Think of it this way, when newspapers were first published, way back in the 17th century, was their purpose to expose local corruption? The answer to that is no.

Newspapers at the time were focused on foreign events. As time went on local news was added. Local information, such as train schedules, were added. And over more time, reporting on local corruption was added. And then after that, newspapers actually started investigating corruption.

But that was neither the initial purpose nor the focus of the newspaper. However, because a need for such investigation was recognized, the newspaper developed to meet that need. If the need exists, investigations will continue.

Every city has a few rabble-rousers, who despite not being paid a penny, make it their lives to keep an eye on government, file FIOA requests, attend all city government hearings and functions, to take copious notes, and now, blog about it.

And lets face it, with the bare-boned budgets most newspapers are facing, the first thing to cut was local reporting. I actually laughed in the face of a local newspaper reporter who decried the fall of investigatory journalism. I asked him, when was the last time he wrote such a piece. Of course he never did.

I reminded him of the time I told him about a local car dealership which was ripping off customers. He wasn’t interested until charges were filed. He did not want to investigate it! The rabble-rouser blogger would have been all over it like cheese on a pizza.

And think about this, exactly where were the journalists investigating all the financial shenanigans which caused our current crisis? These so called professional investigatory journalists could not even discover the simple truth that Madoff was nothing but a ponzi scam. And that’s just one simple example.