A suggestion to have the Reno City Council hire its own reporter to cover itself was met with some resistance during last week's city council meeting.
Our contributor Bob Conrad of ThisisReno has the story.
Reno Councilwoman Jenny Brekhus said that staff reductions at the Reno Gazette-Journal have impacted city hall news coverage and she wanted what she called more objective, in-depth reporting.
“Some people think it’s rather controversial to have that in-house reporter,” Brekhus explained at the meeting. “But their point is that, ‘Well, the media coverage has been cut back and we put flags on it saying it’s city-produced.’”
Other council members say the effort is unnecessary and that it is the job of elected officials to communicate with voters.
"At the end of the day, it's up to us, as the public's servants, to explain our decisions,” said Councilman David Bobzien. “There's nothing that we're going to do up here that's going to take away that responsibility. That being said, we do need assistance."
Feedback about Brekhus' proposal on social media has been mostly negative. She withdrew her request at the end of the meeting.