47° and Partly Cloudy
(Editor’s note: I can’t confirm it but it seems likely David Seminara, after launching his Youtube takedown of our fine city, called the Gazette and talked to Mark Scheer. To readers, it becomes a readable hit of a story for which Mark gets plaudits. Reality is he answered the phone, talked to the dude and wrote good content. Not a heavy lift. I am glad we have Mark’s work. Unfortunately, that is only one symptom of what’s happening in today’s newsrooms. The other is the press release from Delaware North regurgitated as news content. See below. I can’t confirm but the complete sentences and proper punctuation lead me to suspect Jim Hufnagel is the author.)
Prominently featured this week in the Niagara Gazette is the report of one David Seminara, a former resident who apparently has made a name for himself as Youtube’s “Mad Traveller” and had the following things to say about the city of Niagara Falls after his recent visit.
“I knew it wasn’t going to look good, but I was shocked at how bad it was… what the heck happened to this place?”
Seminara variously describes different districts of the city as “depressing,” “tragic,” “bleak,” “really sad to see,” “utterly and completely decimated,” and asks “Have any horror movies been filmed here?”
What Seminara and the Gazette fail to grasp is that they are a major part of the problem.
For example, last week, under the heading of “Business” and with the byline “Special to the Gazette,” the local newspaper of record published a story headlined “Niagara Falls State Park has its day in Times Square.”
Turns out, the Gazette simply reprinted a Delaware North press release of April 29th, without attribution and as a bona fide news article:
Since Delaware North has an exclusive state contract for food service in the Niagara Falls State Park, operating Top of the Falls restaurant, an extensive Food Court, stand-alone food booths and a gift and souvenir shop in the park, giving the 8-9 million tourists who visit here every year little need or reason to venture into and spend money in downtown Niagara Falls, many believe Delaware North, and certain local media that enables it, and some might say, promotes with fake news, responsible for its plight.
