“You are the media now,” Elon Musk wrote on X last week. He was right.
You are the media now
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2024
His proclamation was followed up by the Wall Street Journal, which ran a story, ironically, about their own and the rest of the “Old guard” media’s demise.
The story’s bottom line was that the 2024 election results underscored, “A new media landscape has emerged. The traditional gatekeepers of political discourse—TV networks and newspapers—are shrinking in influence as Americans turn to many more outlets for information.”
As a part of the new breed of journalists, I know this to be true. While the subjects of our investigative reporting may try to diminish us by ignoring us, discrediting us, and attempting to co-opt the term “fake news,” never has it been as apparent as it is today that independent local journalism working hand in hand with concern citizens is the way of the future; Much to the chagrin of the legacy gatekeepers in the media and in government.
Since May, I have reported on the inner workings and turmoil at the City of Hoover. My stories alternate between editorial and news content, published on two digital news sites and regularly discussed on at least three radio stations.
Following a Hoover City Council meeting in early August, I was angrily confronted by the city’s public information officer (PIO). She was unhappy with my public comments, during which I noted, among other issues, that she had not responded to a detailed request for information for over 80 days.
In the PIO’s angry tirade, caught on camera, she stated that I wasn’t even a journalist; I was just “a blogger.”
First, that’s untrue. I’ve held media credentials to cover state and local government for many years. The very same outlet, Alabama Today, she attempted to discredit has been on the city’s press list for nearly a decade.
Second, it’s pretty rich for a public information officer who routinely refuses to provide the public with information to be throwing out insults.
Someone, possibly the mayor, council, or even the city manager, would do well to set a weekly reminder to send the PIO her job description. It can be found on their website, “The City of Hoover Public Information Office exists to facilitate communication between the Mayor’s Office and other organizations such as neighborhood organizations, committees and boards, government agencies, media outlets, and the public at large.
All requests from media outlets should be routed through the Public Information Office.”
But to her point, though I am a journalist, I’m not a member of Alabama’s traditional media. The ones who are turning a blind eye to issue after issue in Hoover, ignoring the citizen groups that attend and speak out at council meeting after meeting. The ones who stand by, literally and figuratively deciding what the public needs to know and doesn’t.
I’m from a new model that blends digital media in equal measure with radio and/or podcasts. I’m not alone either. There is a stable of radio/podcast hosts who double as digital news journalists around the state. Often, we’re doing what the legacy media can’t or won’t do.
We are digging deep into local stories that they ignore in exchange for access. Though rumor has it, the Hoover PIO routinely ignores media of all shapes and sizes, as well as resident requests. A dereliction of duties allowed if not encouraged by the leadership of the City of Hoover who have granted her full immunity from the consequences of her actions.
Maybe there’s something in the staff water behind the dias, perhaps the PIO, Mayor Frank Brocato, and council president draw straws to see who can embarrass the city most at Hoover Council meetings. The PIO’s angry outburst months ago is far from the last one. Since then, several have been directed at one another and concerned residents.
After this week’s regular Hoover City Council meeting, Council President John Lyda angrily bullied and intimidated Councilman Casey Middlebrooks.
If you watch the video, available on 1819 News, three people are in the shot: the two councilmen and a reporter for The Hoover Sun who was close enough to see and likely hear the exchange.
Yet, the altercation did not make the 1,500+ word story from the Hoover Sun story the following day.
Without the video from The Hoover Channel, and my investigative journalism about it, it would likely have gone buried.
Over the last seven months, the gatekeepers of Alabama news have downplayed or outright ignored the problems in Hoover and the gatekeepers of information within the city have dismissed those of us trying to inform those around them.
Mayor Frank Brocato, City Council President John Lyda, and yes, even the public information officer, bless her heart, have mocked the journalists who are not their preferred media and even the citizen activists who have requested or demanded answers.
We’ve been ignored and spoken down to when we are addressed, yet I do no doubt we will all continue.
Elon Musk said, “You are the media now.” He wasn’t just talking to me. He was talking to you. He was talking about those of us taking information to every corner of the internet, from social media to independent news sites and the radio and TV airways between. Gatekeepers be damned.
