont blabber aroung at the market with my neighbor. The only factual information I have is from your paper. Please give us the information about our town in the future.
I read the comments on destinationknowlton.com blog concerning this and I agree about candidates thanking the public in some form.
I would prefer they thank us by doing a good job.
As long as they dont use public funds to put an ad in a paper to thank the public for electing them…
Use the money instead to work on the real issues in town..High Speed Internet, roads, 18 wheeler trucks on Lakeside, the list goes on… Of course, fixing the High Speed issue would mean the local papers might die a slow and painful death when no one advertises in them anymore. That would be a shame. Even if I do like web and am web oriented, I would still like to read something on Sunday morning when I have my breakfast with my wife. I usually love to read the local papers. I was just very disappointed with this last one.
Jean Claude Blanche
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment for DestinationKnowlton.com.
<< Home