The region that doesn't exist

Earlier this week, I wrote about a dam breach in the upstate New York town of Fort Ann. It was a huge story in the local media, quite naturally, and in the regional Albany-based media. Even North Country Public Radio (NCPR), located, 150 miles away in Canton, has done several stories on the mess.

Yet the Albany-based WAMC Northeast Public Radio couldn't be bothered with this huge story that occurred only 60 miles away in the heart of its listening area. While the disaster that caused hundreds of people to be homeless, several to lose their home and millions of dollars of damage was non-existent according to WAMC, it did ample time to devote to stories on summer traffic, a whooping crane sighting and, most critically, the scenes in the movie War of the Worlds that were shot locally.

Perhaps if the Fort Ann dam breech had been the fault of Pres. Bush or Gov. George Pataki, it might've gotten air time on WAMC.

A few years ago, WAMC News also ignored the bitter strike at the economically-important Finch Pruyn mill. A story covered quite thoroughly by the Canton-based station.

I was once a big fan of WAMC but I am letting my membership in WAMC expire and replacing it with one to NCPR. WAMC focuses almost exclusively on politics and stories that are a mile wide and an inch deep. I don't think I've ever heard a WAMC story picked up by NPR News in Washington.

Plus, though I am no fan of the president, WAMC director Alan Chartock's incessant and repetitive Bush-bashing gets old and tiresome really fast.

NCPR, on the other hand, not only does stories that have a little depth but they also recognize that this area exists... even though it's much further away from Canton than Albany.