Register To ParticipatePress Pass
More cuts
Posted on September 5, 2008 by Paul Crocetti
Filed Under Christian Science Monitor, Newspapers, Online, Telegram | Leave a Comment
In yet another example of the downsizing of the newspaper industry, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette announced it will cut about 36 jobs. In addition, starting next year, the paper will publish one print edition daily, down from four editions targeted to different regions around Worcester County.
Fourteen to 17 newsroom jobs are slated to be eliminated from the Telegram. When reporters get cut, coverage tends to get more general. It’s too bad, because residents of small towns like it when they see some local coverage.
It seems like every paper out there right now is facing cuts. On the plus side, though, the Christian Science Monitor is attracting some compliments for the way it does business. These days, it’s all about finding a niche and establishing an online presence.
More on AP photog
Posted on September 3, 2008 by Richard Lodge
Filed Under Newspapers, Online | Leave a Comment
The AP photographer who was arrested along with a number of protesters outside the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., Monday said after his release that the police didn’t seem to know what to do with him. His story, and the last, excellent, photo he took before his arrest can be found here.
Shredding the Constitution
Posted on September 2, 2008 by Richard Lodge
Filed Under 1, Broadcast, Newspapers, Online | Leave a Comment
The First Amendment freedoms of speech and assembly have been stripped away by police outside the Republican National Convention in St. Paul this week.
Over the weekend, heavily armed, and armored, police from the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department and St. Paul PD, working with the FBI and informants who had been hired earlier in the year to infiltrate “vegan potluck” suppers, raided four homes where protesters planning demonstrations outside the RNC were staying. Dozens of people were forced face-down on the floor, handcuffed and questioned for hours. Only a handful were arrested, under a “conspiracy to riot” charge that the head of the Minnesota Lawyers Guild said hadn’t been applied for as long as he could remember.
During protests on Monday, police arrested “Democracy Now!” host Amy Goodwin and Associated Press photographer Matt Rourke, both officially credentialed members of the press. Both were released after being held for a few hours, but the arrest of either one is absurd and an effort by police to stifle coverage and intimidate people trying to exercise their constitutional rights. Goodman was trying to talk to police to find out information about two producers for her program, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, when she was arrested. In the case of Goodman and Rourke, police stifled the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of the press. In the case of hundreds of legitimate, peaceful protesters who were either arrested, hit with pepper spray or otherwise deterred from marching to voice their concerns over the war in Iraq and many other issues, the First Amendment guarantees of free speech and freedom to assemble were seriously stomped upon.
I’m not defending the small groups of protesters who broke store windows and trashed a police car. But the sheriff and main stream media in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area were painting all protesters with a very broad brush and making absurd claims to justify the house raids and heavy handed tactics used by police.
I shouldn’t be surprised at the thin coverage of the house raids. In spite of the fact that one house was surrounded by upwards of three dozen police in riot gear for well over an hour, while police tried to come up with a search warrant, very little first-hand reporting and no video was posted by either of the two major newspapers in the Twin Cities. TV coverage tended to parrot what law enforcement officials offered up at press conferences. Most of the weekend coverage came from independent media reporters and bloggers, including some very detailed ongoing reports from Glenn Greewald on salon.com.
It was only a couple weeks ago that the press and politicians in this country were in a twist about how authorities in China cracked down on any type of public demonstrations at the Summer Olympics. Yet when very public police raids and mass arrests take place in the Twin Cities, the people exercising their constitutional rights are treated as a group bent on violence and destruction.
Even St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman was spouting the party line about how the “troublemakers” were being rounded up early so the “legitimate” protesters, including his mother–in-law, could express their dissent.
The Star-Tribune reported:
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman said items seized in the raids, including Molotov cocktails and tools to disable buses, convinced him the RNC Welcoming Committee was planning to “engage in criminal behaviors, not just voice their disdain for the Bush administration.”
Coleman said Sunday his mother-in-law is among those who plan to march today. Protecting lawful protesters is a key factor behind the raids.
“We are making sure that people here to legitimately protest have the right to do that, but people engaging in criminal activity are not going to be able to do that,” he said.
Greatest speech ever? Nah.
Posted on August 29, 2008 by Richard Lodge
Filed Under 1, Newspapers, Online | Leave a Comment
Barack Obama certainly did give a powerful speech in Denver Thursday night, pacing himself through 45 minutes and hitting upon dozens of topics - very briefly but clearly, in many cases. It will be interesting to watch John McCain’s acceptance speech when the Republican National Convention wraps up next week in Minneapolis-St. Paul, right on the heels of the DNC in Colorado.
I was amused to read some of the comments on the AP story about Obama’s speech, posted on our home page. One commenter opined, “The MWDN editorial board will proclaim this the greatest speech ever.”
No, not really. I’d give that title to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, one of the shortest and most powerful pieces of oratory I’ve ever read, or heard re-enacted.
C-Span to the rescue
Posted on August 28, 2008 by Paul Crocetti
Filed Under Broadcast, C-Span | Leave a Comment
Anyone interested in watching the actual conventions and not pundits talking about the conventions should tune into C-Span, over the other cable and broadcast news networks. As the network often does, C-Span has been showing raw footage from the Democratic National Convention floor this week. Compare that to the other cable networks, which often have people talking over the speeches, and the major broadcast networks, which have only been showing about one hour each night.
When pundits talk over speeches that aren’t delivered by the top top tier of politicians, viewers miss moments like Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s speech that brought the house down on Tuesday night. Nothing like the line, “That’s it baby, let’s go win this election,” to close out an energetic 15 minutes.
What’s the point of broadcasting from the convention floor if you can’t hear what’s happening on the convention floor? I imagine the scenario will be the same for next week’s Republican National Convention coverage, so I recommend viewers with cable turn to C-Span.
Milford’s ‘Deep Throat’?
Posted on August 22, 2008 by Richard Lodge
Filed Under 1, Newspapers | Leave a Comment
A big story came out this week about the Milford selectmen holding a closed-door meeting in July with a casino developer. Few details about what they discussed could be unearthed. And whether the executive session was done in accordance with the state Open Meeting Law is a question that might be answered after the Daily News filed a complaint with the Worcester DA’s office, seeking an investigation.
But in talking today with a keen observer of the Milford landscape, a very big point was brought up. If the preliminary discussion between the man who wants to build a casino and the Milford Board of Selectmen and town administrator was so important that it had to be done behind closed doors, then who leaked news about the meeting to WMRC radio, which first reported the story Monday morning?
As far as we can tell, only the three selectmen, Town Administrator Louis Celozzi, Town Counsel Gerald Moody and developer David H. Nunes were in the room. The public and press had been excluded. So who talked to WMRC and leaked the details? And if it was so important as to be kept secret, why leak information, which - presumably - could somehow jeopardize the secret discussions?
If you want to leak the answer to me, I’d welcome it.
The 29th Olympiad (on 12-hour delay)
Posted on August 21, 2008 by Paul Crocetti
Filed Under Broadcast, NBC, Online | Leave a Comment
Usain Bolt broke a world record in the 200m run last night. Well, actually, that’s when the race ran on NBC. Bolt won the gold medal yesterday morning, U.S. time. But unfortunately 1) every online news outlet seemed to run headlines about the race as soon as it happened and 2) NBC did not show the race during its morning Olympics coverage.
The delayed coverage has happened all week. Anyone who logged on to a news site early in the week during the day would know immediately the results of the women’s gymnastics, for example, even though the broadcast of the sport was later in the night. I understand the desire to want to show the marquee events in prime-time, but perhaps there could be a compromise here. Perhaps the Web sites could say, “Click here for the results of…” rather than splashing a huge picture of Bolt crossing the finishing line. Or NBC could run footage of the marquee events in the morning as well. It just takes some of the fun out of a competition if you already know who’s going to win.
Overall, though, NBC’s coverage of the Olympics has been impressive. The network has the benefit of using other channels it owns, such as USA and MSNBC. And pretty much anything that is not on TV can be found online. There are specific pages for each sport category on the Web site, making it easy to find out the time and results of each event.
I like that NBC is showing a lot of competitions, from U.S. basketball games to table tennis, from start to finish. If some live event goes long, the network has typically been seeing it through and then catching up with the next scheduled-for-broadcast event on a slight delay. A delay of a few minutes is nowhere near as annoying as one of 12 hours, especially if it means a continuous sport, rather than cutting back and forth between different events. Some of the commercial breaks seem a little misplaced, though, causing the viewer to miss live action at times.
Can’t wait to see the relay races tonight. Too bad I already know what happens.
I would like to close with one plea: I hope we don’t have to wait four more years before we hear from Bela Karolyi again.
Media woes in Maine
Posted on August 15, 2008 by Richard Lodge
Filed Under Boston Globe, Newspapers | Leave a Comment
Today’s Boston Globe showcases a story on its city & region page about the possible closing of the Portland Press Herald* and its sisters dailies in Maine (the Kennebec Journal in Augusta and Waterville Sentinel - plus the Maine Sunday Telegram, the largest paper in the state). The Globe story is built on statements made in court papers that the papers are in such bad financial shape that they will go out of business if they can’t find a buyer. The dispute is between management and the newsroom union at the Press Herald, a daily of just over 60,000 circulation.
So The Globe gathered up quotes from a number of Mainers concerned about losing their morning newspaper. The only problem with the story is that it seems to hang on a very thin thread.
For one thing, publisher Charles Cochrane was quoted in his own newspaper last week that the statement about closing down had been overblown. This story in the Press Herald on Aug. 6 has Cochrane saying the earlier media reports were “inaccurate” and his remarks in court papers were taken out of context.
The Press Herald and its sisters papers are owned by the Blethen family, owners of the Seattle Times.
In the Aug. 6 story, Cochrane said, “Blethen Maine Newspapers is not likely to be closed down soon, and that has not been asserted in the court filing.”
Cochrane sent his statement out to newspaper employees “after receiving calls from advertisers and subscribers questioning the company’s future following the published and broadcast reports” that week.
The other part of today’s Globe story that seems to be glossed over is the fact that some very substantial Mainers have been looking at the Maine dailies with an eye toward buying them as a way to keep them afloat.
The Globe writes, “The company is negotiating a sale with a group of local investors, though in the court documents Cochrane characterizes that deal as ‘highly tentative.’”
The newspaper neglects to name the possible buyers, who the Press Herald reported as being “Maine Media Investments, a group that consists of William S. Cohen, a former U.S. senator and secretary of defense; businessman Robert Baldacci, brother of Maine Gov. John Baldacci; developer Michael Liberty; and Richard L. Connor, a Bangor native who is a Pennsylvania newspaper publisher.”
That’s a pretty serious group with obviously strong ties to Maine, something The Globe story could have / should have made clearer. The group’s interest has been reported elsewhere, including on the politckerme.com blog.
* Full disclosure: I worked as night city editor of The Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram for a year almost two decades ago but have no plans - and no money - to buy the newspapers.
Rockefeller case rolls on (Part 2)
Posted on August 11, 2008 by Paul Crocetti
Filed Under Boston Globe, Boston Herald | Leave a Comment
The coverage of the Clark Rockefeller case took a very interesting turn over the weekend, as both the Globe and the Herald essentially did the same thing on Friday - found Alexander Gerhartsreiter in Germany, showed him pictures of Rockefeller and got Gerhartsreiter to confirm that they are brothers. The Globe and the Herald both posted updates on their Web sites on Friday with the information.
Rockefeller has been charged with felony parental kidnapping, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and assault and battery, following the alleged abduction of his daughter.
Both papers had in depth pieces on Saturday about the man known as Christian Gerhartsreiter, both featuring interviews with Alexander and people in town who knew Christian. It appears the Herald got to Alexander first, judging by the description of the reporter’s encounter with him and his mother:
“No, no,” said the German-speaking Irmengard Gerhartsreiter, as she was handed a photo of her long-lost son and asked whether she knew the man pictured. Then, she paused. She spoke in German and walked briskly to get Alex. The woman handed the photo to her son, who studied it and had to turn away for a moment. Collecting himself, he then escorted a reporter and photographer to a slate-floored outdoor porch adorned with ornate antique furniture and Bavarian dolls. “We haven’t heard from him in more than 20 years,” Alex said. After being assured that his brother was alive, Alex spent the next hour learning from newspaper clippings and photographs what had become of the teenager who thought himself too good for this town and took off for the United States, never to set eyes on his loving family again.
The Herald story also features the better quotes from Alexander Gerhartsreiter: “It seems you found my brother,” and, “I don’t know if I’m awake or even breathing right now.”
The Globe story has more dialogue from people in and around Bergen, where Christian Gerhartsreiter used to live. Those residents, like ones in the Herald story, don’t have nice things to say: “He was like a flu,” said one former schoolmate.
Unfortunately, neither story states how the reporters found Alexander Gerhartsreiter, which would have been an interesting note.
Both publications are clearly spending a lot of money covering this story, as they sent reporters and photographers to Germany - not a cheap feat. But it seems like every day there is a new twist and the money appears to be well-spent, especially with engaging and detailed stories like the ones that ran Saturday. And I get the feeling that there is much more to come.
Rockefeller case rolls on
Posted on August 8, 2008 by Paul Crocetti
Filed Under Boston Globe | Leave a Comment
The Globe appears to have set some sort of record today in the category of “Most writers for a story.” The latest piece in the Clark Rockefeller saga has six names on the byline.
I worried early in the week that this story would be overplayed, but it has taken so many twists and turns in the last few days that I find myself excited to find out what happens next.
Rockefeller has been charged with felony parental kidnapping, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and assault and battery, following the alleged abduction of his daughter.
On Monday, the Globe reported that law enforcement officials were looking at the possibility that Rockefeller is linked to an unsolved disappearance of a California couple in 1985. The Globe appeared to be treading on dangerous ground with its use of two anonymous law enforcement officials as main sources for the story. But then the paper was vindicated the next day when the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirmed Rockefeller is a “person of interest” in the case.
The story in today’s paper says Rockefeller may be a German immigrant, who is also a “high-society con man, marrying at least two women, working on Wall Street, and perhaps committing violent crime.” And then Boston.com today posted the update (with seven writers in the byline) that a German man has identified Rockefeller as his brother.
Is the story worth seven reporters? Probably not. (Just wanted to remind everyone that the Watergate stories featured two reporters on the beat.) But I’m sure I’m not the only one interested in the different aliases, hidden past, web of lies, etc., that the story may have uncovered. And this may only be the beginning.
keep looking »
