When newspapers get out-reported in their own backyard, sometimes it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie.
After the Sacramento Bee’s year-long investigation of hard money loans in our county, The Union’s headlines have been:
•”Lester: ‘I did nothing unethical”
•”Newell: No conflict in prosecuting real estate fraud cases”
It sort of sums up the insular, “tight knit” nature of our community.
The Union had access to much of the same information over the years from unhappy investors.
To its credit, it nibbled at the edges, given the more limited resources and philosophy of being a “community” newspaper.
Rather than chasing down the hard-money loan story “too little, too late,” a much better one is at hand: An in-depth investigation of Citizens Bank.
This blog has nibbled at the edges of that one, often being out in front.
A full-time, paid journalist could unearth many interesting nuggets, to be sure.
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I love your final line, “A full-time, paid journalist could unearth many interesting nuggets….”
Real investigative journalism takes tremendous resources. To get it right, this story, which could do real damage to innocent stakeholders if handled improperly, needs those resources.
Unfortunately most local media lacks those resources, and good journalists are stuck covering too much ground. I am hoping that some day citizen journalism will rise to the challenge, but right now they are on the upward arc while traditional media is on the downward arc. We will all benefit when the arcs cross.
One positive sign is that the hard-money loan story in our county was largely the result of sleuthing by the harmed investors (AKA “citizen journalists”). These people did much of the legwork and generated many of the documents. To its credit, the Bee did a good job of pointing that out. Another issue to unearthing these stories in “community” newspapers is the inevitable small-town politics. You have to stand up to that, not be subsumed by it.
Jeff, you make a really good point: this is a case of citizen journalism blended with traditional media. Citizen investigators can play the same role with government. A good example of that would be the Michelle Ollar-Burris case in Placer.
You are so right about the ‘stand up’ to small town politics part.
And might I add that part of this investigative journalism needs to focus on Cliff Newell’s handling of the Hastert Case and other allegations related to Nevada County’s “Hard Money” community, during that period of time.
As KVMR’s news director at the time, I covered what was happening, quite extensively and had access to documents and insider information. My recollection was that Cliff, was slow to act, on more than one occasion and had the appearance of “dragging his feet”. Remember also, that Hastert received some very surprising treatment by Nevada County’s criminal justice apparatus and while I certainly can’t say why any of this happened, for sure. I was, at that time, being told and shown proof of Cliff’s deep involvement in the local hard money circle.
I know Cliff Newell and I like him, but someone needs to look at whether or not he used his position as DA to slow down a major investigation in order to protect his friends, creditors and/or himself.
It’s sad that so many bit off more than they could chew. In recent weeks our assessor and hubby even made the legal announcements. I’ll continue to stick to the K.I.S.S. way of life. Simple can equal happiness.