You Tell Us: Top 10 Stories of 2010

At Rohnert Park Patch, we believe that news is an ongoing conversation. The very nature of news is changing. Major newspapers are being forced cut newsrooms down to the bone — much of this is due to the growth of the Web and sites like Craigslist, loss of newsstand sales and declining subscriptions.

" ... Newsrooms have shrunk by 25 percent in three years, and just under 27 percent since the beginning of the decade," according to an annual report on American journalism called the State of the News Media, produced by the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism and Rick Edmonds of the Poynter Institute.

"There's  no reporters at meetings anymore; there used to be reporters at our meetings," says Pete Callinan, the first mayor of Rohnert Park from 1962 to to 1963, who then went on to become the city's first mayor. He served in that position from 1963 to 1990.

"I'd like to see more reporting on local government. We used to have that," he said. "Big issues come up and you don't hear about any of it."

But, the local media landscape is evolving. Rohnert Park Patch has been live for almost a month, and already we've received great feedback from the community. The new City Council's response has been staggering, welcoming any question we put forth, and the city's residents are asking what we're all about.

At Patch, we're also big on collaborating with existing media — not competing. For example, we're sharing content on Sundays with local NPR affiliate KRCB. We republish their North Bay Report and link directly to their stories. 

A from Sonoma State University teacher Shepherd Bliss is another example of how reader engagement can add to public discourse in a community. That letter follows a of the death of two-year-old Calli Murray at the notoriously dangerous intersection of Medical Center Drive and Snyder Lane.

This downsizing of major newspaper staff rooms has had a direct impact on Rohnert Park residents' daily lives; and the State of the News Media Report shows no signs of newspapers improving, calling recent financial reports "ugly."

"Advertising losses, averaging 26 percent in 2009 (on the heels of a cumulative 23 percent loss the previous two years) left newspapers downsizing everything — the physical dimensions of the paper, the space devoted to news and, most painfully, their roster of news professionals."

 So, you tell us: 

What's been lost, in your opinion? Have stories been glossed over? What stories have had a lasting impact in your life? What issues should we follow in 2011?

I know what caught my attention, but I want to hear from you. After all, those of us at Rohnert Park Patch are not here to tell you what is important in your community. That comes from you, our readers ... so ... tell us ...