Staying Informed Matters: Data Center Highlights Importance Of Local Journalism

by Megan Wylie

A healthy community depends on good information, honest questions, and the willingness to disagree without falling apart. That’s true in city halls, online comment threads, and even at the kitchen table—and it’s certainly true now, as Clarksville’s data center project becomes the focus of both anticipation and concern.

An array of emotions surfaced over the weekend about the data center set to begin construction near the hospital in Clarksville, everything from excitement to confusion to anger. I’m somewhere in the middle, in what I’d call cautious optimism. Like many of you, I still have questions, and until more specifics are shared, those questions will remain. Local leaders involved in the deal say all the bases have been covered, but much of the information has been offered in broad strokes, and the devil is often said to be found in the details.

For example, on noise, both city leaders and the developer say the center will be quiet enough not to disturb neighboring areas, yet no maximum or even average decibel level has been shared. With neither the city nor the county currently having a noise ordinance to regulate light industry, what guarantee do we have that sound will stay at a “healthy level,” and what recourse would the community have if it doesn’t? And while the data center itself might be relatively quiet while operating, what about the massive energy source required to power this project?

We also still don’t know exactly what fuel source will power the facility’s on-site generation. Diesel? Natural gas? A new transmission line? These details matter, and without them, the public can only take leaders at their word.

What are the benefits to the area besides property taxes, which will mostly just benefit the school? While that’s good news, what about our roads, emergency services, and other city departments? How does it benefit them? Some speculate on a high permitting fee to the city, but nothing has been specifically disclosed.

That lack of specificity is understandable while negotiations are ongoing, or before the project was certain to move forward, but now that it has, transparency is crucial to building trust and community support.

Rumors are spreading on social media, but that’s never been where we get our information, and it’s often not a reliable place for you to get yours. In our reporting, every fact is tied to a source, whether the story is about City Council, a school board meeting, sports, or a crime report. That’s what makes the paper a dependable way to stay informed. We’re not perfect, but when we make a mistake, we print a correction. Social media participants rarely do.

I’m confident if you read the paper regularly, you’d have a solid grasp of what’s happening in your community and why journalism is vital to its health – the data center being just one example.

For example, we have covered data center-related discussions for several years now through CCU, Clarksville City Council, and Johnson County Quorum Court stories. The people who read those stories and/or attended the meetings knew the data center was coming and have been following those developments.

All of this underscores just a few of the reasons local journalism matters. It keeps the public informed and provides verified information, not speculation or hearsay, because we go directly to the source.

But we also have limitations as an organization. We don’t have the staff or resources to investigate or cover everything or to dig deep into much, although we’d like to. Did you know we already cover 15-20 public meetings each month? And sports for five schools? While we make all but a few of the meetings in person, we can’t cover sports in person and rely on coaches and volunteers to send us stats and photos and are thankful for each of them – they all do a fabulous job! Shoutout to Bronson Ruston for volunteering to write most Ozark sports.

I’ve seen comments suggesting we should do stories on various topics. I usually agree and desire to do that, but the truth is: if you want deeper reporting — on city budgets, the data center, the sheriff’s office, the proposed prison, or even just more features on local people and events — we need your support.

Advertising, subscriptions, buying a paper each week, sharing our content and sending us your news all directly affect how much we can cover. Our staff is small and partly volunteer, and to cover more, we need to be able to pay for it.

Someone who understood well the importance of local journalism was Ozark resident Vernon McDaniel, who passed away last week at 92.

Vernon served three terms as Ozark mayor, taught journalism at the University of the Ozarks — bringing students to The Graphic to print their school paper — and wrote for The Spectator for many, many years. He joined us after The Spectator closed last year and even covered a meeting for us the day he died. He loved what he did and rightly believed it was of utmost importance. Our staff will miss his bi-weekly calls, encouragement, and his endearing Southern drawl.

Ozark Mayor Roxie Hall said of Vernon, “I will miss seeing him right in front of me at our Council meetings, knowing he was there in support for me and the city he loved, and to write his wonderful reports. We didn’t always see eye-to-eye, but we always remained friends, the kind of true friends who can disagree, talk it out, and still stick together at the end of the day.”

That’s the kind of civic dialogue we hope to foster: a community that stays informed, asks questions, disagrees when needed, and, as Mayor Hall said, still sticks together at the end of the day.

Local journalism plays a central role in making that possible—and the support we receive directly shapes the reporting we’re able to provide, on the data center or any other topic.

 

This appears in the Nov. 26 issue of The Graphic, available online and at businesses throughout Franklin and Johnson counties. Subscribe or donate here to support more hometown journalism.