Today Is National Buy a Newspaper Day -OR- B.A.D. Timing

Strange bedfellows? Maybe not.
A great many blogs are locally, topically oriented. They feed off local news.
They provide depth and perspectives often lost in the shuffle.
Tip's "All politics is local" or the latest Blago reflected mutation; "All politics is PERSONAL" in today's realm means that readers often turn to local bloggers for details that are glossed over in the press release, or simply missed in the cacophany of mundane activities of local governments.

Local bloggers attract local trolls too. Venomous comments that are brutally personal, harmful, shameful and FALSE pit neighbor against neighbor in an attempt to marginalize differing/opposing points of view.

So while I am personally ambivalent regarding the major masthead's current economic concerns, I am a staunch advocate for independent local weekly, monthly and quarterly publications that cover local issues and events.

The good ones do more than cover spelling bees and food drives. They strive to be more than "shoppers" and propaganda outlets. It's a grinding, often thankless, job putting out a local edition.

So today, I'm asking you to buy a local newspaper in your community or neighborhood. Seek out a local blogger while you're at it too. Join a local online forum. Meet your virtual neighbors and forge alliances to protect what's good and combat what's not so good around you.

Keep tabs on stuff being done in your name and on your dime. Jump into the local frays.
BAND Day
One Blogger's take
Another BT
An example of Local news
A bad example of print media consolidation