New Publications

New Mexico is getting two new publications, one online and one printed.

New Mexico Free Press will be community newspaper, says publisher Scott Karlson, "intensively locally focused" on Santa Fe.. State and national news will be covered as applicable. "You won't see a major car accident on our front page." Instead the front page may show a kid hitting a baseball. The paper will be "very much pro-business," covering news and events, but with "a little more" emphasis on feature stories. There will a page directed at youth. Karlson says, "We hope to get a lot of submissions from the community. We want t0 know about clubs, organizations."

The Free Press will have 24 pages to start, with free distribution of 20,000 copies starting March 5. Nearly all the investment money is from Santa Fe, Karlson said.

While we wish Karlson and the Free Press well, it is worth noting that as what might be called a "good news" newspaper, the Free Press defies the conventional definition of "news." That definition is that news is what is exceptional or perhaps compelling in the grand scheme. A kid hitting a baseball, however cool, is not exceptional. 

We don't know the name of the online publication. The information comes from a forwarded email that said, "The Center for Independent Media (http://newjournalist.org) is looking for a State Director for its new journalist program in New Mexico. The program's goal is to build a channel of communication, via online journalism and blogging, which diversifies and deepens statewide news coverage and debate.... The Center for Independent Media is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that fosters diversity of ideas in the national debate through the advancement of independent media,with a primary emphasis on online journalism."

The Washington, D.C.-based Center may be nonpartisan, but it is hardly without ideology. The final required qualification the state director is, "Above all, applicants should be firmly committed to progressive values and uncovering the truth." 

As most know, "progressive values" is a code phrase for the very left end of the political spectrum. It seems to be assumed that "progressive values" are "the truth,"  a contention lots of folks might debate.

Digging around newjournalist.org reveals that principal players are veterans of such mainstream efforts as the McGovern for President campaign. However, the digging reveals nothing about a board of directors, an advisory group or anything else that would directly or indirectly indicate the sources of the Center's financing. This is an unfortunate, even hypocritical omission, given the pretensions, the lengthy ethics statement posted on the Web site and the reality that the folks with the money have much too say about what happens in the organization, nonprofit or otherwise.

To be fair, it should be noted that Karlson didn't offer the names of the people backing the Free Press. Nor did we find any clue in the corporate listings at the Public Regulation Commission. However, others in Santa Fe confirm the localness of the venture. That's quite different from a Washington, D.C., outfit. And the agendas—a kid hitting a baseball vs. "progressive values"—are quite different.