Wednesday, September 15, 2010
On the road again. Destination: Ludington
First post is up from our current trip over on Grandmas Recess. Also picked up a copy of the Ludington Daily News. Two small sections for 75-cents and no TV section. Sheeesh.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
On the road again, Grandma's Recess to fire up
We will be heading out Wednesday for a two-week camping vacation now that all the kiddies and their parents are back home. That means Grandmas Recess will be up and running tomorrow night. I will also include some photos and a brief story on our trip to Indianapolis last weekend. The delay in that had to do with me leaving the digital camera home and having to use a disposable film camera. Film is at the store and should be picked up today.
With an American Legion blood drive that I oversee today and an all-day Family Literacy Center Board retreat, I won't get to it until tomorrow.
If I come across some newspaper news while we are on our trip I'll put that up on Free From Editors.
With an American Legion blood drive that I oversee today and an all-day Family Literacy Center Board retreat, I won't get to it until tomorrow.
If I come across some newspaper news while we are on our trip I'll put that up on Free From Editors.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Off topic: Something funny for today.
With our frequent visits to a Buffalo nursing home this was a delightful prayer that has more and more meaning as I get older and older.
Friday, August 27, 2010
The future of news: Print or palm device?
Here's what the New York Times said about a new newspaper avenue in USA Today. (Hat tip to my sister-in-law, a great newsie in her own right for sending this along).
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Under the category: Bad News
Not sure I agree with the assessment that newspapers will be gone by 2022, but here's the article.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
A word from the President
A friend forwarded this to me and I thought it was pretty funny. It would apply to most Presidents, by the way.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Just a quick post for my Dad
This is the incredible video from the 2010 Oshkosh fly-in. My Dad's favorite airplane, the DC-3, is in here.
Monday, August 16, 2010
House painting on tap - blogging to slow
My wife uttered the words that every husband just loves to hear: "I think it's time to paint the living room."
I tried to convince her that we had just done that (7 years ago) and maybe we could just wash the walls instead.
Didn't work, so I'll be working on household chores the next few days. We all need a vacation from me anyway.
By the way, the Flint Journal home delivered version has been particularly good lately. Sunday had an excellent story from a former colleague, now with the Grand Rapids Press, that took a look at school consolidation. They didn't include my county, but it was a great look at an issue that really needs to be addressed.
The local coverage of the arrest of the serial stabber has also been excellent. I'm hoping they will give one of the reporters a chance to fly to Leesburg and/or Atlanta to do remote follow ups from those locations.
Not sure where the paper is being putting together, but even the general look of the paper has improved from what was happening immediately after it went to three days a week.
My out-of-town trips to cover stories were some of the best learning experiences of my career. You can learn more about your reporting ability by being dropped into a faraway city and fending for yourself than anything you can do locally.
One of these days, when I'm not painting, I'll recount some of those trips to Pennsylvania, Arizona, Ohio (three times) and some others that are escaping me right now. They were fun, but challenging assignments that pressed my skills to the limit.
I tried to convince her that we had just done that (7 years ago) and maybe we could just wash the walls instead.
Didn't work, so I'll be working on household chores the next few days. We all need a vacation from me anyway.
By the way, the Flint Journal home delivered version has been particularly good lately. Sunday had an excellent story from a former colleague, now with the Grand Rapids Press, that took a look at school consolidation. They didn't include my county, but it was a great look at an issue that really needs to be addressed.
The local coverage of the arrest of the serial stabber has also been excellent. I'm hoping they will give one of the reporters a chance to fly to Leesburg and/or Atlanta to do remote follow ups from those locations.
Not sure where the paper is being putting together, but even the general look of the paper has improved from what was happening immediately after it went to three days a week.
My out-of-town trips to cover stories were some of the best learning experiences of my career. You can learn more about your reporting ability by being dropped into a faraway city and fending for yourself than anything you can do locally.
One of these days, when I'm not painting, I'll recount some of those trips to Pennsylvania, Arizona, Ohio (three times) and some others that are escaping me right now. They were fun, but challenging assignments that pressed my skills to the limit.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Stabbings, murders unconnected for more than a month
Many of us who used to cover crime in Flint are trying to wrap our heads around a series of crimes, five of them murders, that went unconnected for many, many weeks. With the arrest of an Israeli citizen in Atlanta for this series of crimes, it is time to ask some hard questions.
This series of crimes, and there were many more than just the homicides, began in May, but it wasn't until a couple weeks ago that two and two added to four.
There was a time that the Flint Journal sent reporters to the police station every day, two and three times a day, to check on crimes. Not sure if that is still going on, but trust me that a series of five men being murdered, all by the same method, in a short period of time would have created a media firestorm much earlier than this one.
I am far from the newsroom, I don't know if those two and three times a day visits are still being made to the detective bureau at the police station. The reporters who are there are good, competent folks, but again, I don't know how much time they have to dedicate to a beat, or even if there are still beats.
Back in the day, the day police reporter would make an early visit to the detective bureau (7 a.m.) and check on overnight activities and go through police reports for serious activities or accidents over night.
The night cop reporter would stop back at the police department about 5 p.m. and repeat the process for the dayside. Several times during the day and evening calls would be made to the police department to check on current investigations and to see what is going on.
And the police scanner was on in the newsroom and in our cars all the time monitoring police and fire radio traffic. Often to the irritation of the non-police reporters and editors in the newsroom.
There were nights when something would happen as I was leaving at 11 p.m. and I would stay many hours into the night. A few times I would still be there at 5 a.m. when editors began showing up for work the next day.
Editors demanded that crimes be covered like a blanket. That began to erode even during my last years at the Journal, but there was still a commitment to aggressively cover crimes.
I have no idea if crime coverage is still heavily emphasized. I do know there are far fewer reporters to do the job of gathering news than when I was there. Whether this helped lead to a lack of oversight and the missed signals of these crimes is only speculation.
But I do know this, if we had noticed even two men killed in a short time by the same method, someone would have been asking questions. By the time it got to three, four and five men, we would have been running daily and Sunday stories on the "trend." We loved trend stories back in the day.
There is no question I spent many, many hours hanging around the police station, developing relationships with all the detectives and I had the time and freedom to follow stories. That, I am sure, is different today.
Many times, reporters would notice crime trends from one community to the other and we became the conduit that put together similar crimes from those communities.
A running list of traffic accident victims and homicide victims was kept religiously in a computer file at the paper. Those lists were critical to tracking and discovering disturbing crime trends in the area. Those of us who covered crime used to hate the year end wrap up stories we were required to do on each and every murder that occurred.
The old beat method allowed reporters the time and space to develop sources. To be clear, I don't know what happened in this case, but the days of the local television and newspaper media leading the way in coverage is apparently gone.
With the newspaper only printing three days a week, maybe that has had an effect on the daily coverage of the police department. I just don't know. Much of the early online coverage of the arrest was simply links to other news outlets. That would not have been allowed in the "old days."
The reporters now working on the story are doing a good job, I have no argument with that.
Also, the Flint Police Department has taken a heavy hit due to budget considerations. I don't know the status of the homicide bureau and what effect that had on the failure to connect the dots for so long. But it is a question that needs to be asked.
Sorry, just lots of questions and few answers today. It just appears that the watchdogs, public and private, were asleep.
This series of crimes, and there were many more than just the homicides, began in May, but it wasn't until a couple weeks ago that two and two added to four.
There was a time that the Flint Journal sent reporters to the police station every day, two and three times a day, to check on crimes. Not sure if that is still going on, but trust me that a series of five men being murdered, all by the same method, in a short period of time would have created a media firestorm much earlier than this one.
I am far from the newsroom, I don't know if those two and three times a day visits are still being made to the detective bureau at the police station. The reporters who are there are good, competent folks, but again, I don't know how much time they have to dedicate to a beat, or even if there are still beats.
Back in the day, the day police reporter would make an early visit to the detective bureau (7 a.m.) and check on overnight activities and go through police reports for serious activities or accidents over night.
The night cop reporter would stop back at the police department about 5 p.m. and repeat the process for the dayside. Several times during the day and evening calls would be made to the police department to check on current investigations and to see what is going on.
And the police scanner was on in the newsroom and in our cars all the time monitoring police and fire radio traffic. Often to the irritation of the non-police reporters and editors in the newsroom.
There were nights when something would happen as I was leaving at 11 p.m. and I would stay many hours into the night. A few times I would still be there at 5 a.m. when editors began showing up for work the next day.
Editors demanded that crimes be covered like a blanket. That began to erode even during my last years at the Journal, but there was still a commitment to aggressively cover crimes.
I have no idea if crime coverage is still heavily emphasized. I do know there are far fewer reporters to do the job of gathering news than when I was there. Whether this helped lead to a lack of oversight and the missed signals of these crimes is only speculation.
But I do know this, if we had noticed even two men killed in a short time by the same method, someone would have been asking questions. By the time it got to three, four and five men, we would have been running daily and Sunday stories on the "trend." We loved trend stories back in the day.
There is no question I spent many, many hours hanging around the police station, developing relationships with all the detectives and I had the time and freedom to follow stories. That, I am sure, is different today.
Many times, reporters would notice crime trends from one community to the other and we became the conduit that put together similar crimes from those communities.
A running list of traffic accident victims and homicide victims was kept religiously in a computer file at the paper. Those lists were critical to tracking and discovering disturbing crime trends in the area. Those of us who covered crime used to hate the year end wrap up stories we were required to do on each and every murder that occurred.
The old beat method allowed reporters the time and space to develop sources. To be clear, I don't know what happened in this case, but the days of the local television and newspaper media leading the way in coverage is apparently gone.
With the newspaper only printing three days a week, maybe that has had an effect on the daily coverage of the police department. I just don't know. Much of the early online coverage of the arrest was simply links to other news outlets. That would not have been allowed in the "old days."
The reporters now working on the story are doing a good job, I have no argument with that.
Also, the Flint Police Department has taken a heavy hit due to budget considerations. I don't know the status of the homicide bureau and what effect that had on the failure to connect the dots for so long. But it is a question that needs to be asked.
Sorry, just lots of questions and few answers today. It just appears that the watchdogs, public and private, were asleep.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
What he said (on immigration)
For those who disagree with me about immigration enforcement. This sums up my feelings pretty well.
The "Summer of Recovery" fizzles, both parties get the blame
My Libertarian and third party desires are well known here, but I love it when my instincts prove somewhat correct. The Wall Street Journal and NBC News did a poll that show that people are mad at Democrats - and Republicans - for the miserable efforts to fix the economy.
Let's be honest, the government rarely fixes anything. It does some things well, we have the finest military in the world even though politicians have frequently misused it. But when a bunch of politicians who have never worked a real job a day in their lives try to fix the economy the results are predictable.
Two-party partisan bickering and posturing is ruining this country and those of us longing for a real change, a departure from the two-party system, continue to hope others will come along. And as long as the Tea Party is somehow aligned with Republicans, I don't want them either.
The country needs a true independent party, one that reflects the attitudes of the vast middle voters and not the fringe left and right who dominate all the conversation.
Otherwise we'll continue to have congressional representives who write tax laws and then ignore them in his own life and others who talk about fixing the deficit while approving bridges to nowhere in bills that have nothing to do with bridges.
The President can keep saying it's the "Summer of Recovery" and that "things are getting better, really" and all we can point to is that the jobs he is saving are government jobs. Wishing the economy well will not make it so.
So while the private sector shrinks, the government gets bigger.
The original idea was that government would work for us. What we have in turn is that those in the private sector are now working for government to keep it going. Just live in New York for a few days and see what the excessive taxes are doing there.
Our children will someday get this deficit bill and I don't think they will thank us for it.
Let's be honest, the government rarely fixes anything. It does some things well, we have the finest military in the world even though politicians have frequently misused it. But when a bunch of politicians who have never worked a real job a day in their lives try to fix the economy the results are predictable.
Two-party partisan bickering and posturing is ruining this country and those of us longing for a real change, a departure from the two-party system, continue to hope others will come along. And as long as the Tea Party is somehow aligned with Republicans, I don't want them either.
The country needs a true independent party, one that reflects the attitudes of the vast middle voters and not the fringe left and right who dominate all the conversation.
Otherwise we'll continue to have congressional representives who write tax laws and then ignore them in his own life and others who talk about fixing the deficit while approving bridges to nowhere in bills that have nothing to do with bridges.
The President can keep saying it's the "Summer of Recovery" and that "things are getting better, really" and all we can point to is that the jobs he is saving are government jobs. Wishing the economy well will not make it so.
So while the private sector shrinks, the government gets bigger.
The original idea was that government would work for us. What we have in turn is that those in the private sector are now working for government to keep it going. Just live in New York for a few days and see what the excessive taxes are doing there.
Our children will someday get this deficit bill and I don't think they will thank us for it.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Illegal immigrant kills nun, had been released pending deportation
The Washington Post is reporting that a man arrested for drunk driving and killing a nun in Virginia had been arrested previously for drunken driving, discovered to be an illegal immigrant and was released pending a deportation hearing.
And this one is on President Bush's administration, but it makes my point that Arizona is not the only place that currently checks folks for immigration status on folks arrested for other crimes. The fact the federal government's enforcement releases these folks back into the population is what is at issue.
If you are interested, follow the links at the bottom of the story that show that in this one county 13 percent of those arrested on crimes are also illegal immigrants. Please keep telling me how this is not a problem.
There's also an interesting note about the federal government's endorsement of this local enforcement in Virginia, which is in contrast to its current stated and legal battles with Arizona.
From the WP story: "Prince William is one of a few dozen communities in the country that participate in a federal program that deputizes local police officers to act as immigration agents and check the immigration status of people they arrest."
Maybe illegal immigration is more of a problem if the issue is in the D.C. backyard and not somewhere way out west. Check out pages 15-16-17 of the pdf of these local police statistics.
If the feds are going to sue anyone, it should be the cities who declare amnesty for illegal immigrants, that is truly an issue the federal government should sue over.
As to deportation hearings, how long should that take.
Judge: "Are you here illegally."
Suspect: "Yes"
Judge: "You're gone."
And this one is on President Bush's administration, but it makes my point that Arizona is not the only place that currently checks folks for immigration status on folks arrested for other crimes. The fact the federal government's enforcement releases these folks back into the population is what is at issue.
If you are interested, follow the links at the bottom of the story that show that in this one county 13 percent of those arrested on crimes are also illegal immigrants. Please keep telling me how this is not a problem.
There's also an interesting note about the federal government's endorsement of this local enforcement in Virginia, which is in contrast to its current stated and legal battles with Arizona.
From the WP story: "Prince William is one of a few dozen communities in the country that participate in a federal program that deputizes local police officers to act as immigration agents and check the immigration status of people they arrest."
Maybe illegal immigration is more of a problem if the issue is in the D.C. backyard and not somewhere way out west. Check out pages 15-16-17 of the pdf of these local police statistics.
If the feds are going to sue anyone, it should be the cities who declare amnesty for illegal immigrants, that is truly an issue the federal government should sue over.
As to deportation hearings, how long should that take.
Judge: "Are you here illegally."
Suspect: "Yes"
Judge: "You're gone."
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
The Detroit Lions one big highlight film
The Detroit Lions don't have many highlights of their own (they are featured in many other teams' highlights, however) but this was the one game that gave fans hope for the future.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
AnnArbor.com: A year later, another perspective
Online readers are up, but Advance is silent on whether the venture is profitable according to this new article about AnnArbor.com.
What is still not arguable is that the print product of AnnArbor.com is the biggest revenue generator. Be sure to follow the links in the story to the Chicago Tribue column and others.
Does anyone know if the 35 newsroom employees include unpaid bloggers and interns?
What is still not arguable is that the print product of AnnArbor.com is the biggest revenue generator. Be sure to follow the links in the story to the Chicago Tribue column and others.
Does anyone know if the 35 newsroom employees include unpaid bloggers and interns?
Friday, July 30, 2010
Suspicions confirmed: Internet handy, as long as it is free
A loyal reader, Jan, sent along a link that has a lot of good information about how people feel about the Internet and newspapers.
People love the Internet, but they are not willing to pay for much. That does not bode well for those who believe that a sustainable and lucrative model for online news gathering is anywhere on the horizon.
Maybe years down the road, but people want their information and they want it for free. I have a Twitter account, a Facebook account and use the Internet daily. But when someone asks me for dough, I say no. I hate tip jars, as well.
Also notice if you want the full report you'll have to pay for it. I'm not.
People love the Internet, but they are not willing to pay for much. That does not bode well for those who believe that a sustainable and lucrative model for online news gathering is anywhere on the horizon.
Maybe years down the road, but people want their information and they want it for free. I have a Twitter account, a Facebook account and use the Internet daily. But when someone asks me for dough, I say no. I hate tip jars, as well.
Also notice if you want the full report you'll have to pay for it. I'm not.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Gene Weingarten: On digitial media and Lady Gaga
In case you missed this Gene Weingarten column in the Washington Post (thanks, Dad) it is a funny and very apt discussion of the state of journalism and news today.
Once again I put myself out there as a self-confessed journalism dinosaur, but even those who have reigned over the current journalism state of affairs should get a good laugh out of this. They probably won't because they will actually think this all makes sense.
Once again I put myself out there as a self-confessed journalism dinosaur, but even those who have reigned over the current journalism state of affairs should get a good laugh out of this. They probably won't because they will actually think this all makes sense.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
From A to Zowie: A reporter's reflections
Reporter Richard has a blog of his own. Here are a couple of his recent columns.
On writing opinion columns about issues you cover.
A day in his life, which includes getting to bed early so he can be rested for his second job at the gas station.
One really has to have passion to be willing to work two jobs so you can do one that is important, but not paid that way.
On writing opinion columns about issues you cover.
A day in his life, which includes getting to bed early so he can be rested for his second job at the gas station.
One really has to have passion to be willing to work two jobs so you can do one that is important, but not paid that way.
Monday, July 26, 2010
More sloppy newspaper checking
This time from afar. Thanks to a reader for sending along this link to Regret the Error.
Old colleagues, new business
Some former colleagues have launched a new business, Ohno Design, and I'm pretty excited for them. The innovative website and the crisp, clear writing there shows why they should never have been dropped from the Flint Journal to begin with.
If annarbor.com had 10 percent of the creativity of what I have already seen on this website, well someone besides me would probably be talking about annarbor.com.
Congratulations Ohno Design, give 'em heck.
I know a lot of folks from different disciplines who check in here. You could do worse, a lot worse, than checking out Ohno Design if you are in the market for that kind of thing.
If annarbor.com had 10 percent of the creativity of what I have already seen on this website, well someone besides me would probably be talking about annarbor.com.
Congratulations Ohno Design, give 'em heck.
I know a lot of folks from different disciplines who check in here. You could do worse, a lot worse, than checking out Ohno Design if you are in the market for that kind of thing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
