Reporter’s Notebook by Eric Santomauro-Stenzel
Reflecting on Three Months Running Around Otsego for AllOtsego
What’s the job of a weekly community newspaper? Very clear 30 years ago, far less so today. But I’m learning, learning with you.
I often use phrases like “Jane Smith said in an interview” or “told AllOtsego” in my articles rather than simply “said” to emphasize to you that, indeed, I am a person, not some omniscient voice telling you what’s what from on high. I have an unavoidably situated perspective; I can only seek to be fair and transparent. Consider this column an extension of that philosophy.
Over three months into the job as staff writer here at AllOtsego, “The Freeman’s Journal” and “Hometown Oneonta,” I have already grown a great deal. I must admit, when I first took this job I was expecting things to be a little sleepy after the tourism season ended in a county whose whole population is about the same as the combined students, faculty and staff where I just earned my journalism master’s. I quickly learned this place is anything but sleepy when I looked at our back page events calendar on my second day.
Since then, I’ve spent about as much time diving into controversial development projects and local political intrigue as covering award winners and human interest stories. All of it, together, tells the story of this place, its people and its sense of purpose. Tales of triumph cannot paper over stories of harm, and “negative” stories cannot drown out our community’s myriad successes. Accuracy comes not only in individual words in articles but in the breadth of overall coverage, created with what resources we have at this small, rural newsroom.
Across the many local meetings I have now attended, despite the controversies and at times high tensions, my appreciation for the American experiment in democracy has only deepened. I am reminded of that famous 1943 Norman Rockwell painting, “Freedom of Speech,” of the man standing to speak during a town meeting, his countrymen patiently looking unto him as he looks up, as if with reverence for the painting’s eponymous ideal. How beautiful—sacred—it is that we live in a country where, if unevenly, it is both legal and woven into our cultural fabric that anyone may speak to their leaders.
I have also at times been reminded that the very much real man depicted in that painting was the lone dissenter to rebuilding a burned down school. And that’s the point, right? All of us get a say, sans threshold for virtue or informedness.
A key role for journalism, therefore, is to be a watchdog for the former and educator for the latter. I hope that when you read my stories, whether you agree with how they are framed or what the voices in them are saying, you learn something new, ideally something actionable, an avenue for your own contributions. News you can use.
To that end, I have appreciated our weekly publishing schedule, which has enabled me to offer more depth, flavor and editing to my stories. A belief I have long held, but which was made much stronger through producing TV broadcast-style news reels last year, is that as-it-happens rapid turnaround news usually necessitates simplifying extraordinarily complex issues into attention-grabbing, often inflammatory, sound bites.
As we enter the new year, I hope to offer more of that depth as I become familiar with the people and places that make Otsego County tick. But my perspective is limited to what I hear or see. And that’s why I eagerly await your condemnations, compliments and news tips at erics@allotsego.com.
Eric Santomaruo-Stenzel started as AllOtsego’s staff writer in September 2025 after earning his master’s degree from Columbia Journalism School in May. He also holds a bachelor’s degree from nearby Hamilton College. Stenzel’s reporting has appeared in local papers across the state and in national news outlets.
