Reminder of importance of local news

Condon retirement is end of an era at The Post-Star

By Ken Tingley

Mark Mahoney and his three daughters stopped at the Cumberland Farms in Queensbury on a quiet Sunday afternoon to pick up a few snacks.

Standing next to the potato chips at the front of the store, Mark and his 11-year-old daughter noticed a commotion in the parking lot where a car was parked oddly near the gas pumps.

Mark thought it might be an accident, but the bumpers of the two cars were not touching.

They watched as a man got out of the car with a long rifle. He walked up to the driver’s-side window of the other car and shoot a woman to death. The woman was the man’s estranged wife.

Mahoney, the editorial page editor at The Post-Star at the time, had covered murders before, but he had never witnessed one.

Since last fall I’ve been talking to community groups about my book “The Last American Newspaper” about the difference that newspapers make in their communities.

There is a crisis brewing in our country about a lack of local news.

The murder at the Cumberland Farms 18 years ago is one of the examples I give about the value of local news. I explain how that event led directly to an in-depth story project about domestic violence in Hometown, USA.

I explain how 23 victims of domestic violence came forward to talk to one of our reporters about the horrors they endured, the trauma they suffered and the fears they still had.

On three consecutive days, we published their stories in stark reality.

It was shocking.

It should be shocking it is going on anywhere, but it was especially shocking it was going on here.

Before we published the series, we realized we had a problem.

We did not have a photograph to go with the story. That’s important for the design of any newspaper front page and important because photos draw readers into the story.

We had not taken any photos of the victims because we did not want to put them at risk. Then, one of our editors said, “Maybe there is strength in numbers.”

We called each of the 23 victims and asked if they would be willing to be part of a group photograph with other domestic violence victims.

Nine agreed.

Seven showed up for the photo shoot at Crandall Park.

There in a solitude under the big pines in the park, they posed for a group photo.

It is remarkable.

It stops me in my tracks whenever I see it.

I find myself looking at their faces, the body language and wondering what made them pose for this photo.

I ask the audience to look at the photo and consider the circumstances, to consider what the past had been like for the people in it.

What I see every time is defiance.

They are standing up for themselves and announcing to the world they will never put up with anything like that again; that no one should.

I find it inspirational.

It’s why we need news outlets who will not just report the murder in the convenience store parking lot, but explain why it happened and how it might be prevented in the future.

When I get to the photo during my talks, it is midnight quiet in the room. People stare at the photo, they spend time with it as well.

While they are looking at the audience I often look at them. I wonder if there are one or two of them who are victims, too.

At one of my recent talks, I was signing books afterward when a woman came over and thanked me for mentioning the domestic violence story. She stopped again, and told me she was one of those victims.

I didn’t know what to say.

I told her I hoped the story did some good.

I told her I hoped it made a difference.

She sort of nodded, but she looked angry and finally said she would never be able to trust a man again. She left quickly.

I tell the audience I think the domestic violence series saved lives. But some things can’t be completely fixed.

It occurs to me now that story was published 18 years ago. And there is no one to do that story today.

Worth reading

Bob Condon addressed readers with his final column to Post-Star readers on Sunday.

Most of you are probably not familiar with Bob. He has been the city editor at the newspaper for over 20 years before leading the newsroom the past two and a half years. He has always been low key and not written much over the years.

But Bob was as important an editor as any who walked through the doors at Lawrence and Cooper Streets over the years. His last day at the newspaper is Tuesday.

It will be the end of an era.

Parking in Glens Falls

The city of Glens Falls just got the results of its latest parking study and it says what all the other parking studies said: Glens Falls has enough parking.

I remember writing about this 20 years ago.

I pointed out that the parking lot over by the Queensbury Hotel was closer to Glen Street than most of the parking at Aviation Mall. I know because I stepped it off.

There is parking all over Glens Falls. People don’t want parking, they want guaranteed parking right next to their destination. We are creatures of habit and we want to go to the same place every time and have a parking place waiting for us.

I wonder how many people use the new parking garage on Park Street for parking downtown. I’ll bet not many.

People have been complaining about the parking for decades and each study tells the city the same thing.

Maybe it’s time to stop studying the problem.

It’s Fox News

After reading Brian Stelter’s book “Hoax” and reading the latest filings from the Dominon lawsuit about the inner workings at the Fox TV netwwork, I found this quote that seems to fit not only the news network, but many of the politicians - like Rep. Elise Stefanik - vying for its attention.

“The cable news outlet (Fox), which spent years propping up Trump, is a 24-hour machine that churns out minute-by-minute attacks on Biden. Every move from the president is a scandal; every speech is an embarrassment; every victory is an illusion.”

What Stelter so astutely pointed out in his book was that it wasn’t the Republicans that were driving a right-wing narrative so much as it was the TV network who was driving the Republicans to do it to keep their ratings high.

Greenwich event

I’ll be  part of another “Future of Local News” event on March 9 at the Greenwich Free Library.

I’ll be giving a presentation on the value of community newspapers at 6:30 p.m. and at 7 p.m. I will be joined by former Schenectady Gazette Editor Judy Patrick and current Albany Times Union reporter Wendy Liberatore for a panel discussion.

It’s an important subject that we all need to be paying attention to.

Moriah supervisor to retire

Tom Scozzafava, the long-time supervisor in the town of Moriah, told North Country Public Radio this week he will retire at the end of the year. Scozzafava was first elected in 1985.

Scozzafava even made at least one run for the state assembly.

The Essex County supervisor would occasionally give me a call to weigh in on regional issues. We didn’t always agree, but he knew his stuff.

"It’s not an easy decision, I mean I’ve given my heart and soul to this community," Scozzafava told NCPR. "It’s been my life. But it’s not like I’m leaving town. I love this town, I love the North Country, I love this county. I’ll still be around."