When The Big Media Drops Into Town

(AP)

So, what happens when the national media descends upon a city to cover a high-profile story like the murder of JonBenet Ramsey? The local paper becomes a relied-upon resource – although not, apparently, a well-respected one – for all those outlets that aren't so familiar with places like Boulder, Colo. At least that's what Addie Rimmer, a former executive editor of The Daily Camera, a local Boulder newspaper, tells Editor & Publisher today. Rimmer "recalls being amazed at what she termed the arrogance of the big-time news outlets asking her staff for the story."

"They treated us like this little backwater paper," said Rimmer. "But they thought we should be doing leg work for them, things they could have found on their own, that we should give them numbers and sources. Forgetting that we were the competition. I did not expect that from the national media. It was so overwhelming."
Rimmer said she eventually had to ask her publisher to take the outside media inquiries so she could focus on coverage.

Of course, some residents of those suddenly famous locales are more pleased than others about their thrust into the spotlight. Screams Ice Cream welcomed the media onslaught to Hell, Michigan on 6/6/2006 with open arms. Then again, in Boulder, there was that University of Colorado professor who has considered turning the sprinklers on a few Ramsey case reporters.

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