Authorities pressure local media on Muslim film shoot details, ctd

Another reader disputes that the Signal was pressured by the cops or city altogether, which would make Bossert's thesis nonsensical:

Mr. Bossert is off base. Is that so shocking to anyone? But where to start? Did law enforcement officials indeed ask The Signal to not report that bit of news? Don't count on Mr. Bossert to answer that question. He touts himself as a beacon of journalistic integrity for the West Side ... oh, excuse me, the entire valley... yet refuses to do due diligence, such as actually confirming the serious claims he continually lobs out. 

Furthermore, he displays an ignorance of how the newspaper works. I can say fairly confidently that reporting on the filming location was not done "to sell newspapers," it was done to follow up on something that had already been reported in numerous major news outlets. But let's hope the al Qaeda cell that subscribes only to The Signal knows that, and doesn't just target 24000 Creekside and the surrounding area. Ok, let me back up a bit. Yes, technically, to a degree, running that story was done to sell newspapers. Because — news flash, Mr. Bossert — THAT'S WHAT PAPERS DO. They pay a staff to report on news, and produce a product, and cover their costs and make a profit and stay in business. 

A newspaper can't simply rely on writing a blog and posting links to news stories written by someone else ("But what about the AP wire stories they run?" Newspapers pay for that content.) And in the process, provide the community with coverage of things going on its backyard. In this situation, Mr. Bossert would have had the local media ignore an international story, being covered by numerous outlets, to maintain the misguided notion that if it wasn't covered locally the details of the filming location would somehow remain a mystery.
Listen, The Signal gets things right, and they get things wrong. In this case, as in many, they did the right and responsible thing. And frankly, if Mr. Bossert fancies himself the potential media king of the Santa Clarita Valley, he would do better to focus on responsibly producing an excellent product rather than constantly playing his broken record of "The Signal is the worst blahblahblah..."

And in the event this winds up on the web and Mr. Bossert reads it, the answer is no, I am not on The Signal's payroll.

Ok, I'm done. If nothing else, this story has put Santa Clarita Valley on the international map. We might not negotiate with terrorists, but we take their movie reviews very seriously.

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