The Star Press: Muncie Free Press is not Newsworthy

Muncie Free Press ^ | 01.09.07 | Kpaul

[Dr. Marten]

If you haven't heard, The Star Press, the local Gannett owned newspaper, recently started their 'Your Neighborhood' feature - something Muncie Free Press has been doing since we started on July 4th, 2005. Although their promo's state that it's for local people to 'brag about their businesses' etc., I've been told that as a citizen I'm not allowed to use their 'citizen journalism' segment to let people know about Muncie Free Press.

 

I'm not asking for any special treatment. I just want The Star Press to do their jobs as journalists and cover what I'm trying to do with Muncie Free Press for the benefit of Muncie and greater East Central Indiana at large. Once again, though, it seems I'm being 'shut-out' of their 'news gathering' because I am a competitor. Regardless of how many times they say Muncie Free Press is "just another website" and is "not newsworthy" I believe it's a business decision (not a journalistic one) they're making when they refuse to include any kind of coverage of Muncie Free Press.

I wish Phil Beebe and The Star Press the best of luck in their new venture. I'm sure with their ability to market and advertise the product in their printed newspaper, it will get lots of traffic and produce lots of free content for Gannett.

Back to Muncie Free Press, though. I've been told the only way I can get coverage in their newspaper is to buy advertising. I suggest that this runs counter to the whole idea of 'citizen journalism' and shows that this attempt of theirs is just 'window dressing' and a way to increase page views and ad revenue. I'm still waiting to talk to someone personally so they can answer as to why this site is not 'newsworthy' even though we've been in operation 18 months and have had numerous articles written about us around the country.

Does this seem like it's in the spirit of 'citizen journalism' to you? If not, I suggest you call and /or write The Star Press and let them know your thoughts on the matter, let them know you support Muncie Free Press and that no matter how much they try to ignore us, we're not going away.

Muncie Free Press is here for the citizens, has been since the beginning. We don't do 'bottom-line' journalism here. We try to give a balanced, objective view of stories relevant to citizens of East Central Indiana.

Their reason for not letting me write my own story on Muncie Free Press (since they won't write a story on their own - limited staff maybe? Too much time spent on Armed and Famous stories perhaps?):

Thanks, Paul.

No, I don't think we have any plans to promote your site. "Your Neighborhoods" is a feature allowing readers to share news about themselves, their families and their neighbors. We're going to be selective about what we allow to be published about businesses, and I don't think it's newsworthy to promote your businesses.

Sincerely,
Phil Beebe, online community editor
The Star Press, Muncie

I've asked (now and before) why they don't think I'm newsworthy (everything I learned at BSU's Journalism Department says otherwise), but I haven't had a response. I doubt I'll get one either. It appears this new feature at The Star Press is open to the citizens of East Central Indiana - as long as you aren't a competitor and don't cut into the bottom-line - i.e. their ad sales.

This just in. As I suspected, no answer as to why I'm not newsworthy in their eyes, just this from Phil Beebe, "I doubt that you're going to see much of anything on our site about your site."

There you have it, East Central Indiana, Gannett's form of 'citizen journalism' - by the people (if it helps The Star Press), for the people (if they're not a competitor...) I understand this view for other businesses/industries, but we're talking about Journalism here.

Your thoughts, East Central Indiana?

[Mr. Lucky]

Sort of a whiner, ain't he?