By Phil Riske, managing editor
“Newsies” is something public officials sometimes call reporters covering them. Newsies give politicians and government a voice to constituents, but more importantly, provide us with information that influences opinion and, thus, action, when pols are less than candid.
Newsies have a hard job driving through roadblocks, detours and over potholes on the road to accuracy and fairness, and no one in Arizona does the job better than two news operations often overlooked for their contributions.
My old newsroom at Arizona Capitol Times has grown into one of the chief sources of political/government news as read by politicians and government. Much — probably most — of the lay public is unaware of Arizona Capitol Times because much of its product is available only through subscription, and one well worth the coin.
One of the Times’s outside contributors is Howard “Howie” Fischer, a one-man news juggernaut known as Capitol Media Services, who covers the Arizona Capitol and the courts for numerous newspaper and radio clients across the state. He shoots his own photos and records his own radio interviews.
Howie, who must never sleep, regularly breaks stories no other news outlets touch. He was first and exclusive last week and this with an SB1070 court decision and the latest development with the state’s redistricting lawsuit.
Any honest politician will tell you Fischer is a pain in the rear end and is to be feared because he asks the hard questions and more fully than most understands what’s going on in Arizona.
While there are other good newsies out there, most just tag along for the ride.
