Some recent comments on a previous post about dissatisfaction with the coverage of Flushing Township came with some pretty brutal charges.
Someone said the reporters don't care.
I still know a few, a brave few, who still work at the Journal, and although they basically avoid me like the plague over concern that their bosses might punish them for talking with the enemy, the charge they don't care is just not true.
Folks don't go into journalism because they don't care. It certainly isn't for the money and benefits, especially now as the old model is being dismantled.
No one, not in their right mind anyway, would stay in journalism unless they cared about either the idea of journalism or they cared about people.
So put me down as standing up for those few still laboring in the fields. They care, they just might not have time to show it.
By the way, here's an example of great reporting from an old pro, still at the Journal.
Here's the lede, just to whet your appetite:
BEECHER -- Five members on an obscure local water and sewer board here recently charged taxpayers $36,000 for a 19-day trip to California.
Their bills included stays at a $260-per-night hotel in San Diego, dinners of shrimp cocktail and filet mignon, even $50 tickets to Sea World -- courtesy of some of the poorest residents of Genesee County.
(They justified the Sea World experience because they could study the effects of water filtration there.)
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7 comments:
Let me make it clear that I was talking about the Journal workers I personally know that are still left there, and not any reporters in my comments on how bad things are there.
I didn't get to see those comments, but I was impressed with that piece of investigative journalism.
I found one sentence a bit troubling, though... it was where the reporter congratulated himself and the Journal on causing state law to be changed. COME ON. It may be true (seems a stretch to me, that the JOURNAL alone was responsible for a change in state law), but it still seems a bit boasty to me and in bad taste. But hey, I'm picky.
This is why we need newspapers: Those Beecher water board members should be waterboarded.
Your general distaste for management amuses me
I'm all about being amusing.
Did you notice that the article's picture of the checks paid out to these bozos included the routing number, bank number and full signature. Easy as pie for check forgery in this day and age. In fact do to the Check 21, the Board members could cut out the check images from their Flint Journal and deposit them, as copies are good as the original. They redacted them in the follow up story atleast. Some one or more (editor or image guy) should have lost their job over it.
As to Anonymous's comment of 20 August, 2009 11:06, it was Matt Bach that out the massive travel spending at the Genesee ISD. Bach is now with the the Flint Vistors Bureau. He interview me over my petion to have the GISD board removed by the Governor or State Legislature which I boost while trying to get the Flint School Board to ask for resignations (either got cut or barried -- The Flint Journal at one point had a front page article against us member of the public confronting local boards -- basically saying its the Journal job and those that aren't journalist are patetic).
I missed the check photos....
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