In Sedona, a Mayor’s Exit Exposes the Strains Between Local Government and Local News

By Steve Segner

Sedona, Ariz. — When Mayor Scott Jablow resigned from office, his decision not to notify Sedona’s hometown paper, the Red Rock News, might have seemed like a small act of omission. Instead, it laid bare a deeper tension that has been building for years — one that speaks to the fragile state of trust between local governments and the local press across America.

For more than half a century, the Red Rock News was the undisputed chronicler of Sedona’s civic life. Its pages documented the city’s incorporation, its battles over development, and its uneasy embrace of tourism.

Even when it was critical, city leaders tended to respect its watchdog role. In a community that prizes both independence and accountability, the paper carried weight.

But in recent years, that reputation has frayed. Under new editorial leadership, the Red Rock News has increasingly leaned into cynicism and sarcasm, often framing government action as suspect before the facts are in.

What once felt like probing oversight has, in the eyes of many past and present officials, shifted into a brand of rhetoric that undermines confidence in city hall rather than clarifying its decisions.

The division between Mayor Scott Jablow and the local paper became quite evident in 2022 when the paper chose to endorse for Mayor a competitor who had no public experience prior to running. This certainly must have soured Scott on the paper.

“We can do better than the Red Rock News” became a quiet refrain among civic leaders.

The culmination of this strained relationship came with Jablow’s resignation. Breaking with tradition, the outgoing mayor chose not to communicate his decision to the Red Rock News at all. Instead, he shared it with regional television stations, statewide newspapers, and online outlets he considered “legitimate.”

To some, this was a bold declaration of independence from a paper that had long lost its balance; to others, it was a breach of the unwritten rules that tether city hall to its hometown press.

The Red Rock News did not take the slight lightly. In its coverage, the paper emphasized that Jablow had failed to notify them or grant them a post- resignation interview, and their reporting carried the unmistakable tone of sour grapes.

Rather than focusing on the mayor’s legacy, or the challenges Sedona continues to face, the paper doubled down on the narrative of exclusion — suggesting more about its own grievances than about the community’s needs.

What happened in Sedona is not an isolated dispute. Across the country, small-town papers — often family-owned for decades — are struggling to find their footing in a digital media landscape that rewards sharper voices and quicker takes.

Some have doubled down on watchdog reporting; others have drifted into partisanship, cynicism, or personality-driven editorials. The result is a widening gap between local governments trying to manage complex realities and newspapers seeking to hold onto influence with fewer resources and more polarized communities.

Sedona illustrates the cost of that gap. With nearly 80 percent of its revenue dependent on sales and bed taxes from tourism, the city faces uniquely difficult choices about housing, zoning, and infrastructure. Residents demand solutions, but the complexity of those issues resists easy answers. When the press treats every attempt at problem-solving as flawed or corrupt, trust erodes further — and the possibility of constructive dialogue narrows.

In larger cities, national outlets and social media can drown out a single paper’s editorial tone. But in towns like Sedona, where one publication still carries outsized weight, the consequences of a shift in tone are magnified.

The mayor’s decision to bypass the Red Rock News altogether was a striking acknowledgment of how far the relationship had deteriorated.

The fourth estate has always been essential to American democracy, especially at the local level. But as the Sedona episode shows, its health depends not just on independence, but on balance. When skepticism curdles into cynicism, accountability morphs into antagonism, and civic trust becomes collateral damage.

In the end, Jablow’s resignation was not just the departure of a mayor. It was a commentary on what happens when local government and local media stop speaking to each other — and when citizens are left to wonder whom they can trust.

Editor’s Note: The views expressed above are solely the opinion of the author and do not reflect the views of the staff, editor or publisher of Sedona.biz.