Today's Speech At The Executive Chamber Of Commerce Meeting

Thank you for having me here today. I especially want to thank Mr. Creamer and his committee for choosing to take what has obviously been perceived by some as a bold, if not reckless step by inviting someone as controversial as myself. While you may agree with what I have to say here today … or not, the chamber should be commended for its willingness to hear what, to some, are dissenting views of the current state of our local media.

INTRODUCTION

Are blogs a legitimate alternative to the local mainstream media, particularly the print media? I believe that the answer is unquestionably YES.

Why? Consumers of news WANT to know what is going on in their community. Currently our two local TV stations, WBOC and WMDT, try to do a pretty good job.
Unfortunately, the business model of television news places severe time constraints on its ability to provide in-depth coverage of local stories. In addition, both WBOC and WMDT are covering an area that stretches from Accomack County, Virginia to the upper reaches of Kent County, Delaware.

With the recent restructuring of radio station WICO, we now have approximately 20 minutes of local news coverage per day (not counting the reading of headlines from the Daily Times). WSDL, our local public radio news station provides us headlines and one hour, twice a month covering local issues.

Historically, this has provided the Times with a virtual monopoly on local news coverage. The Daily Times should be our go-to source for local news. Unfortunately, and to the detriment of its readership and itself, the management of the paper simply won’t provide hard news coverage of local events unless they are literally forced to. Their idea of accurate reporting is to take a statement from a favored politician, even a statement they know to be absolutely false, wrap it in quotes and carry on as if they have done their job as the public’s main source of truthful information.

Why not? Having had little to no competition over the years, no one could doubt the truthfulness of what was printed in the Times, and those who did had no forum to present it. They, the Daily Times, held all the cards. That is, until the advent of the web log.

ENTER SALISBURY NEWS

A few years ago I began contributing to a local blog. First I contributed photos, then began writing a few stories. As I became more involved in this new avocation I began to sense the need for an alternative to what we were receiving in our local paper. This was the motivation behind my starting Salisbury News.

Since then Salisbury News has been instrumental in breaking many stories that have had an impact on our community and its people.
Just a few are:

the illegal sludge pit at the waste water treatment plant,
the proliferation of criminal gangs – and graffiti – in Salisbury,
regular sewage spills, large and small, into our river,
serious management problems at the Salisbury Zoo,
the current problems at the WWTP that question the wisdom of spending over $80 million in the t taxpayers’ money, and ...
the Wicomico Board of Education’s recent attempt to torpedo the county’s request for a waiver of the state’s MOE rule.

These stories would have never come to light if not for people like me digging them out and putting them in the public eye. In the case of the sludge lagoon, the Barrie Tilghman administration flatly denied wrongdoing for weeks on end , then claimed that the city had permits for the multi-million gallon lagoon. Initially, the Daily Times’ coverage was a mere parroting of the Mayor’s words. Even when the state confirmed that the city did not have permits for partially treated sludge holding, our local paper simply glossed over the fact that our own local government was acting illegally, and said nothing about the mayor’s continued lying about it.

Both Mayor Tilghman and her police chief Allan Webster repeatedly told the mainstream media that there were absolutely no gangs or gang activity in Salisbury, until we proved them wrong with facts from the FBI, Federal Attorney and State’s Attorney’s Office.

The current boondoggle at the waste water treatment plant only came to light because Salisbury News reported it first, and reported it accurately. Rather than a specific denial, Mayor Tilghman hastily called a press conference and attempted to blame two members of the city council for the problem becoming public. This manufactured controversy and political deflecting comprised a major portion of what the Daily Times reported on the subject.

Forget the fact that Salisbury sewer and water rate payers are being forced to
shoulder ever increasing rate increases to pay for a system that does not work. If it wasn’t for Salisbury News and persistent and pointed questioning by a WBOC reporter the public would never have found out that Tilghman clearly intended to hide this travesty from the public until AFTER the recent Salisbury City elections. It was her obvious intention to ensure that her chosen successor, Gary Comegys, would benefit by the public’s perception that everything was just okey-dokey down at the WWTP, and that he was responsible for its success. (Since that time, has anyone heard Gary Comegys utter a word about the WWTP?)

If you have regularly read the Daily Times over the past few months you may have noticed that the paper has provided ample coverage of the Worcester County Board of Education’s refusal to work with the Worcester County Commissioners in reducing spending. It’s actually been some very decent reporting. But where have you read coverage of a similar issue in Wicomico County? Could the fact that the Wicomico Board of Ed’s public information officer is married to the Managing Editor of the Daily Times have anything to do with this missing story? These few and dozens more are newsworthy items that would never have come to the public’s attention without blogs like Salisbury News.

WHY SALISBURY NEWS?

Salisbury News is only one of many blogs currently being published locally. Why then have we been blessed with our current popularity and cursed with a certain infamy?

The answers to both questions are fairly simple. Salisbury News has become the most popular blog on Delmarva because of our willingness to work at putting out breaking news stories 7 days a week, 52 weeks of the year. Most other local blogs are primarily focused on one of two things – op-ed, … or in the case of a few local blowhards and oddities, attempting to refute what we publish in order to defend the very same individuals who have corrupted this small and precious part of the world referred to by some as “God’s Country”, and “The Land of Pleasant Living.”

The very fact that we are always looking for news and will not hesitate to publish news, no matter how it affects certain well placed individuals, is a key part of our success. That and consistent output. I have a friend who publishes other web sites and serves as a contributor to Salisbury News. One of his sites enjoys a great deal of regional popularity. However, as he has reminded me on more than one occasion, our commitment to publishing news and opinion 365 days a year will keep our readership growing while his own readership has risen and fallen due to his own inconsistency in publishing new material.

As for our infamy, I have to take the lion’s share of the blame. As a native New Yorker, I have a certain brusqueness in my writing style that offends some with more delicate sensibilities. However, I have also learned that the vast majority of those who regularly read Salisbury News like what a friend refers to as “red meat”.

A SERIOUS COMPETITOR?

Clearly the internet has proven to be a powerful medium. Gone are the days when only very wealthy families or large corporations can dictate what the public receives in the form of news. Thanks to Al Gore, the inventor of the internet and global warming, anyone can set up his or her own little newspaper for little or no money. The secret is whether or not one can build an audience. That takes time, effort and dedication to the cause.

At Salisbury News we have been fortunate to build such an audience and it is our hope to see that audience continue to grow. We will do that with our commitment to publish news as it happens. This is one important lesson that the Daily Times seems to refuse to learn. While they have access to the same information that I do, they continue to feel the need to hold off on printing a story online until AFTER the next day’s edition is printed. Because of that, many of their readers will have already read that story in Salisbury News long before their morning paper is delivered.

In addition, our readers keep coming back through any given day because we ARE always updating the site. Currently we are running about 30 – 35 posts per day. While we don’t claim that EVERY reader reads and loves EVERY story we post, they do keep coming back because they know that there will be something they may find interesting within the next hour or so. This is something that the Daily Times either cannot or will not do.
IS SALISBURY NEWS INFLUENTIAL?

Is Salisbury News influential, particularly in local politics? I’m not the best person to answer that question. Instead, let’s look at a few facts.

BlogNetNews has consistently ranked Salisbury News as the most influential political blog in Maryland throughout 2008 and into 2009. Former Salisbury mayor Barrie Tilghman (I particularly like the “former” part) chose to make Salisbury News a primary target in her last state of the city address and in several news conferences during her tenure. She also chose to sue me personally for slander and libel. The judge thought differently and she lost her case against me.

Does anyone really think that she would have gone to such trouble IF NOT for the fact that large numbers of the public viewed us as a credible source of local news? She saw that Salisbury News was not to be easily dismissed. What is also probably very disturbing to individuals like Tilghman is the fact that we are interactive. What influence Salisbury News enjoys comes not from my Pulitzer Prize-winning writing style, but from the thousands of readers who choose to participate in this social medium.

If our readership is influenced, it is by their fellow citizens, their peers. Sure, the contributors to Salisbury News, including myself have an opinion. However, for the first time in the history of Wicomico County, ordinary citizens can come together and express their points of view. They are not subject to the filter of a newspaper editor who seems to edit and publish at the beck and call of sitting government official. Nor are they told to sit down and shut up by the likes of Louise Smith or Mike Dunn.
This bolsters a sense of community. It’s impact? It encourages citizens to get involved; and particularly to get out and vote.

In the recent city election (as in years before 2009) we witnessed the
Daily Times providing an exclusive, untouchable platform for then-mayor Tilghman, councilman Gary Comegys, and their allies to savage mayoral candidate Jim Ireton and
incumbent councilwoman Debbie Campbell. Using their all too typical “bait and switch” tactics, the paper even used “endorsements” of Tilghman and Comegys to attack them further.

However, voters were able to come to Salisbury News to read what was then and has since been proven to be accurate reporting on the mayoral and council races, to read our editorial views and to express their own views in an interactive fashion.
If Salisbury News wasn’t considered credible by these citizens, why would they bother coming to our site each and every day? The Daily Times allows readers of their online
edition to comment, yet they receive only a few dozen comments per day on local stories. Why does Salisbury News receive hundreds, sometimes thousands, of comments every day?

Are blogs credible? Are they influential? Is Salisbury News?

These are decisions which each individual must make for him or herself. However, as businessmen and women you undoubtedly understand the concept of market forces. There is one undeniable fact – the audience for online media such as Salisbury News
is growing by leaps and bounds ; the audience for mainstream media like the
Daily Times is shrinking.

While you may agree with what we publish … or not.... it is inescapable that the reader market for local news does find overwhelming merit in what we publish. I want to thank you again for this wonderful opportunity.