Friday, March 27, 2009

Pegasus News content partner interview: The Richardson Echo

By Alex Bentley

The Richardson Echo, written by Andrew Laska, was one of Pegasus News' first forays into finding a content partner outside of Dallas, joining the site on August 21, 2007 with a post about an upcoming charter election in Richardson. Though many of his posts have to do with various goings-on at Richardson City Hall, he is by no means focused solely on that. His posts have included ones on sports, community events, citizen profiles, and even interviewing candidates for state office.

Homepage of The Richardson Echo

Pegasus News: When did you start The Richardson Echo and what were your reasons for starting it?

Laska: I started it back in August of 2007 but I had been planning and working on it on and off for about a year before that. Richardson's first newspaper was called The Richardson Echo.

I started it because there is no real source of news in Richardson. Richardson's daily newspaper went through the usual cycle of local newspapers. They were bought up by a larger company which then paid less interest and now we are lucky if we get a targeted article or two a week. There are a few blogs or blog like sites but I am not interested in mere opinion.

I accelerated my work when Richardson got caught up in an issue about Sexually Oriented Businesses (or SOBs) in the 2006 and 2007 time frame. Local TV media did stories on the issue which were -- to be frank -- quite irresponsible and bordered on outright lies. The Dallas Morning News reporting was more responsible but people watch more TV than read the news. What shocked me was how effective the mistruths were.

You might say, "Who cares?" Well, I do and so do people who live here. I love my community for all its goodness and faults.

I have no background in journalism. I have a background in Richardson. My story is typical. My parents moved here in 1968. My dad was working as an engineer for a division of AT&T and they liked the schools. A very typical story. I have been away for a few years here and there but my wife and I decided to put stakes here. I said if we are going to do that then we need to take some stewardship of the community.

So the purpose of the Echo is to get neutral news to people and to communicate things they might not hear otherwise. The Echo accepts user submissions so it's not just my take on things and I do not want it to be.

Pegasus News: Your site touches on Richardson politics, business, and other community news - which of these is your favorite to write about and why?

Laska: That's a tough question. I've spent a great deal of time covering city hall. I do that because people aren't getting news of what happens there. Topics that some people consider boring will actually affect them more than they suppose. The mainstream local news might cover heavy crime or ordinances that get people riled up, but those honestly don't affect them as much as more subtle things.

Pegasus News: Do you have any favorite posts? Anything you wish you hadn't done?

Laska: I think my stuff on Ashley Place was decent. This is quite possibly the first turn in parts of Richardson away from degradation and toward a renaissance. I got lots of compliments including a few calls, curiously, from property developers who read the stories from afar.

It's hard to say if I shouldn't have done certain things but I might have done some things differently. There was a story on a political survey I wish I had covered differently and the smoking ordinance story I wish I had done differently. With respect to the smoking ordinance story, it was a tiring process because people were so bent out of shape about it.

I take great effort to be neutral. However, even neutrality gets misinterpreted as bias by a few people to the point of being ridiculous. I have been accused by a few of promoting certain positions or persons for political reasons. I find that brutally insulting. I find it brutally insulting because I am intensely behind helping the community I love move forward.

One example of misinterpretation is in the reactions to the coverage of the smoking ordinance. I admit it's not my best work but hey... I'm human. Some people whose minds were already made up accused me of bias. I reported only what was publicly available, and honestly, I didn't even report some of the poor behavior at public meetings, because that would have been prejudicial and certainly not concerned with the issue. If I really wanted to present bias wouldn't I have reported on the negative behavior of others with the intent to embarrass them? So even my effort at neutrality gets considered a work of bias by a few people.

I guess "No good deed goes unpunished" as the saying goes. I am glad to say, however, I receive a far far greater amount of compliments as compared to complaints.

Pegasus News: You've branched out a bit in the past with posts such as your interview of stock car driver Lindsey Adams and a feature on track and field athlete TiAra Walpool. Why did you decide to write about those specific subjects and do you plan to do any more of those in the future?

Laska: Quite simply they are about interesting people from Richardson. I would love to do more of these in the future. The problem with them is that interviews are labor intensive.

Pegasus News: Elections are coming up in May - are there any Richardson races to which we should pay particular attention?

Particular races are interesting but the atmosphere of the races is more interesting. I have to say it's not a positive atmosphere despite many people's good intentions. There are various factions, formal or otherwise, that are creating a kind of political backbiting and focus away from issues. It is not so much the candidates as it is arrays of supporters and detractors on different sides. It's an issue of the whole and there isn't a one group or persons to blame.

One thing in the mix is the mayoral issue. In Richardson, the mayor is selected by the city council so some in the community are seeing the race only in terms of a referendum about who will be mayor. That is a huge mistake. To people from elsewhere all of this might seem normal, it hasn't been that way in Richardson. There are too many "us vs. them" or "east vs. west" or "north vs. south" attitudes cropping up which is spoiling focus on broader and more important issues.

Richardson is a built out city with challenges in redevelopment and older infrastructure. One thing people need to realize is how lucky Richardson has been amongst first tier suburbs when compared to similar cities around the United States. The scales could tip out of favor if tax revenue or employment falls. That could happen if leaders are pushed to make ideological points or if they focus primarily on backyard issues.

Pegasus News: What would you like your readers to get out of your site?

Laska: Current news about Richardson that they are not getting elsewhere. Basically I hope that we filling some of the holes left by having no local newspaper.

Pegasus News: What role, if any, do your readers play in how you approach your site?

Laska: We accept user generated content and we allow comments. Quite frankly, I would like users to believe they have a type of "ownership" in it. I would like to be somewhat of a traffic cop of screening content but my success there has been limited.

Pegasus News: What do you see as the future of your site?

Laska: To be honest, I am not sure. I have to admit that our record is mixed. In fact, I've had periods of dormancy. Although the Echo is not a blog, I might add a blog and discuss Richardson's urban development issues in greater detail.

Related stories

• Pegasus News week in view: Ready for your close-up edition (April 2, 2009)

See more stories in:

• Politics and Government > City Government > Richardson

Comments