The former Dallas Morning News TV critic spills the beans on News and A.H. Belo brass on his new blog.
Go read Uncle Barky rip Publisher Bob Dechard a new one, and explain the six-year gag order about him critique Belo-owned ABC affiliate WFAA-Channel 8, in this post.
Cross posted at my Socratic Gadfly blog.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Couldn’t the News have forced a few people to take the buyout?
Like drippy Metro columnist Sherry Jacobson?
C’mon, if this were sports, you’d have to trade six Sherry Jacobsons for one Ed Bark or Gerry Fraley. So, does she have compromising pics of Bob Mong in her purse, or what?
C’mon, if this were sports, you’d have to trade six Sherry Jacobsons for one Ed Bark or Gerry Fraley. So, does she have compromising pics of Bob Mong in her purse, or what?
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Snooze buyout fallout becomes visible
People following the Snooze buyout know that it took one of its biggest hits in the arts and entertainment section.
And the fruits, or fallout, of that are very visible in Tuesday’s “Guide Live” section.
Not one local byline on the section’s front page. Not one.
And the fruits, or fallout, of that are very visible in Tuesday’s “Guide Live” section.
Not one local byline on the section’s front page. Not one.
Pulitzer Prize-winning photography background wasted
Did any of you see that photo page of the High Five intersection about 7-10 days ago? If you were going to take multiple pics of something that mundane, shots near sunset on a day with some cloud patterns would have been a Photography 101 way of giving the pictures much more color.
Using an ultra-wide lens to bend lines on ramps would have been Lesson No. 2 from Photography 101.
Using an ultra-wide lens to bend lines on ramps would have been Lesson No. 2 from Photography 101.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Yes, another blog
As if five were not enough. However, I probably won’t post here too frequently.
Consider this a localized version of the Columbia Journalism Review or AJR Yes, the Dallas Observer does some of that, on some news coverage and some op-ed stuff, but the city that’s one of the largest markets with only a single daily could use more, and from a different angle.
And, since the News is short 100 people now, they need the outside help anyway (as if the News’ news or op-ed management is going to listen to me any more than in the past).
Consider this a localized version of the Columbia Journalism Review or AJR Yes, the Dallas Observer does some of that, on some news coverage and some op-ed stuff, but the city that’s one of the largest markets with only a single daily could use more, and from a different angle.
And, since the News is short 100 people now, they need the outside help anyway (as if the News’ news or op-ed management is going to listen to me any more than in the past).
Snooze dictionary: “Rescale” = “downsize”
That’s just one of the tidbits in Dallas Morning News editor Bob Mong’s
column (no, Snooze web staff, it’s not an editorial — it’s bylined) about the downsized Dallas Morning News.
Can the Snooze still do good stuff? Sure, it had a great multistory special on bad truck drivers, and a bad trucking company compliance system, in the area. But those efforts may be fewer and further between in the future.
But some of Spanky Mong’s claims are plain bullshit.
He says the Snooze will be good in:
1. Local entertainment. How? Most your critics took the buyout.
2. Editorial page opinion and community leadership. Sure. Want me to call Jim Frisinger in Fort Worth or Timothy O’Leary in Geneva to ask them about that? Maybe I should be calling Smokey Joe Barton instead, anyway.
3. Local lifestyles trends. Again, you lost several critics, and your tab-sized daily rotation lifestyle sections have been 50 percent canned copy since you went to that format.
4. Visual journalism? If your “A Day in the Life of the High Five Interchange” is an example of “getting better” with visual journalism, I’d hate to see you getting worse.
5. Jean-Jacques Taylor fully filling Kevin Blackistone’s sports commentary shoes? Please. Notice that he didn’t even try to pretend anybody would fill Gerry Fraley’s shoes.
column (no, Snooze web staff, it’s not an editorial — it’s bylined) about the downsized Dallas Morning News.
Can the Snooze still do good stuff? Sure, it had a great multistory special on bad truck drivers, and a bad trucking company compliance system, in the area. But those efforts may be fewer and further between in the future.
But some of Spanky Mong’s claims are plain bullshit.
He says the Snooze will be good in:
1. Local entertainment. How? Most your critics took the buyout.
2. Editorial page opinion and community leadership. Sure. Want me to call Jim Frisinger in Fort Worth or Timothy O’Leary in Geneva to ask them about that? Maybe I should be calling Smokey Joe Barton instead, anyway.
3. Local lifestyles trends. Again, you lost several critics, and your tab-sized daily rotation lifestyle sections have been 50 percent canned copy since you went to that format.
4. Visual journalism? If your “A Day in the Life of the High Five Interchange” is an example of “getting better” with visual journalism, I’d hate to see you getting worse.
5. Jean-Jacques Taylor fully filling Kevin Blackistone’s sports commentary shoes? Please. Notice that he didn’t even try to pretend anybody would fill Gerry Fraley’s shoes.
Example A of why Belo sucks at times
The world’s first female space tourist is from Dallas and The Dallas Morning News has no story that I’ve seen, and WFAA Channel 8 had a 15-second clip, not produced by them, last night.
Nope, Belo couldn’t report on this:
Nope, Belo couldn’t report that.
To my friend Chuck Bloom: The Morning News that you’re waxing nostalgic about died years ago. It died not recently, with the struggles of seven-day dailies. It died years ago, its face stuffed by the arrogance it got from the luck of the better local paper, the Times Herald, being an afternoon paper and eventually folding, followed by the luck of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram deciding to stop circulating in west Texas. Chuck, mi amigo, that was a full decade ago.
Nope, Belo couldn’t report on this:
"We have a lot of white male astronauts," said George Whitesides of the National Space Society, a nonprofit group that advocates space travel. "To have someone different is great. It enables girls and women to identify more with space and talk about being a space explorer someday.”
Nope, Belo couldn’t report that.
To my friend Chuck Bloom: The Morning News that you’re waxing nostalgic about died years ago. It died not recently, with the struggles of seven-day dailies. It died years ago, its face stuffed by the arrogance it got from the luck of the better local paper, the Times Herald, being an afternoon paper and eventually folding, followed by the luck of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram deciding to stop circulating in west Texas. Chuck, mi amigo, that was a full decade ago.
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