Santos: Epic System Failure

Santos: Epic System Failure

Tomorrow the 118th Congress will be sworn in, and by all indications, newly elected representative from Long Island, New York, George Santos, will be among them. By now, we all know the fantastical - beyond belief - story that is Mr. Santos.

This morning CNN, in discussing how such a thing could happen, characterized the story as a frightening indication of the on-going decline of local news - an example of the bad things that slip through the cracks when no one's watching.

I don't disagree but would offer one additional point of causation - a lack of updated priority in our newsrooms. Like it or not, we're living in a time when the politicians chosen to lead matters greatly - perhaps more than ever - and yet, I would suggest our coverage isn't always representative of that reality.

While we don't yet know what prompted Mr. Santos top to bottom fabricated remake of his life experience, it would seem he was pretty confident no one would pay any attention or catch on. He was right. So, while we absolutely must rebuild and bolster the disappearing local news infrastructure, we also have to re-examine (immediately) the priorities that direct the limited resources we DO have. Time to wipe the slate clean and reassess.

BTW, kudos to the North Shore Leader, a small, weekly paper on Long Island, for raising issues with Mr. Santos some four months ago. Unfortunately, no one was paying attention to them either.