Andrea Zelinski of Nashville Scene laments the slow shrinkage of Tennessee’s press corps covering the state capitol. “More news is good news,” she writes, as she discusses the differing editorial opinions, stances, and biases that different publications across the state, or even within Nashville, brought to the table to help shape public opinion. She continues:
Without enough reporters to tell the varying sides of the story, House Speaker Beth Harwell tells the Scene, the nuance of what’s happening gets lost. And if one news outlet has too much sway — for instance, when Gannett takes control of two more of the state’s largest Capitol Hill bureaus, and fewer people are reporting what’s happening — editorials shaping public opinion suffer.
With the recent shuttering of TN Report, a news service dedicated solely to the state capitol, and the acquisition of newspapers in Memphis and Knoxville by Gannett, this diversity of opinion is under threat more and more: the full time press corps at the capitol has shrunk from 35 to 5.
Nashens aims to provide another voice to Nashville: that of its citizens. This blog does not attempt to replace or push out any other news organizations. In fact, it doesn’t even attempt to cover state politics on a regular basis, as this is a local news blog (even though the capitol is right here in Nashville).