The 2016 Story That Daily Newspapers Want You To Ignore

At the end of every year, it's expected that blogs and newspapers tell you about the big stories over the previous year. The only person who really has this down is The Morning Call's Bill White. He always has a hilarious year-end wrap up. I usually play it straight. This year, as I began looking through about 1,000 posts on my blog over the past 12 months, the story that really stood out to me is one that the daily newspapers will never tell you. The top story is they have pretty much stopped covering the actual news.

Many of my stories about  the political corruption in Allentown are covered in both dailies. Bethlehem still gets some coverage. My series on gerrymandering  was covered thoroughly by Bill White. But this is the first year in which I exposed some significant stories that newspapers ignored.

My daily readers are aware of the strides that Amy Trapp and Dan Keen have taken to clean out some of the dead weight at Northampton County's jail. But there's been absolutely no coverage in the dailies. The political corruption in Nazareth, which included a Mayor skimming from poker machines and raids at the social clubs, was only covered after charges were filed and newspapers could no longer turn a blind eye. The Express Times actually hid from a major story occurring right under their own noses, in which Easton Mayor Sal Panto created two false names on the newspaper's reader forum to bully anyone who disagreed with him, while sanctimoniously attacking. That story was ignored until Panto was sued for defamation by one of his targets.

Though it is provided an office at taxpayer expense, The Express Times no longer covers Northampton County government. It produced no story concerning this year's budget. Or the appointment of an Administrator with multiple tax liens. ... Or the appointment of an EMS Director engaged in a blatant conflict of interest, in which he approves payments to his own father.  It has failed to cover a Council meeting since the end of summer.

That newspaper has stopped covering Bethlehem Township for nearly a year.

The Morning Call is slightly better. It will send reporters or freelancers to cover some meetings. But not nearly with as much frequency as it once did.

According to a 2015 Brookings Institution study, the number of newspapers per hundred million population fell from 1,200 in 1945 to 400 in 2014. Over that same period, circulation has declined from 35 percent to under 15 percent and the number of journalists has decreased from 43,000 in 1978 to 33,000 in 2015.

Some local governments have reacted to this vacuum in local coverage by using social media in an effort to reach the public. Bethlehem Mayor Bob Donchez sets aside one morning each month for the public,and his Chief of Staff has several news releases each week.Bethlehem Township also has a "Meet the Commissioner" policy once each month at the community center. They also are taking advantage of Facebook, Twitter Snapchat and Nixel. Tiny West Easton videotapes every meeting. Those are governments that at least try to be transparent and accountable.

But most governments love the lack of scrutiny.

Northampton County, for example, has a "new" website that actually contains less data than its predecessor. No contact information for elected Council members. It's an atmosphere in which someone engaged in payments to his father can get a major raise unanimously. It's one in which law clerks can be paid obscene sums of money and make careers out of holding a judge's robe,and even get a stipend on top of that salary. The second highest ranking county employee can be appointed despite having no education, no experience,six tax liens and a home in foreclosure.

This is how democracy dies.