Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Tip O’Neill is one of several credited with the phrase “All politics is local.” I believe that, totally. That’s why Sea of Reeds started local sites like California Globe and New Jersey Globe.
But a related theorem is that a lot of local news is actually global.
I stumbled upon this story while reporting on ordinary affairs at the State Capitol in Sacramento. I walked into an energized (if socially distant) protest in which Azerbaijanis were demonstrating against recent actions by Armenians in the Caucasus region, some 7200 miles away from California.
I spoke to players on both sides and was pleased that twitter and our own comments page hosted lively debates by people who were clearly hungering to see this issue covered in greater depth. For the California Globe, it became a local story because State Sen. Anthony Portantino, whose district in the San Fernando valley is home to many Armenian Americans, became a special target of anger from the Turkish and Azerbaijani partisans demonstrating at the capital.