Online portfolio of Colleen J. Miller; a journalist, editor and much more.

I read one of the most inspirational columns today about journalism.

The editor at the Bristol Herald Courier is refreshingly unabashed about his discontent for bigwig journalism.

J. Todd Foster finds opportunity to dig up some old resentment against the Washington Post when a profile misrepresents a Courier reporter who wins a Pulitzer. The work Daniel Gilbert did for the award took 13 months of research to help solve a local issue that the Post would never bother with, Foster says.

I think that the immediate situation in this column is interesting, that with some choice words the Post can easily make a smaller newspaper feel belittled. Almost like the profile is a pity piece. Foster also points out that the Post makes the Courier seem like some drowning news organization, just because they scaled back recently. Except, the narrower your target audience is, combined with a tight operating budget, the more refined your content is.

The underlying emotion in Foster’s column holds truth: the little guy can and actually will do the in-depth stories about and for all the other little guys out there. It’s the same for any business really. Your big box store won’t carry a product that only you want because they have to buy in quantities to serve the millions of customers that come in through their doors. The little grocer in your hometown or the gas station you frequent, however, will gladly order your your salt-free Snyder pretzels or your Camel Turkish Golds because they know you’ll keep coming back for them. And that’s enough.

I care what’s going on in Manhattan, California, Afghanistan and everywhere else in the world as much as the next active citizen does. But I truly believe that most Americans care more about what’s going on in their subdivision and their region more than any of that other stuff combined. Even if we aren’t writing for Pulitzer-winning news organizations, so long as we’re writing for the people.

There was this fear for a long time that the “little man” was dying out, being replaced by the Wal-Mart organizations of the world. Especially in the news business, hell everything is owned by only so many people. Maybe not so much in broadcast, but there are still a few little newspapers around.

Almost 101 years old, The Italian Tribune-La Tribuna del Popolo is still making money and serving their niche community. Small news sites and bloggers like Freeismylife, free stuff in metro Detroit, are exploding and capturing audiences. I don’t think the little guy is going to stay quiet any longer.

And perhaps the Post and other high profile news organizations are starting to feel threatened by it.