It just gets worser and worser

This article is a pretty grim account of the status of one of the largest newspapers in the country.

(A hat tip to two frequent, if anonymous, blog readers for the link)

http://www.bostonherald.com/jobfind/news/media/view.bg?articleid=1110446

By the way the paper is one of the properties of the Newhouse family, the same company that owns the Flint Journal and the rest of the Booth chain.

Notice two things: This is round two of the buyouts and it got worse and the famous Newhouse lifetime job pledge will not survive the proposed sale of the newspaper. Also the medical coverage is far less than what Journal employees received in last year's buyouts.

Read this story: Three times!

I'm beginning to wonder if anyone at the Flint Journal reads their own website. Tonight I looked in and found the following story tease:

Fenton City Council appoints Doran Kasper to fill vacancy left by Michael Moffitt
by Vera Hogan Community News
Friday August 01, 2008, 4:51 PM
FENTON, Michigan -- At a special meeting Thursday, the City Council voted 5-2 to appoint Doran Kasper, a Fenton eye doctor, to replace Councilman Michael Moffitt, who resigned last month to move out of state for his employer.
Councilwomen Cheryl King and Diane North cast the dissenting votes.
Dr. Doran Kasper
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Then after finishing that, I scrolled to the next story and found this tease:



Fenton City Council appoints Doran Kasper to fill vacancy left by Michael Moffitt
by Vera Hogan Community News
Friday August 01, 2008, 4:51 PM
FENTON, Michigan -- At a special meeting Thursday, the City Council voted 5-2 to appoint Doran Kasper, a Fenton eye doctor, to replace Councilman Michael Moffitt, who resigned last month to move out of state for his employer.
Councilwomen Cheryl King and Diane North cast the dissenting votes.
Dr. Doran Kasper
Continue reading "Fenton City Council appoints Doran Kasper to fill vacancy left by Michael Moffitt" »
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Realizing that I had already read that story, I moved to the next story and guess what?



Fenton City Council appoints Doran Kasper to fill vacancy left by Michael Moffitt
by Vera Hogan Community News
Friday August 01, 2008, 4:51 PM
FENTON, Michigan -- At a special meeting Thursday, the City Council voted 5-2 to appoint Doran Kasper, a Fenton eye doctor, to replace Councilman Michael Moffitt, who resigned last month to move out of state for his employer.
Councilwomen Cheryl King and Diane North cast the dissenting votes.
Dr. Doran Kasper
Continue reading "Fenton City Council appoints Doran Kasper to fill vacancy left by Michael Moffitt" »
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See more in Community: Fenton, Fenton Township, Mlive, News, Politics


Each of the stories included a photo of Doran Kasper and was identical in every respect including the posting time of 4:51 p.m.

Then I picked up my Friday home delivered edition and on page 2 there were 7 (count them seven) corrections. They ranged from the wrong comics (which they dutifully printed on the second page of the newspaper), a wrong location, the wrong information about a retired police chief, a missing election photo, an incorrect listing of a weight loss event, the tardy correction about a July 22 article that gave incorrect information about the enrollment date for Southwestern Academy and a wrong golf score.

Yeah that correction policy is really working. The top editor's main lieutenant keeps a listing of all the corrections in a monthly log in his computer queue. The list includes the date of the correction, whether an apology letter was written, the nature of the mistake and other pertinent information typed in by the editor.

Many reporters know how to easily access the listing and as far back as three years ago, many of us kept track of each other's errors by looking over the editor's shoulder. With seven errors on one day, that list for August 2008 is going to take a while to type and even longer to track all the apology letters and memos to the editors explaining how they happen.

Here's the link to tonight's page just in case you want to look in and see the triple posting yourself (warning these links don't often work past the day they are collected.)

http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/ (If you read this a couple days late, you can try to access the archives by clicking on the date - in this case August 1, 2008, but finding that link may take more time that its worth).

P.S. I'm still working on the salary story and will post that in the near future. I have a few responses, but could use a few more. There's also a great story, if I can round it out, about a well qualified writing stringer who is trying to get paid for a couple stories he wrote for the 100th anniversary of GM. Apparently the Flint Journal bosses thought they were getting all the work for free.

Skunk help sought

My son, William, who lives in Aptos, California has again requested help for a critter problem. Remember that a few months ago he was being visited by a persistent raccoon.

Now the problem is a skunk that his dog found wandering through the yard. The dog got the business end of the skunk and now smells like a garbage dump.

I had a similar experience with my beagle, Puppy, about 11 years ago and purchased something called "Skunk Off" which was an expensive liquid ($10 a ounce if I remembered) and that helped some, but the smell persisted for more than a month.

If you have a suggestion for William, I'm sure he and his dog, Taylor, will appreciate it.

Speaking of skunks, a couple weeks ago we were coming home from a friend's house when a baby skunk started across the road. It was obvious if I continued at my speed I was going to hit the skunk so I slowed down enough to keep from hitting the skunk, but just barely.

As we went by, the skunk, which is just off the starboard side of my car let loose with its weapon and I was left wondering why I was so kind.

No blogging today

Out of respect for a deceased colleague, there will be no further blogging today, the day of her funeral. We should reflect on the life of Shelley, 44, who died just five months after taking the buyout. We grieve for her loss, pray for her family and are grateful for her lively spirit and wonderful smile that we all enjoyed for years.

May she rest in Peace. (Photo from Facebook)

Safe home!

We're back from a busy 11-day trip. I'll have a lot more to say tomorrow, but for now, just know that we safely negotiated a gazillion construction zones, traffic back-ups and stupid drivers and we are home safe and sound.

I was sorry to learn about the death of a Journal colleague, but also encouraged that photo editor Steve and his wife are on the mend from their motorcycle accident. Life moves forward, but not without its bumps and bruises.