Another media disaster is that the covid hit Cloudcroft, and nobody knew. Now in this kind of media disaster I think we can call it a disaster, since human lives could be at stake. Everyone knows covid kills, everyone knows how it works, nobody doubted it would get here someday - but when it did, what happened?
Actually the I LOVE CLOUDCROFT facebook site had it and handled it pretty well. It's the third site, after the Community site and the 700 site. On the Community site, which I would say is the main one (most followers), a post about it was simply deleted. Too controversial? It could be that everything even mentioning the coronavirus was drawing blood at this particular site.
But that left us with almost nobody. The fact is, we don't really have a media outlet on the mountain. And I'm not sure I want to start one, though I could possibly save lives.
People need to know this stuff. They don't need to know who brought it, or any of those details - but to be left totally in the dark, that's not right.
Thursday, August 20, 2020
Saturday, August 15, 2020
Dark Canyon Media Disaster
An article has been on top of my local news feed for about a week, about a fire in Dark Canyon. It identifies Dark Canyon as being 8 miles from Cloudcroft.
KTSM Staff. (2020, Aug. 10). Firefighters battling Dark Canyon fire near Cloudcroft. KTSM.
There are two problems with this article that make it a media disaster. First is that it is the only article there is out there, about the fire, and has been for five days. So this is not KTSM's fault; they at least got a story no one else got.
But the problem that irks me is that it identifies two different Dark Canyons; one is north of Capitan, and the other one is eight miles from Cloudcroft. I could tell by reading the article that the fire could not be in both places, as you can't be eight miles from Cloudcroft and northwest of Capitan at the same time. But I didn't know where the fire was. The headline identified it as near Cloudcroft; the article mentioned both Cloudroft and Capitan as they were the same.
After a few days local people confirmed for me that the fire was near Capitan, not Cloudcroft. Facebook turned out to be a better source of information than local media, the writers of whom did not really know the difference between Cloudcroft and Capitan. We have no media here. Alamogordo didn't even pick up the story.
Maybe the fire was a nothing, and didn't really matter. It is, after all, rainy season, so most of us are taking a breath and enjoying the fact that one cigarette is not going to burn down the entire forest, at least not at the moment. But we're a very fire-wary culture, and a headline that says someone is battling a fire near Cloudcroft, most of us are going to read the article.
Too bad. We could use a media outlet around here.
KTSM Staff. (2020, Aug. 10). Firefighters battling Dark Canyon fire near Cloudcroft. KTSM.
There are two problems with this article that make it a media disaster. First is that it is the only article there is out there, about the fire, and has been for five days. So this is not KTSM's fault; they at least got a story no one else got.
But the problem that irks me is that it identifies two different Dark Canyons; one is north of Capitan, and the other one is eight miles from Cloudcroft. I could tell by reading the article that the fire could not be in both places, as you can't be eight miles from Cloudcroft and northwest of Capitan at the same time. But I didn't know where the fire was. The headline identified it as near Cloudcroft; the article mentioned both Cloudroft and Capitan as they were the same.
After a few days local people confirmed for me that the fire was near Capitan, not Cloudcroft. Facebook turned out to be a better source of information than local media, the writers of whom did not really know the difference between Cloudcroft and Capitan. We have no media here. Alamogordo didn't even pick up the story.
Maybe the fire was a nothing, and didn't really matter. It is, after all, rainy season, so most of us are taking a breath and enjoying the fact that one cigarette is not going to burn down the entire forest, at least not at the moment. But we're a very fire-wary culture, and a headline that says someone is battling a fire near Cloudcroft, most of us are going to read the article.
Too bad. We could use a media outlet around here.
Friday, July 10, 2020
Local News/July
Shutdown, Virus
New Mexico governor orders no indoor restaurant dining, no fall football or soccer due to virus, KVIA, El Paso
Virus spread rate highest in southwestern NM
Wildfire
Ojo de los Casos Fire burns 90 acres on north Manzano Mountains, KOB Albuquerque
NMSU
NMSU administrators address reopening, budget cuts, LC Sun News
New Mexico governor orders no indoor restaurant dining, no fall football or soccer due to virus, KVIA, El Paso
Virus spread rate highest in southwestern NM
Wildfire
Ojo de los Casos Fire burns 90 acres on north Manzano Mountains, KOB Albuquerque
NMSU
NMSU administrators address reopening, budget cuts, LC Sun News
Thursday, June 4, 2020
Local news links - May/June
I will keep these updated as possible:
east mountain fire
East Mountain Fire burning in the Capitan Mountains is 50% contained, Ruidoso News, 6-5
penney's (alamo) closing
JC Penney announces 154 stores set to close this summer. Here’s a map., CNBC 6-4
flags at half mast
New Mexico orders flags lowered to honor George Floyd, victims of racism and violence, Ruidoso News, 6-4
covid
Restaurants, hair salons, gyms back open, KOAT News ABQ
'
Otero County Lockdown
Otero County offices remain on lockdown due to threats following Commissioner Griffin comment,Ruidoso News, 6-1-20
Cuoy Griffin
He's king of the cowboys and self-promotion, Santa Fe New Mexican, 5-21
Cowboys for Trump founder, Couy Griffin: 'The only good Democrat is a dead Democrat', Ruidoso News, 5-20
east mountain fire
East Mountain Fire burning in the Capitan Mountains is 50% contained, Ruidoso News, 6-5
penney's (alamo) closing
JC Penney announces 154 stores set to close this summer. Here’s a map., CNBC 6-4
flags at half mast
New Mexico orders flags lowered to honor George Floyd, victims of racism and violence, Ruidoso News, 6-4
covid
Restaurants, hair salons, gyms back open, KOAT News ABQ
'
Otero County Lockdown
Otero County offices remain on lockdown due to threats following Commissioner Griffin comment,Ruidoso News, 6-1-20
Cuoy Griffin
He's king of the cowboys and self-promotion, Santa Fe New Mexican, 5-21
Cowboys for Trump founder, Couy Griffin: 'The only good Democrat is a dead Democrat', Ruidoso News, 5-20
Friday, December 30, 2016
Welcome!
The first thing I asked when I got here was, is there any online version of Mountain Times? People were nice to me but said, No. Not that this is trying to be one, I don't really have the resources. But I think, if I could link to everything that matters, I would be close. So I'll slowly try to do that. It may take me a while. And, when I get it up and going, I might change the name and have a grand opening. For now, it's just kind of an experiment. Also, I already had a cloudcroft journal, here, but that one was just a kind of personal place to reflect on the place. You don't want my opinions (but if you do, go there) - what you need is the choice to go read about issues that matter to us. That's what I'll try to provide. -Tom Leverett
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)