NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Hopefully, after the Nov. 6 elections, a new Volusia County Council government will be more open and equitable in the release of breaking news.
A 17-year-old Avon Park boy's body was recovered Friday night in the surf off New Smyrna Beach, but we were the only media outlet not to know about it, even though we are in New Smyrna Beach.
The county pays tens of thousands of dollars to put out "positive" news that makes government look good, but rarely, if ever, do we see "real" news. There's a lot of pandering to print media, especially within the county. Why?
Perhaps it's because the readership is greater with an older generation still affixed to the morning paper. Then again, the county dos a lot of business with print media beyond legal advertising, which the Florida Legislature has restricted to newspapers. That is going to change in the next session of the legislature, if we can help it because we will be pushing this with the newly elected senate and house winners.
We get inundated daily with news releases from Volusia County government under the auspices of spokesman Dave Byron. Here are some examples today with headline and first paragraph:
The Beach Patrol's PIO is Marris, but when she's off duty or on a personal leave day, there's no one designated to take her place that we can call on once we see news events popping up elsewhere.
The beach is critically important to Volusia County's government and any news developments -- good or bad -- should be made readily available to "all news media." There is no equitable distribution of news developments under the current Volusia County government.