Tacoma's Image in the Media - A Follow Up

Last night’s talk in the UWT’s Keystone auditorium was a bit of a disappointment.  The title was “Google this: Perceptions of Tacoma and the media”.  It was an interesting experience, but the focus of the talk seemed lost on the panel. 

I promised I’d be nice…

Sitting at the front of the room were City of Tacoma Community Relations Supervisor Scott Huntley, TV Tacoma Supervisor Nancy Johnson, and Tacoma News Tribune columnist Peter Callaghan.  Mr. Huntley talked about the challenge of defining our city’s image in the various mediums: Daily/Weekly papers, periodicals like Sunset Magazine, and TV news.  Peter Callaghan talked about how we got the moniker “America’s Most Wired City,” how the Brame scandal and the DC snipers set us back, and how we, somehow, still have a generally blank slate in the national perception.  Nancy Johnson talked about history of cable television in Tacoma. 

Does anybody else see a problem here?  I had been told that we were here to talk about the “challenges and opportunities that arise from the explosion of Web-based news sources and why Tacoma is referred to as America’s #1 Wired City.”  We got the wired city thing.  What I started to realize is that, ignoring the specific scandals and events, this talk could’ve been happening five years ago or ten years ago.  We were talking about traditional mediums like daily newspapers, magazines, the national media, and cable television.  When the panel suggested (although not everybody agreed) that public access televisions would be an interesting way to put the Tacoma story out to a larger audience, I knew we were in another decade.

I don’t want you to get the idea that the panel were somehow part of the problem.  I like Peter Callaghans column and perspective.  Nancy Johnson and TV Tacoma has been doing some cool stuff bringing council meetings online.  Scott Huntley’s focus on traditional media was a bit of a disappointment.  What I hoped for was some representation from a more wired office.  Where was the blogger?  Where was the tech writer that actually knows how to use Google? 

Did the audience questions focus us any better?  The audience tried to bring the panel into line.  One individual specifically asked about which blogs they might read in their efforts to understand Tacoma better.  Now this is where things should get good.  But they didn’t.  The answers: Mr. Huntley has read only three or four blog articles since taking the job in 2003 as he “doesn’t have time to be sitting in front of a computer.”  Mr. Callaghan acknowledged that he doesn’t read blogs, but the beat reporters probably read them more regularly.  Ms. Johnson said that she prefers face to face discussions.  Mr. Huntley then offered that he thinks two folks on the city council read blogs. Then, the entire panel made several statements about how blogs were not trustworthy and often only offered a skewered perception of things.  What is this, 2001?

The greatest emotional response from the audience seemed to come from a comment by Mr. Huntley.  He said that there isn’t really a Tacoma pride or sense of self as much as there is a Western Washington or regional sense of self.  This guy represents Tacoma!  I realize that spin control and marketing are only vaguely different things, but my goodness, show us some love here.  There is very definitely a rising tide of Tacoma pride.  Sites like this one and several more that are in development by some of you definitely point toward this trend.  It was a very curious comment. 

The city needs to realize and define its place on the web.  Or at least acknowledge where it is today so it can get somewhere tomorrow.  The Real Deal, a monthly newspaper and website that covers the New York real estate scene, ran an article last week about how real estate agents and brokers are ignoring blogs at their own risk.  It’s the same thing here.  I’m not saying that Tacoma’s blogs have reached the maturity of those in New York, but they are starting to come into their own.  More and more blogs are popping up every week.  I’ve received emails from three people in the last ten days looking for advice on starting their own websites.  There’s a burn-in time in which they must find their voice and define their focus.  But they’re coming.  Whether the city acknowledges it or not, the web will define it in the future.

An entire generation of people head to the web to find out about a city, yet the city’s official position on Tacoma’s image seems to ignore the web.  Places like Craigslist and the Lonely Planet’s travel forums shape the perception of Tacoma to the rest of the world.  The Wikipedia article on Tacoma leaves a lot to be desired.  By the time the national survey about Tacoma has been completed will the city know more about what the media thinks of the city than what the people of the city think of the city?

I know that at least two of you were at the talk last night.  What did you think?