What we miss: Each other

When I talk to my former newspaper colleagues we agree on the one thing we all miss. The daily interaction with each other.

Not that we all thought alike, or agreed with each other. Far from it. What is missed is the excitement of working on stories, sharing ideas, war stories and working together to produce a product that was here for a few hours and then on to the next edition.

Sort of like an intellectual disposable drink cup. There is nothing like the rush we got when we clamped onto a good story and refused to let go. Admittedly, most good reporters are adrenalin junkies. That's what makes them a lot like police officers and fire fighters.

Off blog, I've been exchanging messages with a former colleague, a photographer, about all the nasty and depressing things we witnessed in our careers. Bodies, wounds, tangled metal, mutilated lives and destroyed homes.

After nearly 18 months off the job, I have decompressed, others are in the process of decompressing. Where police officers, fire fighters and medical responders get counseling help or debriefings provided by enlightened companies, reporters who experience some of the same stress from dealing with tragedy get zip, zero, nada from their employers.

There were a few times in my career that I went to my editor (a good one, no longer employed) and told her I need a few days or weeks off from dealing with the endless string of deaths and injuries and she would take me off the death rotation. As a former police reporter herself, she got it.

Editors who rarely, if ever, dealt with the dead, dying or their families, thought nothing of asking reporters to do that very stressful and difficult work with no concern for what it was doing to their psyche. They were too busy worrying about whether desks were too messy to worry about what was going on with the mental well being of their employees.

At the same time that fewer reporters are available to do the difficult work they have to do, they are also dealing with reduced salary and benefits. A combination surely designed to increase unhealthy stress for editorial employees.

One of the things we could always fall back on was our friends in the newsroom. We could laugh together and grieve together, but with the wholesale layoffs and buyouts those support systems are largely gone.

Over the years, we exchanged tacky souvenirs from trips taken. We always looked for a cheap trinket on our trips to bring home and share with our friends in the newsroom. I still have my refrigerator magnets, Eifel Tower pencil sharpener, and miniature Roman Colisseum in my box of stuff I took off my desk during my last week. At Christmas we exchanged small gifts in groups.

During my time at the Oakland Press, I started a collection of snow globes that came, thanks to my colleagues, from all over the world. I have a box of more than 100 of them in my attic, most now without water. People loved that collection, but it eventually had to be taken home, an edict of the "clean-up-the-newsroom" crowd.

At the Flint Journal, there used to be a "ghoul pool" in which some reporters (I never participated) bet on which celebrities would die in the coming year. Sure it was ghoulish, but it was a release from the pressure and sadness we faced daily.

There were also betting pools on the Academy Awards and the NCAA Basketball Tournament. I also never participated in these, because technically they are illegal and I didn't want to be in a position where I might have to write a story about a gambling issue outside the paper while violating the same law inside it.

The annual "Bounce the Chicken Day" celebration, which included foods specifically related to chickens and eggs started when a goofy press photo of a rubber chicken being bounced up and down on a blanket made it to Page 1. Every year after that, on the same date, there would be a chicked to be found somewhere on Page 1 and a huge banquet of chicken and egg related food in the newsroom. It was great fun and it too was a release from the seriousness of what we did.

One of my favorite copy editors (although she will find that a surprise) started an annual pool and contest to pick the winner on American Idol. She made up a stage, complete with American Idol logo, and photos of the contestants on sticks that were eliminated each week with the vote.

The stage included a desk with the three famous Idol judges as well.

We looked out for each other. My buddy Kim, the one whose life I ruined by hiring him as a reporter at The State News back in 1978, asked an intern to bring me and a photographer a cup of coffee during an long running armed stand off in north Flint.

The intern, a woman, bristled at the suggestion that she should be an "errand girl" for two men just because we had been outside in below zero temperatures for more than four hours. Kim explained to her that reporters look out for each other and if he hadn't been busy on rewrite, he would have brought it to us.

In the end she didn't like it, but she dropped off our coffee. Maybe later in her career she figured out what Kim was saying. There were many times that I took coffee or relieved a reporter on a crime scene so they could get out of the cold or get a meal. It's just what we did for each other.

Heck, the bosses would cringe if they had known it at the time, but we often bought and delivered coffee to the cops and fire fighters who were stuck out in the cold with us. It was just a human thing to do. Didn't hurt when it came time to get the story either.

Once, when we had an intern that was pretty full of himself, we organized a "hat" day. The intern, thinking he looked cool, was wearing a snap brim fedora everyday like he was some character out of a 1930s "Front Page" flick.

So we all got together and agreed to wear different kinds of hats so when he arrived at the office he might get the hint. We had people wearing football and hockey helmets, every manner of ball cap, crowns, newsprint hats, stocking caps, cowboy hats (me). When he walked in the room, he noticed the array of hats, smiled and asked, "is this about me?"

We all got a good laugh from it and the young man didn't take himself quite so seriously after that. A newsroom that isn't fun, isn't really a good newsroom.

Tomorrow: A word about sources.

Courtroom fights are becoming a habit

For the second time in less than a month, a fight broke out Monday in a Genesee County courtroom. It appears the only camera on hand belonged to ABC's affiliate, WJRT-TV, Channel 12. You can see the report and video here.

MLive has a story here.

I'm now officially older than dirt

Back in my police days, we used to find any excuse to have a little fun off duty. To make me really feel old current Atherton (California) Police Chief Glenn Nielsen, who started out as a police explorer scout when I worked there in the 1970s (1972-1977), sent along some photos saved by another former scout and later police officer Ron Levine.

The pitcher is me. We had a picnic and were playing softball at the old Sacred Heart campus (we believe) in Atherton.

Tom Gantert's post finally up at AnnArbor.com

Another apology from the AnnArbor.com Content Czar as it relates to the Tom Gantert post which we posted here a couple days ago.

If this keeps up, they might want to rename the site "Imsorry.com." There actually is such a site and it seems to be exactly what it says.

Here's more over at Arborupdate.

Letter typos bring an AnnArbor.com apology

Haven't seen the letter, so don't know how bad it was, but if the Content Czar's response to a post is any indication it must have been a bad one.

Second Internet start-up newspaper in Denver

Ex-staffers of the Rocky Mountain News are trying again to fire up an online newspaper, this time hopefully to make money.

What he said

Reflections of a Newsosaur expresses again what I tried to briefly express in the obituary to my father-in-law.

Michael Jackson was a great entertainer, but he was a flawed and pitiful person. A month before he died some of the same people who are now idolizing him were making jokes and ridiculing him.

Tom Gantert posts about citizen journalists

A sometime commenter Tom Gantert (I appreciate that he uses his own name) has offered a great reflection on a previous post on citizen journalists. Apparently Tom left the comment on the AnnArbor.com site a couple days ago, but it has apparently been lost because it has not been posted.

I tried to copy and paste it here, but I'm in Buffalo and something isn't working correctly so here's the link to the previous post and Tom's response is with the comments. There are other good comments as well.

Here's the AnnArbor.com post it refers to.

Things not to buy at the $1 store

My sister, who is our family's version of Warren Buffet, still likes to shop at the $1 store (mostly for my Christmas and birthday presents). Just kidding, Pam.

Anyway, she lives in West Virginia and recently told me that she was in her favorite $1 store where they were selling pregnancy testing kits for $1. She wondered out loud if anyone would trust a $1 store product for such an important test.

Then she noticed that the store clerk was quite pregnant. She thought it was quite funny.

What product would you never buy at the $1 store even if it was a great deal?

Slate.com: "Buy One Anyway" a campaign to save newspapers

Thanks to The Daily Derelict and Slate.com this little gem may brighten your day, or not. It's brutal, but great satire.

DetroitMakeItHere.com: Citizen journalism

Here's the latest installment of Elizabeth Voss' series on the "new" media. This one is focused on the citizen journalists (read free or almost free writers) now working at The Oakland Press.

She used a quote or two from me at the end.

Timing bad for Steve McNair restaurant feature

A reader sent along the following link with the unfortunate experience of a newspaper that distributed a pre-printed supplement with an interview with quarterback Steve McNair who was shot and killed on Saturday.

Check it out.

Another buried Page 1 story

I've been trying to lay off the Flint Journal. Today, however, is an example of why the new organization of the Bay City-Saginaw-Flint alignment is faltering.

Earlier this week, at a time when the Flint Journal was not publishing, the reporters at the Journal initially broke the story of the involvement of the Shiawassee County prosecutor in a drunk driving crash.

Then the following day there was a post that simply linked to television news coverage of the event, which I found odd because the Journal had broken the story.

So today I was waiting to read more about the incident when my dead tree version arrived here at home. Let's be serious, the potential arrest of the elected county prosecutor in a drunk driving accident is big news. I naturally looked at the front page expecting to see the story there.

Nope.

So I turned to Page 2 and 3. Nope, again.

Now I'm getting curious. So I keep digging through the paper and finally find the story on page A-9. The old reporters' saying at the Flint Journal that you never know where you'll find a front page story was never truer than today.

I simply can't fathom the news judgment that doesn't see this as a major story, worthy of front page or at least Page 3 coverage.

It could be that the copy editor laying out the page was confused about the charge because the headline on the story said: "Alochol supsected in prosecutor's crash." Maybe the editor thought alochol was different than alcohol.

Another Advance publication bites the dust, merges with AnnArbor.com

An announcement was made today to Ann Arbor News employees that the Michigan Business Review will be folded into the operations at AnnArbor.com.

The release published today on MLive contains the usual Advance/Booth corporate speak that insists it was a successful publication, BUT........

Here's the AnnArbor.com version.

John R. "Red" Uleskey, 1924-2009

John R. “Red” Uleskey, a native of South Buffalo, NY, died peacefully Tuesday morning in his own bedroom at the home he and his wife lived in for 55 years. Red was my wife’s father and was one of an estimated 1,000 World War II veterans who died yesterday.

Another 1,000 will die today, and tomorrow and everyday for a long time until they are all gone.

Unlike a recent big name entertainer, who did not fight for his country, “Red” and most of the others will die in relative anonymity and will pay a newspaper somewhere to run a short announcement that their life on earth has ended. The card carrying members of Tom Brokaw’s “Greatest Generation” barely rate a passing mention anymore.

Like many men and women of his era, Red left high school before graduation to fight for his country. It says a lot about our country that we honor those without honor and neglect those who have truly earned our respect and admiration. But enough about that let me tell you just a little that I know about “Red.”

(Photos: Red and Red and his "girls").

I came late to Red, I married his eldest daughter Joan in 1999, but first met him in 1996 when Joan and I started dating. He was born June 21, 1924 in Buffalo. He married the love of his life, Joan Burke, on June 26, 1948. I’ll do the math. He was 85 and he and Joan just celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary. My wife, also Joan, was born March 31, 1949, I’ll let you do that math. Never mind, it was nine months, almost to the day of their wedding.

Last weekend, in between the times my wife and I were turning him in bed, or wetting his lips as he moved slowly, but peacefully, toward his death, I sat down to write his obituary for the newspaper. It was the least I thought I could do.

When we met with the funeral director Tuesday afternoon, who just happens to be “Red’s” nephew, Patrick Cannan, he informed me that Red already wrote his own, 16 years ago. Unlike the flowery, information packed obituary that I had written it was short, sweet and to the point. We updated a few survivors, but left it as he wrote it.

In his obituary, Red didn’t feel the need to mention that as a member of an artillery company in the U.S. Army’s 75th Division, he arrived in Europe just before Christmas in 1944 where he and his buddies were pushed into action in the Battle of the Bulge. Talk about your trial by fire.

After defeating the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge, Red and the 75th, followed the huns across the Rhine River into Germany until the war ended. But none of this you would have known reading Red’s obit. He only mentioned his life membership in the local American Legion Post and VFW organization.

He served on the color guards for both those organizations, which was also not mentioned.

Also missing in his obituary was his career as a fireman and later engineer on the South Buffalo Railway working odd hours and weekends to support his family.

Oh how Red loved his family. He raised three daughters and they gave him two grandsons and two granddaughters, who he adored. Three years ago his grandson John, my stepson, and his wife, Nicole, gave Red and Joan a great-granddaughter, Addisen. Red didn’t need fancy trips to Europe, cruises or a second home in Florida. His joy came from being with family.

They have all been with him in the last weeks of his life. Everyone had a chance to tell him what he meant to them and say good-bye. Even little Addisen put on the latex gloves that hospice left behind and told us, "I'll check on great grandpa."

Getting the family together was always a priority for the Uleskeys.

When it was hard to get them all to Buffalo and a little cramped in the 1,000-square foot home that he and Joan purchased in the early 1950s, he financed frequent reunions (three or four times a year) in the 1990s and 2000s at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Pittsburgh, which was roughly half way for everyone.

In addition to letting him be with his daughters and grandchildren, it was Red’s intention that the cousins become closer and to give them the close family ties that he didn’t always have as a child.

There were 25 of these “Pittsburghers,” as we called them. Red's plan worked, my stepdaughter, Elin, and Jessica, daughter of Red’s daughter, Diane, are close friends to this day. Grandson Shaun inherited Red’s ability to fix, repair and make a buck.

The three brothers-in-law were always included and loved, but we knew that our place was a secondary one to his “girls.”

Other than his trips to Pittsburgh, the only other major trips he and Joan took were to annual reunion conventions of the 75th Division. A few times he included us in those plans, the most recent a weekend reunion in Chicago.

During one convention in Missouri, he penned a comment in the guest book at the Truman Library. “You saved my life.” That comment referred to plans for the 75th Division to be transferred to the Pacific Theater until Truman authorized the dropping of the Atomic bomb on Japan.

One of his most memorable moments was when his daughter Diane and son-in-law Denny took him into Washington, D.C. to be present at the dedication of the World War II Memorial. A military person rolled him down front in his wheelchair to hear former senator and presidential candidate Bob Dole speak.

In his obituary, Red didn’t mention that he was a kind and gentle man who rarely raised his voice, but was fiercely defensive of his family.

He bought his cars new and then meticulously maintained them, including a few that he took apart to undercoat as soon as he purchased them to protect them from the fierce Buffalo winters.

When something needed fixing at the Uleskey house, Red didn’t run to Home Depot, he climbed into his basement and found the right screw, tool or board safely stored away there. Why buy something new when something old in the basement could do the same thing, or be made into something that would do the same thing.

The obituary he wrote also didn’t mention that he studied and became an artist, that he took lessons to learn how to play the organ and how conflicted he was for a time that he couldn’t decide which of the two he liked better. His grandson, John, my stepson, was the one who apparently inherited those artistic genes.

Until recently, he made daily entries into a journal that kept track of great events, the birth of a grandchild, and minor events, like what he and Joan had for dinner at a local gin joint. Some of his sayings would rival that of any great philosopher.

Red never wanted to disappoint and when his youngest daughter, Pat, signed him up for a class to complete a GED without his knowledge, he began attending after the GED instructor called him and asked him why he missed the first class. He finished with flying colors.

Not that education wasn’t important to Red, he sent two of his daughters through college and taught the other how to read when she struggled at school with the skill. He did crossword puzzles and loved the Sunday talk shows, especially Meet the Press with Tim Russert, a Buffalo native of whom Red, as well as the whole community, were justifiable proud.

Red was typically Buffalo, down-to-earth and real. A lifelong “family values” Democrat, Red was a strong union man who worked construction jobs during labor disputes on the railroad to make sure his family was provided for. He had no patience for sloth.

Between him and his wife, they knew every good restaurant in Buffalo and if they didn’t take you there, it probably wasn’t worth going to. They knew who had the best Beef on Weck (a Buffalo roast beef sandwich on a salt-covered roll) or fish fry.

Red liked his beer cold, his home warm and his soup “extremely hot." He was most happy if he was surrounded by his family and was holding a “Sammy,” a Samuel Adams beer in his hand.

Another thing Red neglected to mention was his skill as a gardener. He raised tomatoes, peppers and a number of other wonderful produce in his backyard garden in West Seneca. He poured his own concrete driveway and built his one-car garage after he and Joan purchased the house.

“It cost $500,” he told me recently. “And Joan helped.”

To save the plastic tile in the single bathroom of the house, Red plumbed and added a basement shower that we in the family affectionately call “Camp Uleskey.” Until last year, no one ever used the upstairs shower.

He was also happy sitting in his “shack” a converted first-floor bedroom that included his Ham radio equipment. When he couldn’t get a good signal he was content to listen to the time signal. KB2FME has now signed off forever.

The attic he turned into a bedroom for his two oldest girls and now serves as the guest room.

Without a formal college education, Red made smart investments and while he lived well below his means, he was generous when it came to his family. Red didn’t think up the phrase “Waste not, want now,” but he certainly brought it to a new level.

A quick wit and a thoughtful mind never failed to inspire a laugh or a good discussion. Red never said much, but when he spoke we all listened. And learned.

Red’s quick wit and kind demeanor endured him to all who knew and loved him. No wife had a better husband, no children had a better father and no grandchildren had a better grandpa.

When his wife had a stroke in April, he insisted on visiting her, sometimes three times a day in the hospital, which took a tremendous toll on his body, which was already struggling with a debilitating Parkinson’s related progressive disease.

In recent weeks, he could no longer go and visit her, but they talked on the phone and last weekend met for the last time face to face in his bedroom on a quick visit from the nursing home.
He sent flowers to her on their anniversary. The two of them demonstrated the real meanings of the vows, "to love and honor ... for better or worse … in sickness and in health."

But in the end, we decided to go with Red’s own obituary version of his life. Simple and to the point, just the way he wanted it and wrote it.

During my years of reporting I sometimes visited people in hospice care, but I had no idea how wonderful service this is. Hospice Buffalo, which helped Red during his last 13 days of life, were incredible. The average stay in hospice, we were told, was 13 days exactly what Red did.

They made it possible to honor his wish that he die at home. We are asking our friends who wish, in lieu of flowers, to make a donation to Hospice Buffalo, 225 Como Park Boulevard, Cheektowaga, NY 14227, in Red’s name.

I could go on for a long time, but Red would already be upset that I wrote all this. Forgive me Red, I just couldn’t help myself. Rest in peace. Thanks for your life and your sacrifice to your country.

AnnArbor.com suggests tutorials for "citizen" journalism

The latest post on AnnArbor.com may signal what they will rely on for the future.

Another blog newspaper idea bites the dust

Want to lose money? Try inventing the new bridge from paper to Internet. Here's a guy who tried and is now broke.

Pssst. The money has been, and despite all the Internet gurus claiming otherwise, remains in the print product.

Back and forth to Buffalo

For those who have followed our trips back and forth to Buffalo during the past two years, my wife's father died peacefully at home Tuesday, July 7, while we were at the house with him. His entire family had been at the house over the Fourth of July weekend to celebrate his 85th birthday (June 21) and Red and Joan's 61st wedding anniversary June 26.

He had gone into home hospice (Buffalo Hospice - one of the greatest non-profit groups I have ever dealt with) just 13 days before. I'll have more to say about John "Red" Uleskey later today, but thanks to all who have prayed and encouraged us over these past several years.

Now more of our attention turns to Red's wife, Joan, who continues her rehabilitation from a major stroke in April.

Chevy XVIII

Dallas Cowboys honor boy with cancer

If this doesn't put things in some perspective, I don't think anything will. This was very touching.

Sports writer David Mayo writes about conviction

Grand Rapids Press sports writer chimed in today about his marijuana conviction and his great fortune in getting his old job back.

In a time when newspapers are trimming staff and cutting costs, for a guy to get his job back after being convicted of a drug felony is pretty much a miracle.

I do not know David Mayo and believe in second chances and forgiveness, but I've known other employees who have lost jobs at Booth for far less transgressions than this.

Just in case you can't get out tonight: Fireworks!!

Happy Fourth of July

I was up early this morning and just decided to re-read the Declaration of Independence. It's short and to the point, just like a good newspaper article. If you have a few minutes today before the family and friends arrive and the hot dogs and hamburgers are on the grill you might want to read it again too. There's a complete copy here.

Happy 4th!

Crain's Bill Shea has pointed give-and-take with another journalist

Found this column by Crain's blogger Bill Shea on some Michigan Citizen charges against the Detroit Free Press and its coverage of soon-to-be former Detroit Councilperson Monica Conyers.

The story is one thing, but the comments back and forth between Bill and the subject of his story is also good reading.

Cardboard boxes: The new newsroom furniture

The Washington Post's John Kelly has an interesting column on the exodus of many of his co-workers to a buyout at the WaPo.

If you are not a registered member of the WaPo's online community, you will likely have to sign up. Easy and free.

Mother Jones: The death of newspapers

Lots of great facts and links.

Return of GR sportswriter draws fire, applause

Grand Rapids Press sports writer David Mayo, now a convicted felon for a marijuana cultivation is getting his old job back at the Press. This on the same day many of his fellow employees are on the way out.

Apparently police found more than 200 marijuana plants growing at the Mayo home, but he pleaded to a lesser crime. The 200 plants were for "personal use." That's a lot of personal use.

Mayo seems to be drawing as much ire over his lawyer's comment about his "humiliating" experience as a waiter as his drug use. Many of the long thread of comments are pretty brutal.

Some of the commenters appear to be Booth employees (anonymously) poking fun at the company's "zero tolerance" drug policy.

For my part, I believe everyone deserves a second chance, but it does raise some questions about how serious Booth is over its employee drug policy.

AnnArbor.com presents at Ignite Ann Arbor

Here are the "highlights" of the AnnArbor.com presentation at the Ignite (whatever the heck that is) last night. I guess you get five minutes and a few slides (which I couldn't or didn't see on the video) to tell your exciting story.

Why you would need to boil down highlights from a five-minute presentation (I would assume a five-minute presentation would be all highlights) I have no idea. Moral of the story: Will write for potatoes. (You have to watch to get it.)

Politics as usual here in New York

With our frequent trips to Buffalo we are as in touch with New York politics as we are with Michigan politics.

Early last month there was a sudden shift in the control of the State senate when two Democrats switched allegiances and went over to the Republican side to change the control of the Senate.

For a month now, nothing has gotten done as neither side is now able to get a quorom and because the former Democrat governor stepped down after his "Appalachian Trail" incident with a paid hooker there is no lieutenant governor to break the tie.

Important legislation is on hold and will expire in just a few days, leaving cities across the state without money for projects that would bring badly needed jobs to this state.

The new governor, Paterson (who had to admit a number of his own dalliances after he ascended to the office), has pleaded with his fellow Democrats to find a way to share power and get things done, but they are in no mood to compromise and today tried to hold a vote by using a blocked hallway that forced one Republican to cut through the Senate floor.

When the Republican cut through the chamber on a short cut back to his office, the Democrats declared a quorom, hastily passed a bunch of legislation, but the governor said he was not going to sign the bill because of the shenanigans.

Although they don't want to meet, the Senators are being called into special session everyday by the governor, which they promptly adjourn without doing anything.

Now there is a move by voters and others to cut off the Senators' pay because none of them seem to want to work anyway. It's all very funny and ridiculous at the same time.

Made in China: Riiiiight!

Let's keep handing over our manufacturing and money to China. They do so well after all. For example this little apartment complex project. Here's the Reuters story and photo.

The People's Paradise is not so concerned with the details.

How confident will the residents of the nearby duplicate buildings feel?

Story on school district includes suspect editing

I'm not one who should necessarily point out the typos of another, although the readers here are 'helpful' in pointing them out, but because of a comment on a story posted on the Flint Journal Mlive site it may be instructive of the lack of editing of stories before they go online.

Here's the paragraph (in case it gets fixed later):

"It said the districted needed to better use technology in the classroom and do a better intregrate new students in the cirriculum."

If my math is any good at all that's three misspellings in one sentence. I should acknowledge that I didn't find this on my own, it was sent to me offline to my e-mail.

MLive: Putting the stale into stale news

If you go to the Flint Journal's MLive opinion page you will see a column of photos and column links down the right side.

The Opinion blogs are pretty much up to date and the community newspapers columns are relatively fresh, but if you click on any of the photos in columnists' column you will find they are anywhere from five weeks to seven months old.

Heck, some of the people listed there don't even work for the Journal anymore. One of the columns has to do with encouraging voters to get more information on candidates before the early May City election.

The sell by date of a column should be close to that of a carton of milk. What did they do with the former Internet team?

Flushing golfer Jeff Roth is following me, or maybe vice versa

As I mentioned before, I hate playing golf, but like watching and following it.

I previously wrote about Flushing golfer Jeff Roth who was not getting much attention at a recent Michigan tournament from his hometown newspaper.

So little did I know that this week here in New York, Jeff Roth started out a PGA Champions Tour event near the top of the leaderboard at the Dick's Sporting Goods Open tournament. He shot a 6-under par, 66, during the first round of the tournament.

By Sunday he slipped to being tied for 31st with a 7-under par finish. Don't believe this was mentioned at the Flint Journal. I couldn't find it anyway. Here's the complete leaderboard.

Blogging leader picked for AnnArbor.com

Who says you can't make a living blogging? The AnnArbor.com just announced the selection of a blogging leader. Edward Vielmetti is a sometime commenter here. He has always been positive and respectful here so we congratulate him on his new job.

While the article does not say how much a blogging leader will be paid, it might be a nice touch if Edward would tell us so we would have some idea what our future would hold should we decide to become a full time blogging leader.

After all, there's a lot of unemployed writers out there trying to figure out how to cash in on this Internet deal.

Thought for the day

Hint for husbands: From now on it will not be a good idea to tell your wife you are going for a 5-day walk on the Appalachian Trail. (Even if you really were).

Could be trouble.

Update (9:25 p.m.) After I posted this someone sent me this column, which I promise you I did not see before I left my "Thought for the Day," otherwise I would have credited it.

Another journalism prize winner receives honor as he makes his way out the door

A long time Grand Rapids columnist wins prestigious award as he takes the money and runs. And that is NOT a criticism of the writer as he joins a large number of us who have bailed with the buyout.

Another celebrity down

Billy Mays, the 500-horse power voice and television pitchman was found dead today.

For infomercial fans, this is right up there with Michael Jackson. I'm sure my stepdaughter, who loves infomercials is in mourning.

A courtroom brawl worth posting.

There was an interesting story on the Flint Journal MLive site about a murder suspect who was attacked in court by the family of the victim during a hearing this week. The family was outraged when the defendant entered court with a big smile on his face for the hearing. All of this was captured on courtroom security video. A 3-minute version with sound (the melee starts about a minute or so into the video) is on the MLive site.

The Flint Journal has the entire version here.

(Notice the woman toward the end of the video that is crawling her way to safety across the courtroom floor. What's that about?)

Here's the Youtube version:

The FJ Editor checks in about the changes

The editor of the Flint Journal has checked in with an evaluation of the first month of the "new" Flint Journal. (Maybe they will fix them by the time you read this, but what are those wierd symbols that frequently pop up in MLive copy? They have had that issue since the beginning, you would think they could have worked that annoying glitch out by now.)

It's long on feel good and short on numbers. If a reporter wrote this story the editor would have them go back and ask a few questions.

How many subscribers did you gain or lose in this change?

How's the advertising revenue holding up with the change?

How's that transition to online advertising working to keep the wolf away from the door?

What have the people who have called to cancel their subscriptions been saying?

Where are all those great online videos we used to hear about for Mlive?

That would be a good start to actually make this column informative. As the old editor used to end every column of his: Let me know what you think.

Some lenders balk at JRC bankruptcy plan

From the blog Fading to Black: Large bonuses and a gift fund for some suppliers and not others have some debtors complaining about a proposed bankruptcy settlement for Journal Register Co.

Part of the Pontiac Police Michael Jackson photo

I've looked everywhere for the photo and video of Michael Jackson and the Pontiac Police Department. Finally found this small portion of the photo. The part with my former wife in it has been cropped. She would have been to MJ's right, I believe one or two officers over.

Interestingly, the photo does include a photo (second row middle) of former Pontiac Police Lt. Ray Hawks, who later became police chief in Capac and who was badly wounded in a shooting a year or so ago.

Update: July 8, 2009: My former wife has forwarded me the Life magazine photo that includes her (second to Michael's right and second to the left as you view the photos. She told me she still has the sunglasses she and the other officers received for doing the photo.)

Beginning of a new series on Detroit journalism

The first of a five-part series on journalism in the Detroit Metropolitan Area appeared Thursday in a Crain's publication or section called "Detroit Make It Here."

I was interviewed back in April for this series, but don't know if, or when, my comments will appear. It looks like the series is scheduled for every Thursday for the next 4-5 weeks.

Hey, one more Michael Jackson connection of mine

The Flint Journal just posted a story that was another Michael Jackson related story I covered way, long ago. I remember this story because a source tipped me off to it and I spent some time out at the old State Police Post (Corunna Road and I-75) covering the theft of a Michael Jackson glove.

Here's the current story on the Flint Journal site.

As it has come back to me, I did the initial story, but I believe it was the day shift cop reporter at the time, Paul, who got the interview with the "thief." (Update - 8:55 p.m.: A commenter on the Flint Journal story said the young man who stole the glove has been dead for 10 years.)

This was one of those bizarre stories that I just loved to write. Thank you Flint Journal for reminding me of that old story. I had long forgotten it.

A crass look at the news cycle

One of the things that always fascinated me as a reporter and member of the media was the news cycle.

Things can turn on a dime. It's days like today that I remember in the global news sense.

Editors and producers planning the 6 p.m. newscasts probably spent all day planning the big splash story of the day: Gov. Sanford of South Carolina admits affair heads to the beach with his family.

You have to know that reporters had been scrambled all over South Carolina and Argentina putting together huge coverage of the scandal. Secondarily, you have the deaths of Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon. In the parlance of the news business, a great news day.

Then just minutes before the 6 p.m. news, Michael Jackson is stricken with a heart attack and dies right on deadline for the shows.

Scrap all but a 2-minute catch up segment at the end of the NBC news broadcast and fill the first 15 minutes with Michael Jackson news. A brief snippet on Farrah Fawcett and just tad, if anything, on Ed McMahon.

It's enough to make a guy miss the news business.

Michael Jackson: Gone at 50

As I blogged about previously, one of my assignments at the Oakland Press was handling part of the coverage for Michael Jackson's "Thriller" tour in the 1980s.

It would be hard to overestimate the cultural phenomenon that the concert was at the time.

I remember going to the Silverdome almost every day for several days as they assembled this behemoth of a set on the floor of the stadium.

My second wife, a Pontiac police officer, had her picture taken with Michael along with a number of police officers during a shoot of a clip of Michael and the officers for an MTV video. I don't remember what song it was for, but it was a famous clip of Michael being escorted by dozens of police officers with sunglasses down a flight of stairs.

After the tour left town there was the bizarre news conference in Michael's Troy (I think it was Troy) hotel room and the manager pointing out a glob of hair gel on the wall, supposedly belonging to the pop star.

I remember watching Michael as a little kid with the Jackson Five and then, like the rest of us, watched as his life turned into a train wreck. Hard to say I'm stunned by the news, but terribly sad nonetheless.

Doesn't help that it happened so close to the death of Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon, two other favorites from the past.

We always used to say in the newsroom that celebrity deaths came in threes, but this sure is an example of that old saw.

Editor and Publisher talks about cutting publication days

A good read with lessons for newspapers who drop publication days and lean on their online sites in Editor and Publisher.

WaPo ticks off the paying customers

The NY Times has a story on some anger by the paying subscribers of the Washington Post upset that a major feature story was only published on the Post's online site.

You have to wonder if there isn't a death wish out there.

Thanks to Fading to Black for this story.

Story of my life in song

This is the story of my life put into song. All us 'older' folks will relate.

Christian Science Monitor talks about bulldozing Flint

My stepdaughter sent along a story out of the Christian Science Monitor (online) about the bulldozing of Flint.

In the Christian Science story they credit/blame Dan Kildee for the idea. But last week everyone was all over Rush Limbaugh for suggesting it. What gives?

It's either a good idea, or it is not, but would someone straighten out who the idea actually belongs to.

Dan Kildee, a great county treasurer, I believe had the idea to clear out pockets of bad homes in Flint and create some pleasurable green space. I'm giving the credit to Dan.

Poynteronline posts Ann Arbor News column

A reader sent me this link from the PoynterOnline site via my e-mail. Interesting read. I have a few quarrels with it, but still interesting.

U.S. Open Champ Lucas Glover commits to Buick Open, no mention on MLive

(Update: Finally on the Flint Journal page at 8:12 p.m.)

One of the biggest annual events covered by the Flint Journal is the Buick Open. The Free Press picked up this news today about U.S. Open Champion Lucas Glover committing to play the Grand Blanc tourney, but it still has not appeared on the Flint Journal MLive site as of 4 p.m.

If you go down the site and click on a little golf link (cute, eh?) it will take you to a Grand Rapids story about Glover, but nothing on the local site.

Thought for the Day: Iran

This is what I shared on Facebook this morning. This thought came to me in the middle of the night.

How much trouble would Iran's mullahs be in today if their country had a second amendment.

Just sayin'

The deck chairs continue the rearrangement

News that Paul Keep, editor of the Muskegon Chronicle is moving over to the Grand Rapids Press and some other folks are moving to Muskegon.

Here's the Grand Rapids story.

This will open up a whole new page of comics for Paul to work on.

Booth employees seek outside, part-time employment

The idea of reporters working second jobs has always been a little dicey. There were always strict prohibitions on the type and extent of outside second employment for newspaper employees.

Now with the extreme slashes in income, for some outside employment is a requirement to put food on the table and maintain mortgages and rent.

Recently I ran into a former Booth employee who remains in touch with those inside and said a number of employees have found outside secondary employment or are actively seeking it.

First, it will be interesting to see if editors have been impacted in such a way that they will need to seek outside employment, shared sacrifice and all.

Secondly, how much leeway will Booth make for employees on schedules or on waiving former rules about working for certain employers now that they have made it necessary for employees to seek outside employment?

Maybe sports reporters could work as football referees and cover the game? A little double dip.

But when people are trying to keep the wolf away from the door, is it fair for the landlord to prohibit the use of a weapon in doing that?

Comment moderation policy at AnnArbor.com off to slow start

(Update Monday, June 22: Most of the final exchanges listed here have been removed. If AnnArbor.com is going to enforce a moderation policy after the fact, they will need to spend the money to have 24/7 coverage so that the posts won't remain up more than a few seconds.)

The new moderation policy at AnnArbor.com is not exactly off to a stellar beginning. Here is the latest give and take between two posters on a line about thie hiring of digital journalists. It's easier to prevent this type of give and take if you hold the comments in moderation and then review them before they go up.

18 Comments
Masters Sullivan in June 19, 2009 3:15 PM

They look like real people to me...

Jenny in June 19, 2009 3:56 PM
Good move hiring David Jesse.

Brit Satchwell in June 19, 2009 4:02 PM

Mr. Jesse's hiring will provide the community with continuity in local education reporting. Nice to know that AA will have somebody already familiar with the local trails as our journalistic edu-guide. Great also that .com was able to retain Ms. Reed (same reasons).

Katrina in June 19, 2009 7:29 PM

Ms. Reed's work will be a valuable asset to your new initiative. What beat will she be covering?
Amalie Nash in June 19, 2009 7:41 PM

Katrina,
Thanks – we think Tina will be a great asset, too. She'll be covering health and the environment for AnnArbor.com.
Amalie Nash, News Director

Jake in June 19, 2009 8:35 PM

Smart to put the woman's info/photo at the bottom this time. Best to avoid the wrath of the feminists.

Dave Poulson in June 20, 2009 8:22 AM

Nice to see Tina Reed covering the most important beat at this news organization. Her drive, skill, curiosity and the fact that she gets digital media will transcend any friction of being a Spartan in Wolverine country.

Tony Dearing in June 20, 2009 4:44 PM

Wenalway and Wenalway'sBane, we want to give people plenty of latitude here, but when we have two people going after each other with a string of personal attacks that have nothing to do with the post they're commenting on, we'll remove that. We've taken down your comments. We ask that your future comments be directed at the post you are discussing.

Wenalway in June 20, 2009 11:50 PM

And Victory No. 1 goes to the anonymous person making a personal attack as a response. There will be many, many more, I suspect.
As long as you moderate that way, people can get the removal of any comment they disagree with.
Might want to revisit that policy, there, sport.

Wenalway'sBane in June 21, 2009 9:27 AM

David and Tina are indeed talented journalists. I live in Washtenaw Couny, unlike some of the other posters here, so I know their work and am interested in what happens with AnnArbor.com. It's nice to see the discussion focus on them instead of seeing anonymous rants on the evils of feminism (!?). I hope such moderation continues. It would result not in the removal of any comment that generates disagreement, but in the removal of any comment that is pointlessly insulting and completly off topic.

Wenalway in June 21, 2009 2:07 PM

The brilliant moderation continues.
I predict a rapid decline if this continues. Now anyone knows all they have to do is come up with a personal insult, and any post they disagree with can be removed.
Weak. Very weak. But what else should we expect from people who embrace fools like Patrick Thornton?

Wenalway'sBane in June 21, 2009 2:55 PM

It is my hope that sensible moderation will force the "trolls" to spew their bile elsewhere -- some other place that they haven't already been banned from, that is. It would be nice if AnnArbor.com could become a place for people to converse about the topics at hand, rather than a forum for people to vent their completely off-topic vitriol. It is my hope that Mr. Dearing will Google "wenalway" and/or "rknil," if he hasn't already, to gain some insight into what he's dealing with and to see how some other blog sites have coped with Mr. Knilands.

Wenalway in June 21, 2009 3:25 PM

Again, we have an anonymous poster who wants to name people but doesn't want to name himself. There's a word for that: Cowardly.

Wenalway in June 21, 2009 3:30 PM

Also, I inadvertently reneged on my pledge to restore previously deleted material every time an anonymous clown is allowed to make a personal attack.
Journalism feminists = people who are too cowardly (much like this clown) to address real issues, so they concentrate on acting like unprofessional shrews in the workplace.

Wenalway'sBane in June 21, 2009 4:40 PM

To recap, I made a personal attack on no one.
1.) I expressed admiration for David and Tina.
2.) I voiced support for moderation that would remove vicious, off-topic rants.
3.) And I pointed out, indirectly, that moderation on other Web sites has led to bans on comments from Mr. Knilands, who happens to live nowhere near Washtenaw County.

Wenalway in June 21, 2009 4:48 PM

Your name itself is an insult. Your continuing need to try to sound smart by naming people and citing entirely unrelated incidents while hiding behind anonymity shows what a truly tiny, pathetic person you are.
Sign with a name, coward, or continue to be insulted.
Also, to continue with my pledge of restoring deleted material every time an anonymous jackass is allowed to post an insult:
Journalism feminists: Often destructive to their organizations. They should be treated as the poor performers they are.

Wenalway in June 21, 2009 5:15 PM

I am sorry if I offended anyone. I didn't mean what I said. Sorry.

Wenalway in June 21, 2009 5:22 PM

And now the clones begin...

My first week at the Flint Journal was nearly my last

Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s a night police beat shift at the Flint Journal could be an adventure. Almost 20 years ago tonight was one of the most interesting of my career.

I had barely warmed the seat at my desk in June 1989 when my first eventful Friday night police shift arrived. In fact, it was my very first Friday night police reporting shift at the Journal.
In those days a Friday night shift began at 6 p.m. and went until 2 a.m. We could get breaking news into the paper until about 1:45 a.m. The presses rolled about 2 a.m. Usually there was one reporter that worked the 3-11 shift and then I was by myself until 2 a.m.

On this first Friday, there was a serious car accident at Thompson Road and U.S. 23 about 5:30 p.m. I learned about the accident with my first run through the police phone list that night. A young child had been critically injured and complicating the injury was the fact the family was the member of a religious group that did not believe in blood transfusions, which the child desperately needed.

There was a large religious convention at the Pontiac Silverdome for this group and the family was on their way back to a hotel for the night when the accident happened. I think it was the Jehovah's Witnesses, but can't remember for sure.

As a new Journal reporter, I had very few sources in the police department or hospital, but I did the best I could to start piecing together a wrenching story on the fight to get this child treatment.

From the police I learned that a judge was being summoned from home to hold an emergency session to issue an order directing the hospital to provide a blood transfusion. I wanted to talk to the parents at the hospital, but Hurley Hospital on a Friday night, as I learned very quickly that night, could be a wild and crazy place.

Hurley is a place that in the late 1980s the Army assigned its surgeons to for practice in dealing with gunshot wounds. Gunshot wounds were a nightly occurrence.

What happened next was a factor of my previous experiences at a Pontiac hospital where I had spent hours in my 5-year stint with the Oakland Press dealing with similar emergency trauma situations. In those days I developed a great relationship with one of the greatest ER doctors I ever met. The doctor, who died a few years ago in a traffic accident, was a great resource and help to police officers and reporters in the days before HIPPA privacy laws.

One night in Pontiac, I was covering the homicide of a young man and responded to the hospital late at night to see what I could find and add to the story there. I ran into Dr. A and we chatted for a moment and I asked him how many times the victim had been shot.

"I don't know, but let's find out," he said. I followed him into a room, filled with equipment, and the man was laying there with tubes coming out of him and the doctor, with me looking on, counted the bullet homes, making sure he was only counting entrance wounds. I honestly can't remember today how many holes there were, but it was a lot.

So in relating my Hurley story it is important that you understand that my previous hospital experience was one of wide open access.

So back to June 1989 and Hurley Hospital.

After I had confirmed the court order requiring treatment I headed to Hurley to find the family, if I could. These are always difficult stories because you are intruding on people at a very traumatic time.

When people get upset with reporters for this intrusions, I simply ask folks that if something like this was happening to you or your family would you at least want the opportunity to weigh in with your version of the events, or not. In trying to tell both sides of a story, you should at least try to reach both sides. People are often mad at reporters for NOT calling them to verify or get their side of an issue or event when they could have.

Once at the hospital, I entered the emergency room waiting area and was asking folks there if they were friends or family of the injured child. A hospital security guard came over and asked me who I was looking for, and I told him.

I made the assumption he knew who I was because I was carrying a notebook and wearing Flint Journal identification. This is where the confusion began.

The security guard said the family is in another room and told me to follow him. We walked down a hall and into a room where a doctor was talking to the family and when I entered, the doctor asked who I was and I identified myself as a reporter from the Journal. Before I could explain what I wanted, all heck broke loose.

"Get him out of here," the doctor yelled at the security guard. The next thing I knew I was getting the bum's rush by several security guards who made sure I not only left the emergency room, but that I drove off the property.

Whether the family ever knew what I was doing or what my intentions were, I'll never know. They were from out-of-state and I was never able to contact them. Sadly, the child died that night even with the treatment.

Back at the office, I finished up the story about the dramatic events of the accident and court hearing (we didn't learn about the death the next day, as I recall) and filed my story. All this in my first four hours of my first Friday night shift in Flint.

About 11 p.m., the scanner blurted out with a call of a possible dead woman in a lot on the north side of Flint. Checking the location on a large newsroom map, I headed up Martin Luther King Drive to the location of the lot.

I'm not even close to the location of the dead woman when I can't help but notice two men about a block north of me, one on the west side of MLK and the other on the east side of MLK near a convenience store near Ninth Avenue exchanging shots at each other across the street.

I stopped my car, did a U-turn and headed the other direction. In those days we had a car phone (which came in its own suitcase) and I drove a safe distance and called police to tell them about the two men shooting at each other.

Then taking an alternate route, I proceeded to the location of where the dead woman was supposed to be. What my memory can not seem to recall is whether the call of the dead woman was unfounded or if that was another story I wrote that night. I vaguely recall that there was a homicide.

The sight of two men exchanging shots (nothing ever came of that either) had completely dominated my memory of that night. I do remember arriving at the scene where the dead woman was supposed to be and telling a couple police officers about what I witnessed at Ninth and King.

It was the reaction of those officers that let me know I was in a special place. They barely nodded and just shrugged over my report.

When I returned to work on Monday afternoon, the editor called me into his office. He had been called by the public relations department of Hurley Hospital with a complaint about my 'trespassing' on hospital grounds and ambushing the family.

As my career flashed before my eyes, the editor listened to my version of events, my history of contacts at the Pontiac hospital and then told me I did nothing wrong and that he would take care of it. I let out a big sign and it was the last I heard of the hospital complaint.

Later that day I also was cornered by the religion writer who complained that I had poached on her beat and that I should have called her with the information and let her do the story. I explained, successfully I think, that it was only my first week and I really wasn't aware of who covered what. Besides, I didn't think anyone would have wanted to be called in on a Friday night.

So at the end of my first week I had nearly gotten arrested for trespassing at a local hospital, had a serious complaint filed against me for my reporting and witnessed a shooting. What had I gotten myself into?

Another memorable Friday night recollection was hearing some scanner traffic right at 2 a.m. as I was preparing to leave work on a Saturday morning. The report was of a roll over accident at First and Grand Traverse.

I told the night editor that I would check on it on my way home and would call him with some notes to leave for the Saturday reporter as it was past deadline for the Saturday paper.

The accident scene was literally a 30-second drive from the Flint Journal and when I got there I was the first one there, even before the police. The person who called it in (possibly a drunk driver who didn't want to be around when police arrived) had driven off.

Rolled over on its top, there was steam coming from under the hood. Two men were trapped in the car and another man had been thrown from the vehicle. I went over to the man who was outside the car and put my hand on his back, he was barely breathing. It must have been cold because I remember seeing his faint breath.

Until police arrived, I just kept my hand on his back so perhaps he would at least know someone was with him. One of the men in the car was already dead I later found out, the man I stayed with died at the hospital a short time later. The other man presumably recovered.

On my way home, I called the night editor, related the details as I knew them (leaving out the part about me putting my hand on the man's back) so that the Saturday reporter could follow up the next day.

Skip the networks for news, go to Twitter, blogger.com

You have to wonder if television news will go the way of newspapers with the instantaneous possibilities of local coverage by Twitter, social net works and blogs. I've been keeping up on the minute by minute protests in Iran through a blog and Twitter.

'persianq' on Twitter provides frequent updates on street protests and this blog posts pictures and sometimes videos and plenty of other links to news of protest.

There are plenty of other sources of instant information. With reporters being forced out of the countries this will be one of the main sources of information.

Dad's on high-speed

Now I know the apocalypse is near. My father has now converted from dial-up to high speed.

Welcome to the Internet fast lane, Dad. Also, Happy Father's Day tomorrow.

Worth missing the train to work?

This was pretty cool.

A quiet Saturday rant

Last week I had one of the most frustrating phone conversatons I have ever had. While trying to resolve an issue over phone listings I ended up talking to someone in India.

Without wanting to offend them, I was finally forced to ask if there was anyone close by who actually understood or spoke English. This was an AT & T call center and when the supervisor came on the line, I bluntly asked him, where is this call center?

He was quiet, so I asked, is this in India? He admitted it was. Now, he was a very nice man, but he was completely unequipped to deal with my issue and simply kept saying yes, when I knew full well he didn't have a clue what I was talking about.

Why a company with AMERICAN in its very name is exporting its call service department to a foreign land is ridiculous.

All that brought to mind this video, sent to me by my unemployed sister and brother-in-law in West Virginia. I had not heard it before, but it has had 11 million hits, so far.

Gordon Young, Flint Expatriates, has a great Slate.com article on Flint, including former editor's home

Gordon Young, who has a great blog that I have linked to for a long time - Flint Expatriates - has been visiting Flint and Slate.com has run a wonderful article from him about Flint.

As a native California, one with some roots in the San Francisco Bay Area, I can give a big "Amen" to his conclusions.

There is also an interesting mention of the former, and still unsold, home of the former FJ Editor who is now the content czar at AnnArbor.com.

Hat tip to Inside Out for calling my attention to this article.

It's line up time at the Optometrist, dentist and doctor

Stopped by to make get my routine eye appointment, only to learn there is not such thing as a walk-in eye exam there until after July 1.

My eye doctor's office said with the end of vision benefits for car company employees, certain retirees and others by the end of June they are booked to the gills with appointments and walk-ins and not being taken. My doctor is scheduling extra weekend and evening hours to clear her backlog.

We're in the same boat here, with my wife's retirement some of our better benefits run out on June 30.

I'm on a waiting list for a day next week, but it doesn't look good. They said dentists and doctors are experiencing the same rush as people try to get in a last minute appointment under the wire.
So, if you are one of those folks, better get on the phone right away.

A story worth telling, a follow up worth really telling

This is the kind of story I loved to find and cover. It starts out as kind of a formula story, in which you are telling your readers about an important issue, in this case the release of jail inmates early, in some cases way early, because of jail overcrowding.

You do your due diligence, find an inmate willing to talk and then the story gets way, way better.
Now, I'm sure the guy getting thrown back in jail is angry that he ever cooperated with the reporter/reporters in the first place, but who is really to blame here?

A reporter asks you a question about how you feel about being released early from jail.

In response you:

1.) Express your gratitude to the sheriff for giving you a new lease on life.

2.) Keep your mouth shut.

3.) Criticize the sheriff who released you.

I submit that no one in their right mind would ever pick answer No. 3. Yet, here in Flint, we have such a person.

Johnny, tell our contestant what he has won.

A quick trip back to jail. Sure the sheriff could have been magnimous and looked the other way, but the liklihood of that was slim and none, and slim left town.

AnnArbor.com meets, discuss moderation guidelines

AnnArbor.com advises "diligent moderation" for new site. The most important topic (judging by its position in the content czar's story about it) was how to moderate comments on the new site.

I hope they didn't pay a lot for the donuts and coffee to come up with that suggestion. I think any blogger who has been doing this for more than one month and who gets a fair number of comments will learn that comment moderation is necessary if you want to keep things fairly civil.

Even I could have told them that and saved them the price of the donuts.

Here's a summary from the czar's post:

"Our Web advisory panel met for the first time this morning in a community room at the Ann Arbor Public Library to see how our site is developing so far, to ask questions and give us input. We listed the names of our advisory group in an earlier post.

They urged us to take a strong hand in moderating conversation on AnnArbor.com right from launch. One warned us that the failure to do so could allow our site to degenerate into a "wretched hive of scum and villainy.''

To avoid that, we should have norms for conversation on the site, clearly enforce those norms, and be transparent about what we're doing.

That's interesting, because I talked about our plan to moderate "aggressively'' in an earlier post, and that intention was immediately challenged by blogger Mark Maynard. In the spirit of viewer discretion, I should mention that if you follow the link to Maynard's blog, the comment thread includes an impressive array of vulgarities. Even Maynard was moved to joke that "On second thought, maybe aggressive moderation is a good thing.''

Despite having already been taken to task on this subject, I still believe our technology advisers are right on this one, and that we'd better be prepared to moderate conversation consistently from the start. We've begun work on guidelines for moderation, and will share them here prior to launch."

As frequent readers here know, there are loose guidelines for posting here. The rules are mine and are meant to keep comments in hand. If, on the other hand, AnnArbor.com starts using those rules to clear out comments that are critical of them or talk about competitors, then that would be a mistake.

Also in that post it appears that AnnArbor.com learned its lesson with the New York designed "Acorn" logo and hired an Ann Arbor marketing firm to help them.

I hope "The Deuce.com" appreciates all the traffic I send their way. If you put Thedeuce.com into your browser you will go to GoDaddy.com.

Linking to competitors, newest sign of newspaper surrender

One of the huge changes in journalism may be the white flag that newspapers are now waving to the broadcast competitors.

Recently there have been stories on the MLive site that simply link to a broadcast outlet's coverage of a breaking story. In the "old days" this would have been unthinkable. Editors and reporters would have scrambled at any time, day or night, to pull together their own sources and do their own coverage.

It appears that once the newspaper reporters have done their own reporting, sometimes a half a day later, the story with the link is updated and the link to the broadcast account removed. That is apparent because when I try to link to the broadcast link story, it simply comes up with the new account done by the newspaper staff. It would be a little more honest to leave up the original post and then add your own coverage when it becomes available.

This just seems to be another concession by the newspapers that they are not able to cover the breaking news like they once did and have surrendered that to broadcast outlets.

Inside Out: More Advance Newspaper cuts in Ohio

Tech savvy Inside Out has a good post today about the evolving situation in Ohio and Advance Newspapers weekly chain in the Cleveland area. There are enough good links to stories and Advance newspaper sites to keep a newspaper junkie busy for an hour.

The long and short is that more cuts have arrived. When you read the links make sure when you are done reading the Advance party line, scroll down and read what the subscribers are saying.

J-schools in flux, student papers cut publication days

Over on Inside Out (I know this is becoming a habit) another wonderful post this morning with great links. This site is beginning to look like what AnnArbor.com wants to be - a link list.

Another golf slip up on the Flint Journal

This time the commenters are not happy with the Flint Journal coverage of the FJGA tournament. If I remember my history right, the Flint Journal may have had a hand in starting this organization.

Check out the comments.

OK, I'll put this up

I've resisted for awhile putting up this very funny You Tube about newspapers. At the end it refers to "boobs," so if that would offend you, please do not play the video. There is no nudity, but there are quick glimpses of bikini tops. But because someone put a comment on one of the posts that links to this anyway, I'll put it up. You've been warned.

"Deuce" an obscure Ann Arbor nickname

I've been following the discussions over on AnnArbor.com about the nickname for the City that will figure prominently in the new news website scheduled to launch in late July.

I've lived in Michigan for 32 years and until AnnArbor.com offered up deuce, I had never heard A-squared (that's the one I've heard since I've been here) referred to as "the deuce." A couple commenters are doing their best to dissuade the site from using it, but apparently to no avail.

During my police department days in the 1970s, officers frequently called drunk drivers "deuces," and urban dictionary's first, and most of the top 10 definitions have an equally unflattering definition for deuce.

In friendly conversation "deuce" is more commonly the term used for a bathroom function, as in do you have to go "Number 1 or number 2."

Of the 96 definitions of "deuce" not one refers to Ann Arbor on urbandictionary.com and nearly 90 percent of the meanings of deuce are pretty offensive. If you put in "The deuce" you get one reference - May 9, 2006 - that Ann Arbor is called "The Deuce." Another term that shows up in some places as Ann Arbor is "Ace deuce."

By the way, urbandictionary.com, is the place to look for modern words. Kind of like a resource for those of us who wear out hats on backwards.

More info on new Ann Arbor print weekly

Offline a loyal FFE reader sent me a link to the new start-up free newspaper seeking to fill the hole left by the departure of the Ann Arbor News.

The person that sent this to me, a woman by the way, made mention of the interesting clothes choice made by the editor for this important public relations moment. In the interest of not getting in trouble with my wife or other female readers, I'm offering no further comment.

It is interesting that JRC, the Journal Register Company, who has rolled through the journalism landscape like Sherman to the sea in the Civil War, is up for trying yet another newspaper experiment.

At the end of the post, the editor mentions the bankruptcy, but says JRC is on the verge of emerging from it. That's kind of news.

A lost opportunity to talk to grandma

Earlier today I was driving down a side street and saw a great sight. An elderly woman was out walking with a young teenage girl and it appeared that it was a grandmother and her granddaughter out for a stroll.

Then I noticed that the two were not talking and that the young girl had ear buds and was holding an MP3 or other digital music device. I wanted to stop and tell the young girl to turn off the device and engage her grandmother, of course I didn't.

It was at that point that I felt bad for both of them. Some of my great childhood memories are those times that I sat at the feet of my grandparents and listened to their stories of the "old days." Those lessons gave me a perspective, even though I didn't get it at the time, that would come back to serve me later.

In recent months, my wife and I have spent a lot of time with her aging parents. They have shared stories I had never heard before and that my wife had not heard for a long time. It is a fascinating look into a time gone by, never to return.

Turning the TV off, or pulling the ear buds and talking to those a generation or two ahead of us might be the best entertainment of all.

Ireland Post mirrors current journalism trends

Not quite sure where this survey was done (Ireland - America or both) but it appears that the salary losses are across the board here and elsewhere. Thanks to Fading to Black for this.

Inside Out: Your source for Booth News today

No time to blog today, but a quick glance over at Inside Out, shows a couple of good newspaper reads there.

1.) A post on newspaper cartoons. (I haven't followed all the links yet, but they look tasty). Also a link to a column by the Muskegon Chronicle editor about his decision to first cancel a cartoon, then reinstate it. I should note that the Chronicle editor is a former editor from the Flint Journal. During his tenure at the Journal, he also seemed to have a continuing fascination with newspaper cartoons, with several columns about the subject here. The Chronicle editor is a very nice person, but did little during his time at the FJ to encourage or demand tough investigative journalism here (kind of a Booth trait). As an editor he's just a little too fluffy for my tastes, but again, a very nice person.

2.) Another link to a Muskegon Chronicle column about some encouraging economic signs for that paper. The numbers seem a little confusing (readership up, but circulation down), but it would certainly be good news for the newspaper folks there if the recession is easing.

Best assignments? A poll

A few months ago, I shared a listing of my favorite assignments. But it occurred to me on the way home from Buffalo - four hours in a car alone gives one a lot of time to think - that I haven't done enough interactive stuff on this blog.


Because a lot of folks who stop by are reporters, editors and others in the field, I thought it might be fun to just solicit the best assignments or stories that each reporter has covered in their career.


I'll try and keep this up toward the top for awhile so people can weigh in with their very favorite assignments. It could be an interview, an out-of-town trip, a special feature that you covered, etc.


If you are concerned about the assignment giving away your identity, change enough of the facts that the story so it is still essentially true, but won't give away your identity. (If the trip was to Tuscson, change it to Seattle, that kind of thing).


After 18-months of doing the Free From Editors blog, the one most disturbing thing that I see is the fear that many reporters and former reporters have of expressing their opinions in a way that might bring retribution from a former employer if their identity was known.


I spent many years questioning and taking a hard look at authority and not even for a moment have I ever worried about what would happen to me. But I understand the concerns of folks who are still in the job market and don't want to jeopardize a prospect.


It says volumes about the management and ownership of news organizations that their own employees cower in fear over doing precisely the kind of introspective questioning that newspapers are supposed to encourage.


So let's try this. If you can't figure out the anonymous posting feel free to send me your assignment at my e-mail address: jlsmediaservices (at) gmail (dot) com. (Of course, turn the "at" and "dot" into the symbol when you send the message. I just don't need any more spam.

No mention of Flushing connection in Michigan Open story Sunday

Finally got around to looking at my Sunday Flint Journal. I went to the sports section to see if J.R. "Jeff" Roth ever got his proper mention for his second place finish in the Michigan Open.

The brief coverage of the Michigan Open talked about winner Ryan Brehm, of Mt. Pleasant, of course, and mentioned the two golfers who tied for second. Mentioned first was Matthew Thompson, of Battle Creek and then two-time defending Michigan Open Champion Jeff Roth.

What apparently wasn't worth mentioning even now was the Roth is from Flushing, a key area in the Flint Journal's coverage. That makes it a clean sweep for the Journal's coverage of the Open, not one story pointed out the local angle of Roth's Flushing connection.

Incredible. If there was any doubt that the copy desk is tilted to the north end of the three newspapers' areas, there was no better illustration than this. "More than just the Score and we mean it!" That's a laugh.

Great sayings, by a great editor

Some time again I wrote about one of my favorite editors, the late Larry Laurain. I was remembering Larry the other day and two funny things he once told me about my job.

Larry was a former police reporter, so there weren't many secrets I could keep from him.

Larry assigned me to fly to Tucson, Arizona to cover the arrest of a suspect in a case that originated in Pontiac, Michigan. The story I wrote for the Oakland Press ended up attracting the interest of a producer for the then popular show "Unsolved Mysteries."

It had to do with a man who had befriended a local woman, who prompty disappeared. To make things even just a little more suspicious, it was the fourth woman he had been acquainted with in his life who vanished off the face of the earth. (You would think the authorities would have gotten curious after the disappearance of the second woman, or maybe even the first).

The day after the show aired, the suspect who was watching the program, was caught after his Tucson landlord recognized him and called police.

When I returned from Tucson three days later, I was filling out my expense forms and Larry looked over, winked at me and said: "Any good reporter who files an out-of-town expense report and doesn't end up with enough extra money to buy a new sport coat has done something wrong."

Don't worry, I didn't pad my expense sheet, but it was a funny saying.

A couple weeks before Christmas, I was complaining to Larry that I didn't have time in my personal life for anything because of all the time (mostly unpaid) that I was putting in at work.

"If you aren't able to do your Christmas shopping on company time, I'm very disappointed in you."

That's why I loved Larry Laurain.

A reporter chimes in on the topic of the year

A Kansas City Tribune reporter chimes in on newspaper standards. It's a good read, except for the slightly gratuitous bone she throws to her own employer at the end.

My favorite paragraph:

"Today, corporate owners of newspapers have turned our newsrooms into little more than sweat shops. While we lofty public servants, otherwise known as working journalists, agonize over the facts and minute details in each piece we prepare for print, corporate has another goal. It seems the companies that make it their business to own daily newspaper chains are obsessed with trying to squeeze more profit from those who, like me, entered the profession believing we are providing our readers with the truth about the conduct of the public’s business."

The pen is mightier than the sword, but a lot easier to lose

Over on Inside Out there is an interesting post today about pens.

As I said in my comment there, I am rarely without a pen in my pocket. A lifelong habit that is simply too hard to break. If I leave the house without a pen, I can usually find one under the seat of the car, in the trunk or any number of other places that I have dropped or stashed one.

For a reporter the pen is, or at least was, the most important tool of the trade. Next was the notebook. Some folks preferred the little flip Reporter Notebooks you see on television and movies, but I always preferred a large legal pad.

When I'm writing quickly, which as a reporter was always, I needed lots of room to write. The lines on the paper were unimportant, just the large space. Sometimes I wrote at an angle, so for me it would have been better if the pages had been blank. It was just my personal preference.

I didn't save my notes either. Some reporters save everything, I saved nothing. When my story was complete and published, the notes went into the trash. Every time, no exceptions. Even a great lawyer can't subpoena notes that no longer exist.

The one time I was called to testify in a murder trial over the interview I did with one of the killers, the end result was that I testified from a copy of my published story and simply verified what everyone had already read. Piece of cake. No notes, no problem.

But back to pens.

Once when I admired a pen being used by a friend and colleague, he referred me to a Flint lawyer, Sheldon Siegel (not the author), who as a hobby makes beautiful wooden pens. They are round and fat and the ink flows out of them like oil from a can.

Although I was notorious for losing pens, I never lost my Siegel pen and still have it, although it has been retired to my memorabilia drawer.

Many reporters can be particular about their pens, I was. In a pinch a black Bic would do, but when I really wanted to do my best work and be comfortable I wanted one of my "fatties" in my hand.

As a police reporter, much of my reporting was done outdoors. In Michigan that means it can get really, really cold. So cold that ink freezes. Usually when it is 10 degrees or less. That's a problem when you're trying to interview a fire chief in the dead of night and he's only given you a couple minutes to talk.

So my trick was to have two pens, one that I kept warm in my mouth, until the other pen's ink froze. A quick switch and I was back in business. By the time the "outside" pen froze up, the "inside" pen would have thawed. It probably looked silly, but it worked.

It's also tough to write in gloves, so Jane, a FJ photographer, purchased me a pair of woolen gloves that had a detachable set of "fingers" so you could keep the rest of your hand warm while writing. As soon as you were done taking notes, you could flip the "fingers" back over and keep your digits warm as well.

A Flint Journal article on the Flint Journal

The comments are telling.

AnnArbor.com to reporters: "Stay out of the newsroom" - It's a good thing

It looks like my old boss has seen the light and now believes that reporters should be heard and not seen.

During his tenure as editor of the Flint Journal there were tight controls on many folks making sure they were in the office, attending meetings and under the watchful eye of an editor. If you were out of sight in the office too long, editors started getting nervous. That was even when you were producing a lot. To be fair, they didn't bother me much about it, but there were other examples of folks that were kept on a pretty tight leash.

But now, as head of the new AnnArbor.com venture, the content czar has come over to the other side. I sincerely praise him for it.

In his recent post, the czar has opened the door to the new journalism with this promise:

"At AnnArbor.com, I've been assuring the community that we will have a staff of professional trained journalists, and what we're looking for are people with strong traditional reporting skills, but a willingness to use all the tools of the digital age to report the news.

We do plan to equip our journalists with a laptop, and an air card, and we're looking at supplying them with a Flip video camera as well."

If that's a Booth/Advance wide policy that will be a good thing for the new (and old) reporters working at the publications in Saginaw, Bay City and Flint, as well as other Booth cities.

It's a welcome breath of fresh air that the company is now going to supply air cards along with computers so reporters can do their jobs. When I worked there you either supplied your own Internet connection or you had to come back to the office to file a story.

Flushing's Jeff Roth makes a run, finishes tied for Second

Flushing's golf pro Jeff Roth made a pretty good run at the Michigan Open, but couldn't overcome Ryan Brehm. The Grand Rapids beat writer did a good job of including Roth in his final round coverage, but it still hasn't translated to a headline or story over on the Flint Journal site.

Roth tied for second with a 272.

Maybe on Sunday the Journal will think Roth's second place finish is worth a mention?

On the other hand, plenty of good Red Wings coverage over at the Journal's MLive site.