All Things Los Gatos is Now Contributing to Patch

When I think of a blog, I picture something like a personal journal, a jotting of thoughts or experiences as they occur. The more entertaining blogs are well-crafted essays that illuminate and use humor or emotion as tools.

My blog, All Things Los Gatos, is much more like journalism. As with my earlier news site, I try to cover the town—hard news like fires and crashes, as well as variety and feature stories. I might share how I discovered a story but, in general, I don't write about myself.

While I enjoy reading a newspaper as much as anyone, I think the Web does a much better job of communicating the news than thousands of copies of the same story printed on paper a day or a week later.

That much paper kills trees and clogs landfills. In the case of "free" newspapers, we get a few stories tucked in with the advertisements. I told the town council that throwing 18,000 advertising circulars on our doorsteps and driveways every week is littering, and I reminded them that it violates Los Gatos Town Code 18.10.010. The excellent journalists and others at Silicon Valley Community Newspapers didn’t like hearing that, but history is on my side.

We used to have a daily newspaper in Los Gatos that covered the community. Researching the Christmas Parade, for example, I came across multiple front-page stories that described the preparations for the parade and what to expect. Now, we have a weekly paper that is mostly feature stories, because the news is already a week old by the time they go to press. When the Kiwanis took over Fiesta de Artes in 1996, the then-editor of the Weekly Times told us, “We’re not the Kiwanis publicity department—buy an ad.”

Now comes Patch to offer local news 24/7. I have been reading the Los Gatos Patch for several months, and I think it's doing a fine job. Some may have a problem that Patch is owned by AOL in New York City. By enabling a local editor, it's possible for a large, distant company to provide hyperlocal news. You're reading Patch—haven't you found it comprehensive and trustworthy?

What I’m trying to say is that I take community journalism seriously.

Ray Davis, "Citizen Ray," has been absent from recent council meetings. I can hear a sigh of relief from some. He would pound the podium and yell awkward, contrary opinions, and un-civil insults. He was a royal pain who made meetings longer. But, in my opinion, a functioning democracy needs at least one contrarian. We are served by the finest council and staff I have ever seen, but we still have to watch them closely. They do their job and we, the citizens, must do ours. Because we're all busy and distracted, we need real local journalists to stand watch.

Clay Shirky, a brilliant NYU professor and as good a guide to what’s going on with local news as you can find, has expressed his fear that “moderate-sized cities and towns” will fall into endemic corruption as newspapers are replaced by online sources. “I think we are headed into a long trough of decline in accountability journalism,” he said in a speech in November 2009, “because the old models are breaking faster than the new models can be put into place.” He looks back to the invention of the printing press for guidance. It turns out that paperbacks did not immediately replace scribes: There was a bit of chaos for several decades before the printing press won.

We’re in the middle of a similar transition now, as the Mercury News, for example, simply can’t afford to cover Los Gatos as it once did. Patch and blogs like All Things Los Gatos represent but gossamer outlines of how news and information will be communicated in my lifetime. We all want greater immediacy; we must insist on public sector transparency; and, I think, we’re a stronger community if we can hear from more voices than will fit on a Letters to the Editor page. I'd like to hear your opinion; please comment here or contact me at allthingslosgatos@gmail.com.