Is Boston Still the Athens of America?

The end of Joyce Kulhawik three-decade career as Channel 4’s arts and entertainment reporter marks a seminal moment in the cultural life of our self-described “Athens of America.” For it was Joyce, along with her colleagues, Sara Edwards at Channel 7 and Dixie Whatley at Channel 5, who embodied the very best aspects of our incredibly vibrant and diverse cultural community. Boston boasted the only market in the country where all three network affiliates had an arts and entertainment reporter (and a producer) on the nightly newscast whose job was to cover everything from Hollywood movies to photography exhibits at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem.

The television arts reporters were just the most visible (literally) members of a press corps that included critics and feature writers at both Boston daily papers and nearly a dozen suburban newspapers, plus a significant number of radio reporter/critics.

Today, readers at the Lowell Sun, Patriot Ledger, Metrowest Daily News and other papers rely on freelancers and wire service stories and reviews of movies and television programs for their “arts and entertainment” news. The Boston Globe and Herald now cover an arts scene that is more active than ever (everywhere except at the downtown commercial theatres) with less than half the full-time staff they had a decade ago.

What’s the difference? Without knowledgeable arts reporters and critics providing information to consumers through “mass media,” consumers are likely to miss out on any number of cultural opportunities offered in the area. Arts in the mass media today have been reduced to coverage of Britney’s latest run-in with the police and rehab center” and reviews of mainstream motion pictures.

Those web 2.0 folks who believe that the critical process has been democratized with the proliferation of “arts blogs” and web sites miss the point. 20 people are writing about something on the Internet frequently means that only 19 people are reading it. And, that doesn’t address the issue of quality and informed criticism.

At the zenith of our arts media scene, Joyce delivered 15 reports a week, and her colleagues at the other stations had almost as much airtime. It. Allowed them to satisfy their corporate bosses with Hollywood news and a little shilling for the new network television programs, while still giving time to independent film festivals at Coolidge Corner and the latest doings at Gloucester Stage.

Arts coverage is no more a frill for local media than sports or weather. We have a vibrant arts community here in Boston that contributes both economically and spiritually to the area’s well being. With Joyce’s final report, local television arts coverage will end and as a community we’ll be the poorer for it.