Never a slow news week

One of the biggest challenges we have in covering this small town is that because we are unincorporated, our primary government is one hour away in Riverside. Therefore, we are run by many special districts that meet regularly, creating lots of need for coverage of the things that matter to people up here — water, fire, medical services, recreation, etc. That means we never have a slow news week.

Anyone who attends our open news meetings at Cafe Aroma on Wednesday mornings knows our story list each week runs about 7-8 pages long. Regular and special meetings are where we learn about what affects the community. We often are the only ones attending these meetings. Without that, these agencies and organizations would be tempted to shove things under the rug that could affect our quality of life.

How to deal with negative vs. positive news is certainly a challenge in a community that depends on tourism. I think if you look back at the front pages, you will find much good about Idyllwild, as Marshall talks about in his blog.

We have started many features supporting the positive aspects of Idyllwild in the paper: "Only in Idyllwild," "Outside Idyllwild," "Clubs," "Arts & Entertainment Calendar," etc., and are always open to new ideas. We've been getting lots of wildlife photos lately, and those are making their way to the published page regularly.

It's certainly a juggling act each week, and we like to hear comments. That's why we opened our news meeting to the public a few years back. It's been rewarding for those who attend and helps us tremendously in finding out what's important to cover.

We can't satisfy everyone. We just try to do our best.