Wingate Lassiter

The state of our local news media

--- one year after the Sun's arrival

When Rick Childrey introduced me to his successor at the Chamber of Commerce a couple of years ago, Mike Mancuso immediately asked me: "What's with this news desert?"

He had already noticed the lack of robust community journalism here, especially since McClatchy Newspapers had shut down The Smithfield Herald (and was downsizing Raleigh's News & Observer and abandoning Johnston County).

That was the situation that prompted me to launch the online Smithfield Weekly Sun as 2019 arrived.

Now, as the year draws to a close, I can report that the "news desert" label doesn't fit us anymore, thank goodness.

Through it all Mickey Lamm has maintained his daily JoCoReport as an online presence, even after his family sold its radio stations upon the retirement of his iconic radio dad, Carl Lamm. Like me, Mickey is a one-man news operation, and he's still covering territory that extends beyond the borders of Johnston County.

Mickey's service complements mine as he includes coverage of crime and car wrecks and such that I'm not able to handle in addition to my priorities covering local government and the "Smithfield scene."

Paralleling my development of the Weekly Sun has been expanded coverage by the Johnstonian News, a printed weekly that appeared after owners of The Wilson Times purchased newspapers owned by Kenly-based publisher Rick Stewart a year and a half ago. At the time, Rick's papers included the Kenly News, the Selma News, and the Princeton News-Leader.

The Wilson folks recently employed former Smithfield Herald managing editor Scott Bolejack to be editor of the Johnstonian News and at the same time moved that paper's office from Kenly to Smithfield, demonstrating the company's commitment to including Smithfield as it expands its news coverage.

Tragically, Steve Reed --- one of two Johnstonian News reporters --- died of a heart attack two weeks ago, leaving Keith Barnes and Scott with the task of picking up the slack. For their sake, let's hope they find a capable replacement for Steve real soon.

What's the impact of all that? For one thing, meetings of the Johnston County Commissioners, the County Board of Education, and the Smithfield Town Council this past year have had three --- yes, three! --- news reporters in attendance. A couple of years ago there were times when those governing boards were conducting the public's business without a single media "watchdog" present!

Surely you can see how treacherous democracy becomes if we find ourselves in a "news desert." Here's hoping the "rebirth" of community journalism here grows even stronger in 2020.

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