In the local news

Published 7:27 pm Monday, February 20, 2012

Yesterday, a call came into Sound Off thanking the Washington Daily News for the following: “It was the one source we could go to without having to have Whitney Houston thrown in our face 24/7.”

Houston’s death made national, even international, news, and plenty of outlets were available where information about, and the speculation surrounding, her death could be found. It’s true that last week, to avoid the topic one would have had to avoid the news altogether.

It was no accident that the Daily News had no coverage of Houston’s tragic death. As more and more people seek their news via television and the Internet, smaller papers are systematically turning away from international and national news stories to focus on the local news stories. These are the stories that impact our community directly.

While the news we report to you may not impact you specifically on a daily basis, it does affect the community as a whole: that could be your neighbor, your friends, your children or grandchildren, your plans for the weekend. The paper introduces the public to politicians seeking local office and tells you what happened in the City Council’s and county commissioners’ meetings.

Therein lies the value of a local newspaper. Without it, the information we convey to you with as much accuracy as possible would disappear into a black hole, difficult to find, perhaps relegated to gossip.

FOX News, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, CBS, “The Today Show,” “E! News,” “The Insider,” “Access Hollywood,” “TMZ,” “Extra,” MTV’s The Seven” and hundreds, if not thousands, of websites had Whitney Houston’s death covered. Our job is to cover what’s happening here.