“Truth Be Told” documentary emphasizes the crucial role of local journalism

These reporters, they don’t live in ivory towers.
They’re barely making, you know, a lot of cases above poverty wages.
these journalists are doing it because they want to serve their communities.
They want to do good in the communities. They want to serve their neighbors.
And so, if we all look at local journalism that way, and if you look at the honest work that they do,they genuinely want to find the truth.
and that’s what I hope this film really shows.
You’re watching the local news network
brought to you by Fast Signs Durango
and Fort Lewis College Center for innovation.
I’m Laura Frank. I’m the executive director of Colab, the Colorado News Collaborative.
Colab is a nonprofit that works with nearly 200 news organizations all across Colorado, trying to help build stronger communities through stronger news.
So we were really excited when we had the opportunity to work with a filmmaker like Brian Malone, talking about the kinds of things that local reporters do to bring those factual stories to their communities.
The truth is under attack, and journalism is in a tight spot.
Local news is something that I’m passionate about and something that I think is critically important, especially now,
given the times we’re living in,
the First Amendment
is something that
all Coloradans need to be reminded of. It’s, critical importance.
the work of original reporting is something that I think is underestimated by folks that when they pick up a newspaper or they read a story online or they tune in to a television or radio broadcast,
it’s not always apparent all the work that goes into it. But there’s a lot of research, there’s a lot of interviews, there’s a lot of cross-checking and fact checking that goes into a just report, one fact
and to get it right, and it’s difficult work and it takes time, but it’s important.
It’s important for viewers and listeners and readers to know that they’re getting the correct information
we are helping to host with local news organizations, the local news network and KSUT and and others are going to be in the room too. We’re helping to host a viewing of this film, but it doesn’t stop there.
It’s continuing a community conversation about pulling back the curtain and finding out what it takes to deliver quality local news in a community, and we’re going to be doing this all across Colorado. So we’re excited that Durango got to be the first place that we stop.
KSUT is a is a great story right now.
They do a great public service for a very unique part of the state that often gets overlooked.
And oftentimes they’re the
only,
source of public information out there for folks who don’t have internet coverage, who barely have cell service. And so
to hear that,
big portion of their funding was getting cut,
that’s a that’s a significant story
Brian Malone is a Colorado treasure. He is a filmmaker who has an eye for what matters. Now in taking a look at social issues in Colorado. He’s a longtime journalist himself, so he understands some of how the sausage is made, and also that most people don’t know how the sausage is made when it comes to producing local news.
There’s a lot of really good research that quality local news does all kinds of things for a local economy. It makes government more efficient, less expensive. It makes borrowing money less expensive there. It’s hard to imagine how that happens, but the researchers think that having that kind of watchdog element and community connection and engagement, both of those things, balance the relationships that happen in a community and just make that community work better.
hope this film in the very least showed the honest, hard work that… that some of these journalists. Maybe some of you do in this room tonight. Every day. And then shines a spotlight on some of the work that all of you guys do,
there are a lot of loud voices out there right now. A lot of loud mouths that are shouting and screaming and telling you that the press is unreliable and that, you shouldn’t trust the press.
And there’s a lot of information out there to support that. And it’s not entirely untrue. There are a lot of reasons why people should question the press or the media, if you want to call it that, but I would argue
underneath all of that noise, if you will.
There are still good journalists every day, every minute of every day that are digging and doing good stories
that matter, that matter to you, and not only in big cities, but I would say especially in small rural communities where I would argue it matters the most,
we all seem to have this kind of fascination with national news, national politics and that kind of thing.
And while that may be attractive and sexy and that kind of thing,
the truth of the matter is, if you think about let’s just look at this dollars and cents. If you look at the way your taxes are spent, for instance, you know, you pay your federal taxes and that kind of thing, but proportionately, your state taxes, your local taxes, you spend more money on your state and local taxes than you do on your federal taxes.
And more of your money goes to, say, local school boards and state taxes and local roads and local governments than they do towards federal taxes. So if you want to look at it that way, you would want to spend a lot more attention to your local governments and your local school boards and your local town councils and city councils and county commissioners.
Then you would want to spend to all the national noise that’s going on. And so
pay and pay a lot more attention to the local journalism
to cover those local issues and events that are going on.
this is hard work. And these journalists are working really hard for us. And I think that’s probably the point that Brian was really most trying to bring home. So thank you for doing that. Well, great.
supporting your local news organization is one of the greatest acts of of civic responsibility that you could do. If you want to make a difference in your community, pay attention to local news and make sure that it can be reported and shared throughout your community.
for more information, visit Colab News.com.
and
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