Walton Sun

[DuneLaker]

Freedom Newspaper should combine the Northwest Florida Daily News and the Panama City News Herald and then fully fund the local weeklies. They could rename the new daily the Heart of the Emerald Coast paper or something like that. It is amazing what the NWFL or Daily News leaves out each week that is of regional interest. NWFL didn't cover the death of Florida legialator Rish a few weeks ago who had great influence in the Emerald Coast area. The Panama City Daily News paper covers the new airport much better than NWFL. This important economic topic should be covered with as much zeal in both papers. There are political characters that press their influence along the entire Emerald Coast - from Pensacola to Apalachicola. More general coverage would show how their influence and manipulation is widespread.

 

[beachmouse]

I'd hate to see that kind of consolidation since there's so little real local news in the NWFDN to begin with, and as someone who lives in the FWB area, I feel no reason to care about Bay County school realignment of what new stores are going into the malls there. So I see such an action as getting rid of like one of the three daily local stories in exchange for something I have zero interest in.

In terms of actual news about Niceville and Eglin, the weekly Bay Beacon does so much better than the DN does, and I really hope they never sell out to Freedom because Freedom would dumb it down so badly it's painful. In amongst the golf league reports and fire department response logs, they actually do some really good writing about local issues.

 

[DuneLaker]

Being in SoWal, we are between FWB and PC. Our local news is not covered at length in either paper. It is hit and miss on local news depending which end of the county you live in and which daily paper you take. The Walton Sun is really important in that it provides sometimes the only local coverage on certain events. But, we must wait a week. Some events are missed. This SoWal forum covers a huge need in providing local, daily news. DeFuniak and other NoWal areas have WZEP radio that has local daily news including obits, garage sale items, and special events. While some children in SoWal go to Okaloosa Schools, some others also go to Bay. So for SoWal folks, what is happening in Bay Schools might be a concern. Likewise, some of their students attend our schools. We also have teachers and other workers that cross county lines, in all directions.