People who think Facebook is not a trustworthy source of news have never lived in a news desert. In small town America like Cochise County, Arizona, there isn’t much for news, especially since the pandemic.
The local newspapers have been whittled down to a couple issues a week, and most journalists are working independently, often for free. Because Wick Communications is located in Sierra Vista, the surrounding county gets a handful of mostly SV-based stories a week if they’re lucky. The SV Herald content is distributed among the 20 towns and cities within the county.
A few local radio stations that cover the area, but they only do maybe 10-30 minutes of news coverage a week. And while it's a small county, it's not like there aren't important things to cover. These small towns have more to worry about than just the city police and county sheriffs.
It's the home of the Army's intelligence base Fort Huachuca, so it's filled with soldiers, military police, and intelligence analysts. That also makes it a domestic attack target, and important people can often wander through.
Besides local and county police and courthouses, there are also federal agents. Because Cochise County borders Mexico, border towns like Naco, Douglas, Bisbee, and Hereford have important needs to understand the news about the ongoing war between the Department of Homeland Security and Mexican cartels.
Still, they mostly get news from nearby Pima County. That’s where the closest TV stations are, so the morning and evening news throughout Cochise County is about Tucson, a city 100 miles away from SV. And that’s pretty much all there is in this news desert, so people relied heavily on independent journalists working on Facebook.
This week, Cochise County lost a great indie journalist who kept this news desert informed almost exclusively via breaking news via Facebook livestreams and posts. He followed police, documented crimes and arrests, and always got the most unbiased story out to the public as fast as possible, often livestreaming from the scene.
Zach Bennett was only 26 years old, but he’s been through the ringer. The harder he worked to present the news, the more the town was divided between those who loved him and those who hated him. Those who hated him were in the minority and typically embarrassed at having their criminal exploits documented.
Zach was constantly both trolled and praised for his work, because the town was as deeply divided as any other in America. Over the course of the last decade, each election season got more heated, and protestors versus counter-protestors clashed even here, where only dozens of people participated on each side. But the Facebook trolling was harsh on all ends. People lost friendships over it.
And eventually the things he experienced took their toll. This past Tuesday, Zach committed suicide after being kicked out of his family’s home over what turned out to be false allegations made against him.
Reporter Teri Jo Neff of Arizona Daily Independent talked to him minutes before he took his life by hanging himself. According to her Facebook report:
At 4:03 p.m., Zach unexpectedly called Terri Jo. She has told Det. Nathan Drake that it was clear to her even through her limited knowledge of Zach that he was in an emotional state. Zach described several difficulties in his life, including a very serious accusation involving a crime no adult man would ever want to be accused of.
That call lasted 4 minutes and 32 seconds, during which Terri Jo advised Zach to contact an attorney, stay home and chill for the night, and have faith in himself. It never occurred to her that Zach was suicidal, Terri Jo told Drake.
The moment her call with Zach ended, Terri Jo dialed the detective who was investigating the accusation against Zach. That call started at 4:08 p.m. and lasted a bit more than 8 minutes as Terri Jo explained her concern for Zach’s emotional state and also shared information on the various difficulties she had been made aware of from Zach.
The sheriff informed Teri Jo that Zach was cleared of all charges. But before she could tell Zach the good news, he was already dead. At 5:15pm, she texted Zach, but by 5:23pm, he was found dead by hanging himself. Meanwhile, battles raged in Facebook groups over two sets of false allegations made against him of impersonating a police officer and arson. He was guilty of neither, but the stress overwhelmed him and the world closed in on him.
Zach was a good reporter, and was one of only a handful of dedicated journalists in the field in Cochise County. It's a literal news desert in which Facebook has become the only way for the public to keep track of important things happening in the local government and criminal justice system. His presence will be greatly missed.
There has been a lot of vitriol against media. Then I see members of mainstream media promote vitriol against indie journalists and vice versa. This cycle of abuse and online bullying is ultimately what took this young man’s life. While he didn't see the entire town talking about a post of him the evening he died, the fear of the public backlash caused him to end his life.
You can read continuing coverage as more information is released to the public by visiting the Coolfmonline.com Facebook page.
In the meantime, if you ever feel suicidal or need someone to call Contact the Cochise County/ Southern Arizona crisis line phone number @866-495-6735 they provide mobile crisis services in the community 24-7 regardless of insurance, ability to pay, etc.