JESSICA DaSILVA

I love politics. I like to talk politics, write politics, read politics…

I like to think I do this in moderation. I can’t engross myself in Washington shenanigans all the time… that just wouldn’t be normal or healthy. Plus, I have other passions I like to devote myself to like blogging, reading fiction, drinking, drawing (don’t worry, i never drink AND draw) and bad reality TV.

The Miami Herald’s political team could use some moderation in its use of AP wire and its focus on the national scene.

I subscribe to A LOT of politics feeds. I don’t read everything from all of them, but I can NEVER read everything from the Herald’s national news feed - there’s just too much!

I counted how many articles came in through some of my feeds yesterday (6/19) and here is what I found:

• NY Times - 12
• USA Today - 19
• WaPo - 25
• The Miami Herald - 40

Now, I think 25 is excessive; however, the Washington Post IS IN WASHINGTON. It’s the local paper! Why is The Miami Herald cranking out almost twice as many political articles as WaPo? What more could the Herald have to say about Washington than The Washington Post??

And another thing - look at who wrote these 40 posts:

• AP - 36
• Miami Herald reporters - 2
• McClatchy D.C. reporters - 1
• 404 error - 1

Aren’t those numbers kind of sketchy? McClatchy has one of the most impressive bureaus in D.C. Why do they need AP stories?

And to break it down by subject:

• International/National news - 4
• National news - 25
• National/State - 8
• State - 2
• Local - 1

OK, I’ve lived in Washington; people there snort, sleep, shit politics. They can’t get enough.

People in Miami do not like politics as much as people in Washington, D.C.

No, I haven’t consulted a survey, and I don’t have a reference to back it up. I don’t need one. It’s common sense. Washington, D.C., is a one-company town. Everyone’s job is somehow related to the government. So, everyone wants to know what the government is doing and they want to know everything. They want to know what the three branches are doing, what public administrations are up to, what lobbyists and grassroot organizations are cooking up, and much more.

Miami is not like that.

There is no reason The Miami Herald should have 40 articles about national and international news on this feed. There isn’t a reason for it to have 25! If 12 a day is a good enough number for the NY Times’ national news feed, shouldn’t it be good for The Miami Herald?

I’m not slighting the people in Miami. I’m just saying that people in Miami can get this news from a nationally circulated newspaper, instead of AP updates from The Miami Herald. They don’t need the Herald to tell them what’s going on in Washington. What they DO need is for the Herald to tell them how the happenings in Washington relate to them in Miami.

Florida’s politics are overlapping more with the nation every day. I mean, our governor is a rumored VP candidate for McCain. And let’s not get into how President Bush wants to start drilling holes off our coastlines.

So I’m not saying that the Herald needs to stop political reporting, just maybe rethink its focus. It is not WaPo, NY Times or USA Today - it’s The Miami Herald, and it can’t forget that, lest it forgets its community.