The community hung a couple of lights on the bathhouse,but they proved more of a convienence than deterrent. No more fumbling in the dark, when just the right amount of light was added. Noting this the community hung two huge stadium type lights off the telephone poles , fired those suckers up and singed everything within 200 feet. People across the lake could no longer sleep as their bedrooms were lit up like Times Square . Our whole neighborhood was cast into perpetual daylight. Someone must have complained and the lights went dark, thankfully. We no longer looked like the inside of a prison yard in the stark blinding light.
But that is the thing about illumination, you see things you don't really want to see, who wants to see drug dealing in a nice suburban setting. So it was that a couple of weeks ago, my brother in law recommended the movie SPOTLIGHT. He having watched during a blizzard. I followed up and it is every bit as good as he said it was. But he did not single it out for the subject, the priestly sex abuse scandal, the story that no one wanted to ever see. . He mentioned it as being a good insight into the art of investigative journalism. And there it was the real story. Dogged reporters working their craft despite active opposition, a noble effort.
The Boston Globe had set out to investigate and report the story which would become global in scope and continues to reverberate. Still hard at it
But the real story is that this type of operation and story will never be again. Media, especially print media has declined to the point of near extinction. They have removed all manner of personnel and reporters. Even their business offices are running on empty, a simple call to a USA Today Newspaper to deal with their billing errors is a time sucking disaster, there is no service. I laugh as they say they record all calls. Well they must be recording a lot of dead air. I wonder, would I keep the subscription but for the comics and the crossword. Oh, they still print everyday, but the content is less and less, the stories are old by days and stale. The editorial content is slanted, to the point that I believe the lean has driven away readership, in much the same way that CNN's tilt has eroded viewership. Too much socialism for what are usually centrist Americans.
There will be no more spotlights as the resources are to costly, our news stories have degenerated.
People are dumping the papers . We can not look to media as a means to information, so we will be assaulted by the oddities of our world as we become ever more observers of the freak show put forth by the digital and electronic media giants
I think the Washington Post stands the greatest Chance of survival as the company town thrives on it and it has a benefactor with money and apparently interested in keeping the anti trust folks at bay, good press helps their.othrr major dailies are done. The Detroit Free Press, The Baltimore Sun, The Newark Star Ledger, all thin and thinning.
It is the final days of the press. At 5 bucks a copy, the New York Times is a luxury item , who will remain, to finally shut out the spotlight.