tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-345898102024-03-28T09:00:32.827-05:00MediaBlogMy take on the mainstream media, especially the newspaper biz. As a former long-term Dallas Metroplex resident, this is often focused on the sometimes good, and the often not-so-good (compared either to what it could be or what it used to be) of A.H. Belo's primary publication, <i>The Dallas Morning News.</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger465125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34589810.post-3847780299999067162024-03-28T09:00:00.000-05:002024-03-28T09:00:00.252-05:00"Access Twitter" form of "access journalism"<p>Access journalism is Beltway access, whether to the President, an executive branch Cabinet agency, or <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6304367356" target="_blank">in the case of Joan Biskupic</a>, to the Supreme Court. I suppose that with a Mitch McConnell or Nancy Pelosi, there's some sort of access journalism there, too.</p><p>Access Twitter is a riff on that, but it's an intra-journalism angle.</p><p>I was blocked by Eliot Higgins of Bellingcat two weeks ago. I discovered that when Jeet Heer was quote tweeting over just how bad of hasbara he was spouting:</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">I remember when the hasbara was better. They're not even trying anymore. <a href="https://t.co/nKCvUmi9h5">https://t.co/nKCvUmi9h5</a></p>— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) <a href="https://twitter.com/HeerJeet/status/1764065619350114434?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 2, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script> <p>And realized I couldn't see just how bad it was.</p><p>Obviously, Higgins hadn't blocked Jeet. I don't know if he's yet blocked Mark Ames, who, in my blog post <a href="https://beloblogging.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-latest-texas-observer-fail.html" target="_blank">a few weeks ago</a> about the Texas Observer jumping in bed with Bellingcat, had two Ames tweets about Bellingcat, though neither was a quote-tweet of Higgins or other top brass. That said, per the official <a href="https://twitter.com/bellingcat" target="_blank">Bellingcat Twitter account</a>, yeah, as of the start of March, it was radio-silent indeed. Plenty to say about Russia, naturally, with the likes of Fukuyama being advisors. Nothing about the Gaza Genocide. One post in the first half of February about Rafah and .... using tools adapted from Ukraine to track bombing in Rafah. No moral comment at all. A post at the start of February about a Beeb show talking about the "disinformation war" in the Middle East. No use of the word "hasbara" in the tweet. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct5d9h" target="_blank">The Beeb podcast itself</a> at least tilt toward he said, she said twosiderism.</p><p>And, that's the only two tweets about Israel-Gaza going back to before Christmas 2023. Before that, on Dec. 20, there was a tweet with the gist of the Feb. 13 tweet about Rafah, but before the creation of the Rafah pocket. A Dec. 18 tweet talked about the "environmental damage" Israel was causing in Gaza. No, really.</p><p>Before that? A Dec. 12 tweet about "unraveling" the death of Shireen Abu Akleh. Her death had been unraveled well before that, given that she had been killed seven months earlier. <a href="https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2022/05/14/unravelling-the-killing-of-shireen-abu-akleh/" target="_blank">The piece itself</a> has a big data cram, lots of videos, analysis, etc., then says, in essence, "it appears," without making a call. This itself looks like hasbara, in that somebody prodded Bellingcat to do "something.<br /></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34589810.post-16456127980472281652024-03-21T09:00:00.009-05:002024-03-21T10:29:36.320-05:00The Texas Observer's near-demise, one year later<p>Apparently the Texas Observer's attempted recovery from its near death experience one year ago, mainly due to financial mismanagement, but with bits of other mismanagement and other general problems, as I <a href="https://beloblogging.blogspot.com/2023/03/rip-texas-observer-not-right-now-but.html" target="_blank">wrote about at the time</a>, isn't going so well.</p><p>At the start of this month? Editor-in-chief Gabriel Arana is now
"<a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/statement-texas-democracy-foundation/" target="_blank">the former</a>,"
allegedly to help the Observer as it still loses money, and being
replaced by fundraising staff apparently paid off what was his salary.
Well, his salary and two other editorial staff <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-observer-staff-changes/" target="_blank">also canned</a>.
They were explicitly canned to free up money for fundraising staff. The
first piece hints at unspecified additional reasons for Arana getting
the boot. The two other staffers have spoken in support of the Observer.
At the time, at least, Arana had radio silence. </p><p>The Observer and its parent, the Texas Democracy Foundation, continue to cause their own problems on the financial side, as I noted a year ago, for the holier-than-thou attitude of refusing to accept ads mixed with the stupider-than-thou refusal to paywall. I have no sympathy. And, if the recent changes are just the surface of an iceberg, re Arana, will other editorial staff be jumping ship? And, will the fundraising staff broach some Trib-like "pay to play"?</p><p>Maybe, re just Arana, wrangling over <a href="https://beloblogging.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-latest-texas-observer-fail.html" target="_blank">the Bellingcat partnership</a> led him to be canned? The timing is right, for sure. (He's now at The American Prospect in some way, shape or form, per his Twitter bio.)<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34589810.post-90400534958890322712024-03-14T09:00:00.011-05:002024-03-19T22:57:49.120-05:00So, the AP is going to sell us shit now?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/Associated_Press_logo_2012.svg/654px-Associated_Press_logo_2012.svg.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="767" data-original-width="654" height="200" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/Associated_Press_logo_2012.svg/654px-Associated_Press_logo_2012.svg.png" width="171" /></a></div> <p></p><p>I remember, a year or so ago, when I first saw the AP's "donate" button at the upper-right corner of its website. The Associated Press has shat in its own foxhole for years (I just love the occasional use of "shat"!) and wanted bailing out? Hah.</p><p>Well, I guess not enough people were sending it couch change.</p><p>Or else, so many people were that it figured it could grift off them.</p><p>It's now <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/03/12/ap-ecommerce-taboola" target="_blank">going into the e-commerce world</a>, partnering with Taboola.</p><p>The shatting (past participle/gerund) in its own foxhole goes back 30 years to then AP board chair Dean-o Singleton, who convinced the rest of the board that the so-called "TV model" was a thing and AP did not need to worry about Internet 0.5, including not needing an early version of a paywall. AP then proceeded to undercharge news aggregators like Yahoo (remember when it was a "thing"?), not anticipate Reuters, then AFP, expanding their American presence, not adjust membership tiers and fees for U.S. member newspapers, and much more.</p><p>And, now, it wants to sell us shit.<br /></p><p>What do we get?</p><p>A digital version of Dean-o's autograph? </p><p>Options to buy into Alden Global Capital?</p><p>A model of the "TV model"?</p><p>==</p><p>Update, March 19: Whatever AP does with e-commerce, that won't be the end. Gannett and McClatchy are both cord-cutting at the end of their current subscriptions. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/19/business/media/gannett-mcclatchy-ap-associated-press.html" target="_blank">AP told the NYT</a> this "would not have a material impact on our overall revenue." </p><p>Bullshit. </p><p>As much bullshit as Gannett's claims, <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/gannett-drops-ap-associated-press-usa-today/" target="_blank">here</a> if you hit the Slimes paywall:</p><blockquote><i>“Between USA Today and our incredible network of more than 200 newsrooms, we create more journalism every day than The A.P.,” Kristin Roberts, the chief content officer of Gannett, wrote in a company memo.</i></blockquote><p>More bullshit. Gannett was crappy before being acquired by Craphouse, and has done zero in investments since then.</p><p>You know American newspaper journalism is in the toilet when you can't figure out if Gannett or AP is the bigger liar.</p><p>One interesting note?</p><p>Gannett's not dumping wire services entirely.</p><p>Instead, it's going with Reuters.</p><p>Since Deano screwed the pooch long ago, both Reuters and AFP have expanded their US presence, and by a large amount. I'm sure other current AP members are going to come knocking on Reuters' door pretty quickly. </p><p>"Can I have the Gannett deal?"</p><p>THAT will affect your bottom line indeed, AP.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34589810.post-56107886278276357662024-03-07T09:00:00.003-06:002024-03-07T09:00:00.139-06:00On the First Amendment, cybersecurity law is not media law<p>I just got done reading a book that sounded interesting, and even was good at the start, but, had a surface-level treatment of background history behind our current level of First Amendment law, and worse, was surface-level in discussion of tweaks, including but not limited to Section 230 related items. <br /></p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122825851-liar-in-a-crowded-theater" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Liar in a Crowded Theater: Freedom of Speech in a World of Misinformation" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1677554563l/122825851._SX98_.jpg" /></a><p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122825851-liar-in-a-crowded-theater">Liar in a Crowded Theater: Freedom of Speech in a World of Misinformation</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15496875.Jeff_Kosseff">Jeff Kosseff</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6292214366">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Good, but not quite great, and ultimately, not quite not quite great, as it slumped at the end. Let's dig in.<br /><br />The best way to describe Kosseff’s thrust in the first half to two-thirds of this book, is by analogy with the old lawyers’ joke.<br /><br />(Well, WHICH old lawyers’ joke?)<br /><br />That’s the one where a person says, of Lawyer X, usually of the famous type, “Boy, they’re a jackass,” but down inside says, “If I ever need a lawyer, I want them.”<br /><br />That’s the way freedom of speech is, per Kosseff, or one way to think of it: “Boy, I hate THEM getting to spew that, but I want that same level of protection myself.”<br /><br />First, Kosseff says, after separating truth from legend in Holmes' "crowded theater" (which I already knew) the marketplace of ideas meme is good but not great, is not the only 1A protection, and cannot stand by itself. First, different actors have different size stalls in the marketplace. Second, the “informed citizenry” argument bolsters it. Beyond people vending ideas, people simply needs to see ideas. Re the marketplace, cites Bill Brennan that there needs to be buyers as well as sellers, and thus, restraints on speech are harmful both ways.<br /><br />Then Kosseff notes the difficulty of establishing “truth.” Things like predictions aren’t simple empirical statements, but they’re more than opinions. Weather forecasts an example. Next, publishers of ideas, unlike makers of products, don’t have an express liability for the ideas they publish. That would kill publishing. Then, notes that what once seems untrue might be true; Kosseff cites the lab leak theory on COVID. Ironic even as Team Biden now faces suit over its attempt to put a thumb on the social media scales, even if that’s not direct censorship.<br /><br />Re Washigton Gov. Jay Inslee’s bill, 183ff, <a href="https://thebaffler.com/latest/is-trump-in-or-out-geoghegan" rel="nofollow noopener">The Baffler</a> suggests another option vis-à-vis Trump: That either the original 1870s Ku Klux Klan Acts, or a modern equivalent, would disbar him. Just one problem: the KKK Acts, all talk about a “conspiracy” of … “two or more” or similar. Whether these acts are constitutional or not (and Thomas Geoghegan acknowledges they could be ruled unconstitutional) good luck proving a conspiracy of two or more.<br /><br />The “self help” chapter in part 3? Kind of naïve. And, from here on, the book is kind of "meh." It shows not only a surface-level treatment, but by its lacunae, that Kosseff has particular ideas of what he favors or not. We'll get to the lacunae in a minute. </p><p>First? The idea of retraction statements being a defense against at least punitive damages in defamation cases and that this could be extended to social media? Laughable, on the "extension." What’s to stop them from being pulled down again? And, does FB, Twitter, etc. want to be engaged in locking such posts? If they are, what if the defendant quote tweets to say “I repudiate this.” Fact-checker orgs like PolitiFact as self help? Per earlier chapters by Kosseff, I’ll bet it called the lab-leak theory “mostly false” in the early days of COVID. It’s been wrong plenty of other times, <a href="https://beloblogging.blogspot.com/2011/12/poynter-politifact-and-st-pete-times.html" rel="nofollow noopener">in framing for sure</a>, if not actual facts. And, per other themes of Kosseff, should be called “PolitiOpinion.” Snopes is not always incredibly good either.<br /><br />The next chapter? Quite timely, given SCOTUS now debating <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/02/supreme-court-order-facebook-x-election-lies.html" target="_blank">the two NetChoice</a> (lobby arm for social media) vs states lawsuits, and re “jawboning,” the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murthy_v._Missouri" target="_blank">Murthy vs. Missouri</a> scheduled for March. (Rick Hasen, "interestingly," doesn't mention it.) </p><p>That said, re Section 230, <a href="https://beloblogging.blogspot.com/2023/01/some-sensible-section-230-reforms-vs.html" rel="nofollow noopener">I do favor amending it</a>. Indeed, social media companies do act like publishers. Maybe not totally. But, there’s enough that’s analogous that we should carefully amend it. (I oppose starting over with new law; a big old bag of worms would be opened.) The big problem is that it’s not that Facebook, the biggest of all, can’t do more as a publisher. As anybody who’s read about the “content moderation farms” in the Philippines knows, the real issue is that Hucksterman is too damned cheap. Kosseff doesn’t address that. Nor does he engage with media and media law orgs. My link above discusses a piece by Nieman Lab, and to extend the analogy of social media to media, they talk about “monetization” as a “trigger.” In fact, other than his one reference to PolitiFact, there’s no index listings not only for Nieman, but Columbia Journalism Review, Jay Rosen (not that I totally agree with him, but he's a known standard), Dick Teufel formerly of ProPublica, etc. Indeed, per my discussion of his mention of PolitiFact, there as <a href="https://beloblogging.blogspot.com/2019/09/more-reasons-not-to-trust-politifact.html" rel="nofollow noopener">IS NO SUCH THING</a> as one unified Politifact. And, in the point of dropping in that last link, I realized he was going to go down to three stars after all. <br /><br />As for his suggestion that perhaps things like Net Nanny should be rolled out? Facebook Purity already exists and Hucksterman does everything he can to sabotage it. Next? Kosseff overly romanticizes Mastodon. Related? Bluesky? Started within Twitter. And, Jack Dorsey is good only in comparison with Elon Musk.<br /><br />Another three-star reviewer talks about much of Kosseff’s solutions as “milquetoast.” I’d have to agree. Finally, it should be noted that he's in cybersecurity law. That's probably a big deal at the Naval Academy; I'm sure that media law is not. </p><p>Finally, Kosseff is wrong, elsewhere, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42170844-the-twenty-six-words-that-created-the-internet" target="_blank">in book-length form</a>, about Section 230. It is NOT "the 26 words that created the internet," but rather, "the 26 words that created the internet as we know it today." That's a big difference, per one reviewer of his book.</p><p>Given both these, I think you can take a pass on reading him, folks.<br /><br />
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/110433-socraticgadfly">View all my reviews</a>
</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34589810.post-65264709336662208172024-03-01T09:25:00.006-06:002024-03-21T10:26:25.614-05:00The latest Texas Observer #fail — Bellingcat<p>That would be, <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/rhett-murry-loftis-white-nationalist-active-club/" target="_blank">per this piece</a>, pairing with Bellingcat.</p><p>For the unawares, Bellingcat is, contra how the Observer describes it, a Cold War 2.0 and Nat-Sec Nutsacks™ facilitator. See <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkAmesExiled/status/1674947737316360192?cxt=HBwWgICwwfiFzr4uAAAA&cn=ZmxleGlibGVfcmVjcw%3D%3D&refsrc=email" target="_blank">this Mark Ames Tweet</a>, for example. Or see <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkAmesExiled/status/1762912924660584722?cxt=HBwWpMS2xd79j_cwAAAA&cn=ZmxleGlibGVfcmVjcw%3D%3D&refsrc=email" target="_blank">this retweet by Ames</a>, noting that Bellingcat has gone radio-silent over Gaza. Wiki <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellingcat" target="_blank">glosses over</a> most of the challenges to Bellingcat reporting. Shock me; in related news, Wiki <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexei_Navalny" target="_blank">also glosses over</a> Alexei Navalny's alt-right nationalism, Islamophobia and more. Update, March 1: Per <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkAmesExiled/status/1763675156604436543" target="_blank">this Ames Tweet</a>, yep, Bellingcat hunting down left-wing German grannies instead of talking about Gaza is a hoot. Yes, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/01/world/europe/daniela-klette-red-army-faction.html" target="_blank">per the NYT story</a>, Daniella Klett was a fugitive. But, she'd done nothing in 40 years. Bellingcat could have bigger fish to fry if it wanted. And, a <a href="https://twitter.com/kingstongarrick/status/1763712958046118000" target="_blank">response Tweet</a> to Ames notes that Bellingcat employs an ex-Stasi agent.<br /></p><p>On Bellingcat in general? Read <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/371139794_Unveiling_the_Bellingcat_Enigma_The_Shadowy_Nexus_of_Intelligence_and_Media" target="_blank">this</a> for more. Even the New Republic notes that Bellingcat gets money from The National Endowment for Democracy, for doorknob's sake.</p><p>Was the Southern Poverty Law Center and its oft-overinflated (and pimped out) claims of "X is a hate group" not available as a reporting partner?</p><p>I would repeat the old joke about Bernard Rapoport turning over in his grave over the Observer, but that's been used by me so often that he would have bedspins. (Also, I don't know, vis-a-vis the Ames retweet, if he was a Zionist or not.)</p><p>Update, March 2: Eliot Higgins of Bellingcat has now blocked me, so, I can't, via Jeet Heer, see just how bad of hasbara he's spouting:</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">I remember when the hasbara was better. They're not even trying anymore. <a href="https://t.co/nKCvUmi9h5">https://t.co/nKCvUmi9h5</a></p>— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) <a href="https://twitter.com/HeerJeet/status/1764065619350114434?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 2, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script> <p>There you go, if you can see it.</p><p>"Congrats" to the Observer, and any staffers who follow this blog still, or follow me on Twitter.</p><p>Let me add that <a href="https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ftsa&q=Active+Club+movement&atb=v198-1&ia=web" target="_blank">an Internet search</a> shows that MANY organizations besides Bellingcat have written about, and researched, the "Active Club movement." My comparison to the Southern Poverty Law Center didn't just come out of nowhere.</p><p>And, one Observer staffer who had followed me on Twitter, and perhaps was a follower of this blog by RSS? Editor-in-chief Gabriel Arana is now "<a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/statement-texas-democracy-foundation/" target="_blank">the former</a>," allegedly to help the Observer as it still loses money, and being replaced by fundraising staff apparently paid off what was his salary. Well, hs salary and two other editorial staff <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-observer-staff-changes/" target="_blank">also canned</a>. They were explicitly canned to free up money for fundraising staff. The first piece hints at unspecified additional reasons for Arana getting the boot. The two other staffers have spoken in support of the Observer. At the time, at least. Arana had radio silence. More in a separate post. That is <a href="https://beloblogging.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-texas-observers-near-demise-one.html" target="_blank">now up</a>. And, I wonder if wrangling over the Bellingcat partnership is part of what led Arana to get the boot.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34589810.post-81342778459414953372024-02-29T08:49:00.004-06:002024-02-29T08:49:00.286-06:00George Polk Awards #fail<p>This:</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">The award for Foreign Reporting goes to the staff of The New York Times for unsurpassed coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas</p>— George Polk Awards (@PolkAwards) <a href="https://twitter.com/PolkAwards/status/1759600900669149655?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script> <p>Is all you need to know. (Well, if you dno't already know the actual facts in the responses, you need to know them too, of course.)</p><p>Well, yes, it gets worse. Read <a href="https://twitter.com/zei_squirrel/status/1761439485852549462" target="_blank">this thread</a> by Zei Squirrel. <br /></p><p>Is it any wonder that most people don't trust the MSM on many issues, nor their guardians and puffers? (Usually, with wingnuts, the mistrust is for the wrong reasons on the wrong issues, but they have mistrust too.)</p><p>The reality, per those responses, is that the Slimes, which truly lives up to that nickname in this case, has been a reliable hasbara mouthpiece.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34589810.post-39096507618144262922024-02-08T09:00:00.001-06:002024-02-08T09:00:00.140-06:00As Gannett guts the Austin Stateless ...<p> That's of course, in my media world of alt-naming, the Austin American-Statesman.</p><p><a href="https://niedermeyer.io/2024/02/02/its-the-impunity-stupid/" target="_blank">The Monthly notes</a> how many other outlets are rushing in to fill the vacuum being left by the ongoing gutting. (That said, with the Trib headquarted in Austin, some have a leg up.)</p><p>I find it "funny," as in a mix of sad and disgusting, that the vacuum-fillers include Hearst, which cuts away at its own newspapers and hides how much it continues to make by being privately owned and not having to report to Wall Street.</p><p>The Monthly does note, contra newspaper union-hater Jim Schuetze, that the one thing that has stopped Craphouse (the tail wagging the dog of the "new Gannett") from even deeper cuts is that Stateless editorial staff is unionized. (Sidebar: Has there been a bigger wasted media space in some ways in the past five years than Schutze?)</p><p>That said, even as the union and Craphouse battle over a contract? That contract will almost certainly only cover full-time employees. Like I am sure will happen in Cowtown at the StartleGram, now that their union got a new contract a year ago, any fulltime employees who leave in the future will be replaced by freelancers.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34589810.post-61181645329978832772024-02-01T09:00:00.004-06:002024-02-01T10:22:12.903-06:00Online only newspaper + monthly print mag = cheapness?<p> I was down this road a little over a year ago with Maricopa, Arizona, and it not wanting to pay the ME anywhere decent, as I nosed around. (Set aside that the co-owner sent me a Walgreens clerk type standard two page application form as part of the initial round of the interview and potential hiring process [no, really!] and you lost me.)</p><p>I had forgotten that a certain newspaper in the Metromess had gone this same route, and I believe pre-COVID. But, a chance to move back into the Metromess itself, if other thingswere OK.<br /></p><p>Well, this position was for an assistant editor. Which I found out means staff writer-plus, really. Then, we eventually got to potential pay. And an "-ish" at the end of what was discussed made me realize that the position was being "sold." Of course; part of the D Mag stable.</p><p>And, they did hire somebody else, which is fine, because I don't need to be paid in exposure-plus, along with a possibility of graduating to D Mag itself. (Say hi to Jim Schutze for me.) I think, per what the gist of things were, a generational talent was OK with exposure-plus pay.</p><p>Does the newbie get a cut of the advertorial stuff you're running, too? (Looking at the PDF version of the mag, there's more than one piece.) Dunno if that would be happening were Wick still alive.</p><p>And, no paywall on the monthly mags? And, wasting print pages with a month's worth of crime logs, even if this area of the Metromess is low-crime (not counting state-level or federal-level fraud cases, since that involves money.) I clicked more than half a dozen individual stories and no paywall there, either; D Mag doesn't, either, I think. Of course, magazines are a bit diff.<br /></p><p>That said, I'm not sure we should call this a mag. Unlike Maricopa, both Park Cities People and Preston Hollow People (there, you're named) are in tabloid format, and I figure are as likely to be printed on newsprint as magazine slick.</p><p>As for content, other than already noted? They do a "person of the year" issue in January. ONE tabloid page, and that's it. Counting photos. Text is only half the page.</p><p>Wow.</p><p>Even if they had more money, and better website management, I'm not sure I'd want to be there.</p><p>==</p><p>Basically, they sort of remind me of a lot of Colorado papers in the heart of the Rockies and the start of the Western Slope: A real estate mag with a few pages of other newspaper stuff as fishwrap. Now, People has more non-real estate ads, tis true; the resemblance isn't total. But, sort of? At least in my book, yes.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34589810.post-25720013599805605862024-01-25T09:00:00.002-06:002024-02-01T22:29:57.040-06:00More "fun" with New Mexico magazine<p> <a href="https://beloblogging.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-pseudoscience-driven-marketing.html" target="_blank">I've written before</a> about some of the foibles at the magazine, most in the name of New Agey-type pseudoscience. Well, time for a new round of that and more, from that magazine's last three issues.</p><p>The November 2023 issue has <a href="https://www.christinamselby.com" target="_blank">Christina Selby</a>, who says she's been going to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge to see the sandhill cranes for years, talk with refuge staff about how drought is affecting how much food the refuge can have on site (seeding NWRs with grains for birds gets my goat in general and is a whole other topic), how climate change is affecting their migration and more.</p><p>So, Selby talks about other birds that can be seen there, including "dowagers." Now, I know a dowager can be called an "old bird," but I don't think they migrate to Bosque del Apache every winter.</p><p>Maybe long- and short-billed dowitchers do, but Selby can't be that ardent of a birder if that's not even spelled correctly. I webmailed her about that; we'll see if I get a response. If so, I'll add it here.</p><p>A week later, no response. I suspect that because she bills herself as a freelance science writer and other things, there won't be one.<br /></p><p>==</p><p>December's issue had an interesting story about rock-hounding. The most interesting part is that it put the east side of the Rio Grande, north of White Sands, to the WEST of Socorro, saying that the rock-hounding group north of White Sands had to travel east to get back to Socorro. Maybe one too many beers at San Antonio's Buckhorn along with a green chile burger?</p><p>==</p><p>Then, directly tying to that older piece? One story in the "Lowdown" section is called "Star Maps." It then has this extended kicker header:</p><blockquote><i>This year, let the zodiac chart your travel plans to a captivating, mystical, or iconic New Mexico destination.</i></blockquote><p>And yes, it was travel "horoscopes." And, as generic, other than mentioning NM travel spots, as horoscopes in general. I assume the Katy Kelleher who wrote is minor book author, with <a href="https://twitter.com/KatyKelleher/status/1671929137416617985" target="_blank">a Tweet like this</a>.<br /></p><p>I complained on Facebook, then blocked a nutter who had a nutter response.</p><p>==</p><p>Just as the state, riffing on its motto, is often "The Land of Disenchantment," so it is with the magazine.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34589810.post-77163497441863179032024-01-18T09:00:00.001-06:002024-01-18T09:00:00.127-06:00More local news isn't the (total) answer for local newspapers<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/more-city-hall-news-coverage-isnt-enough-to-revive-local-news-outlets-218227" target="_blank">Good piece here</a> from two academics. The TL/DR is that more local features stories and things like that has to be part of the issue.</p><p>And, yeah, corporate media can sort of do remote stories about city council meetings and other local government meetings, getting agendas off websites and emailing city managers, county executives and school superintendents.</p><p>But, the only way to do a feature story about someone who has biked across the country for a cancer fundraiser is to interview them. The only way to do a story about a business' 100th anniversary is to get history out of local archives and talk to people.</p><p>And, this says nothing of photos for things like this.</p><p>Nor does it consider local lifestyles type stories from or about clubs and organizations. Even if that is submitted, somebody local and onsite will know how much, or how little, play a particular submission needs. <br /></p><p>And, that takes people power, on site. Period. <br /></p><p>The pair even cite statistics that coverage of local elections does NOT spike local news readership.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34589810.post-45818560356490663032024-01-11T09:00:00.023-06:002024-01-11T09:00:00.141-06:00Tell me you're a capitalist without telling me ...<p> I recently was interviewed by a recruiter. (Whom I may name here at some point later.)<br /></p><p>Asked about why did I leave job X after 2.5 years, job Y after 1.5, job Z after 2, etc.</p><p>First, as I noted, every move but one of mine in the last 15 years has been related to the turmoil in the newspaper industry. Guess I should be putting that more up-front on the resume, but, nonetheless, I have no problem explaining it.</p><p>Second, I not only kept my head above water but in general (in nominal dollars, at least) moved forward financially. That's not a nothingburger in today's newspaper world.</p><p>And, said recruiter said she had decades in the newspaper business before setting up shop as a recruitment and placement company for various media companies. Mentioned Wick (meh), Hearst (blech) and others. <br /></p><p>But, of course, the recruiter's spiel was "newspapers don't want to pay to relocate you" etc. if they think you'll leave in a couple of years. </p><p>Rather than asking right away if these changes were because of newspaper industry turmoil and decimation.<br /></p><p>Oh, I understand. </p><p>That said, if the job is good enough, I'll be staying. And, by that, I mean not only pay, but in general.</p><p>No bosses who got to be the boss allegedly per one old-fashioned way, which, sadly, still happens. (And, it does take two to tango.)</p><p>No going back to places where, if books weren't actually cooked, they did seem to have been padded on how advertising was treated.</p><p>Anyway, said recruiter mentioned she represented Wick, among others, and I mentioned one interview. Probably why no follow-up. Oh, well.</p><p>Part of me says, "Yeah, it sucks."</p><p>Part of me, besides, "It's capitalism," says this whole idea of being "first," on news that doesn't necessarily warrant it, is an issue itself.</p><p>Part of me looks at companies phoning shit in and says "Peter Principle."</p><p>Part of me notes that said recruiter looked at town where I lived, not actual location of the two newspapers and takes that into account.</p><p>I did learn some resume tweak ideas, even if the recruiter didn't email me the ideas in detail because they wrote me off. But, what makes a "good" resume seems to change every five years. Isn't that itself part of capitalism? Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic to make you stumble into the furniture?</p><p>Beyond that? I decided to go halfway "in your face" with the new one for newspaper journalism jobs. Nothing to lose.</p><p>Finally? This is also a reminder that recruiters ALWAYS work for employers first, employees second.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34589810.post-90447012815849304232024-01-04T10:47:00.000-06:002024-01-04T10:47:24.109-06:00Giving Focus Daily News and Marlon Hanson a good kick<p> The Daily Snooze (not to be confused with the Dallas Morning Snooze) still claims to be a five-day daily, but, what would you get with that?</p><p>Archived as well as current e-editions are all paywalled, so I don't know.</p><p>That said, the last freebie "special section" available for view on the website? And, this is why "special section" is in scare quotes! A four-page 2020 Veterans Day "<a href="https://etypeproductionstorage1.blob.core.windows.net/$web/Production_Prod/Jobs/121/2020-11-20/87370/PreProcessedPDF/fdn_84999_prep_20201120183126993.pdf" target="_blank">special section</a>," where P1 is a full page editorial cartoon and 2-4 are listings of restaurants that give discounts to veterans. Oops, that's a three-pager, not four, so it was "special pages," not a section. Unless Marlon ran a blank fourth page.</p><p>That said, at least on the website, <a href="https://www.focusdailynews.com/windmills-at-grandscape-unveils-exquisite-new-menu/" target="_blank">in this restaurant review</a>, The Colony is in the Best Southwest along with Cedar Hill, DeSoto, Duncanville and Lancaster. </p><p>And, he's running <a href="https://www.focusdailynews.com/t-mobile-bringing-new-stores-and-more-5g-to-texas-including-new-midlothian-store/" target="_blank">unedited press releases as news</a>.<br /></p><p>This all said, I don't know if his wife passed, or what. She's not on their "<a href="https://www.focusdailynews.com/about-us/" target="_blank">about</a>" page. Don't know why he's still running it, then. He's over 70 — in fact, guessing by his LinkedIn, over 75 — and can surely retire, unless scraping digital newspaper floors for cigar butts still drives him along. Maybe it's the car reviews, and the free test-drive cars, that keep his motor running, so to speak.<br /></p><p>I gave it the label of "fake news" because, while not in a pink slime sense, I think it is little more than fake news by press release any more. Take the T-Mobile press release. If Marlon's running that instead of getting a T-Mobile ad ...</p><p>And, also on fake news? I believe even less Marlon's claim of a 15K circ today than an 18K circ 15 years ago.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0DeSoto, TX 75115, USA32.5896998 -96.85707384.2794659638211527 -132.0133238 60.899933636178844 -61.700823799999995tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34589810.post-53092455704191620752023-12-28T10:09:00.001-06:002023-12-28T10:09:00.262-06:00Small newspapers not getting it on magazine inserts<p> As Louis DeJoy kills the joy in newspaper Mudville with the ever-continuing rate hikes (mixed with the ever-continuing kowtowing to Amazon), newspapers that deliver by mail (which includes some small five-day dailies these days as well as non-dailies) need to be rethinking their bromance with magazine inserts.</p><p>NOT tabs on newsprint.</p><p>Magazines on the gloss.</p><p>First, with newsprint cost issues, magazine stock, even cheaper, is on the rise.</p><p>Second, and to the point of this post, magazine stock, even the flimsier stuff, definitely weighs more than newsprint.</p><p>Those of us editors with some advertising experience, or GMs or small-town publishers, already know there's an issue as to whether or not magazine ads primarily poach from newspaper ads, anyway.</p><p>But, those quarterly neighborhood magazines often more than double the cost of the newspaper into which they're inserted.</p><p>And, are the ads paying for that?</p><p>Take my beloved nearest CNHI paper.</p><p>Its "holidays" quarterly issue of a month ago was 32 pages and just over 25 percent adhole. Not sure how much net profit that returned.</p><p>And, the editorial side, the printing turnaround time was slow enough that a "coming" event mentioned in a feature interview had already happened.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34589810.post-66538727289192885582023-12-14T09:00:00.028-06:002023-12-21T09:45:21.094-06:00The Texas Observer needs more of your money<p> They're looking for $317K by the end of the year.</p><p>To that end, they've finally gotten smart enough to add two donor levels to their original Javascript screen of "supporter" at a paltry $11.87/yr and "advocate" at $48, which is higher than it originally was. "Defender" is at $71.88 and "muckraker" at $131.88. (I have no idea why these are the exact amounts, but it sounds like they could still learn something from NPR/PBS type fundraising.)</p><p>Speaking of?</p><p>If they get money, it will be "your" money, not mine." They still don't move the needle much on most their stories, and, while Counterpunch may not accept ads, The Nation does, and they're a local of The Nation, not Counterpunch. (Plus, NPR/PBS have "sponsors" if not ads.)</p><p>And, more weirdly? On <a href="https://hype.co/@texasobserver/4ed8z2xy" target="_blank">this donations page</a>, the donation amounts do not align with what's on the Javascript. So, Observer, next time you write something about education, include yourself.</p><p>Back to the no-ads schtick. I discussed that and more <a href="https://beloblogging.blogspot.com/2023/03/rip-texas-observer-not-right-now-but.html" target="_blank">this spring</a>. Speaking of Counterpunch and the Nation, this time, it's both vs. the Observer, whether an articles-limit paywall (The Nation) or a premium section (Counterpunch), vs neither at the Observer.</p><p><br />Speaking of The Nation and Counterpunch in another way?</p><p>The Texas Trib has made the Observer as currently focused semi-irrelevant in my point of view. At one time, to look at the political alignment of national magazines, the Observer was Texas' version of, say, The New Republic or Mother Jones. Now? Though the Trib isn't that far out there, it is close enough to that at times, and is also perceived that way.</p><p>The Observer needs to more explicitly make itself Texas' version of at least The Nation, if not a Counterpunch or Alternet. (As well as getting a clue about a paywall, ads or both.)<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34589810.post-28145626577737929352023-12-14T09:00:00.027-06:002023-12-14T09:00:00.147-06:00Moahr puzzles at CHNI!<p>Or, at least, at my local CNHI installment.</p><p>Wonder why?</p><p>Were people bitching about the amount of Texas Trib content? Bitching about seeing three days worth of comics at one time because it hasn't gotten a clue about not doing that and overvaluing its fishwrap at $1.25 Tuesday and $1.75 Saturday, higher than places like Bowie and Decatur which still have more than fishwrap?</p><p>Were they bitching about all those Alabama ads (without knowing why they're there)?</p><p>In any case, moahr puzzles, as teased on the banner of the Dec. 9 issue, is "the answer."</p><p>And, having seen the first new installment, it's apparently to keep from running more and more of those CHNI corporate-wide prebuilt pages, though the Dec. 12 Register still has one of those, plus this new full page of puzzles for four pages of puzzles or puzzles/comics. Add in it still having one of those other prebuilt pages, and that's five pages of birdcage filler on a 10-pager. <br /></p><p>NOT the answer? Nobody biting on the "get paid to write sports for us" ongoing house ad ZERO basketball coverage during the non-district season (and who knows after that)? Going on five weeks since the start of hoops at the 4A level and nope, still nothing.<br /></p><p>With an editor AND a staff writer (and, AFAIK, pages built at a pagination hub), they could do better.</p><p>Back to the header, though. What they need is FEWER puzzles, as well as more editorial content. And, of course, more ads.</p><p>As for CNHI in general? I remember when the Snooze touted "<a href="https://beloblogging.blogspot.com/2019/08/no-free-puzzle-books-wont-save-you.html" target="_blank">moahr puzzles</a>" as "the answer four-plus years ago. Shock me that CNHI is that far behind the curve.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34589810.post-38715641770365043782023-12-07T09:00:00.007-06:002023-12-07T09:00:00.136-06:00Texas Press Association giving away the store<p> One again, it's time to criticize (not just critique, but criticize) the TPA, specifically, its Texas Press Service.</p><p>I presume no newspaper editor in the state is dumb enough to run the news release TPS sent out Nov. 30, because it DIRECTLY UNDERCUTS this thing called "advertising."</p><p>I'm just going to give the header, subhead and first two graphs in the quote:</p><blockquote><h3 style="text-align: left;"><i>T-Mobile Bringing New Stores and More 5G to Texas</i> </h3></blockquote><blockquote><h4 style="text-align: left;"><i>The Un-carrier opened 18 new retail stores and expanded 5G network coverage and capacity</i> </h4></blockquote><blockquote><i>BELLEVUE, Wash. — November 30, 2023 — T-Mobile continues to ramp up its presence in Texas with the opening of 18 new retail stores across the state in 2023 and the planned opening of more than a dozen additional stores now through 2024. The new stores have created about 120 new jobs for the state.</i> <br /></blockquote><blockquote><i>“Opening even more stores in Texas continues to be a great way for T-Mobile to build relationships with our customers,” said John Stevens, Vice President for T-Mobile’s Small Markets & Rural Areas. “This is especially true in smaller and more rural communities where we’re opening doors for the very first time. Our strategy of meeting wireless consumers where they live, work, and play helps us to establish closer connections with them while also enabling us to tap into the local workforce. We just couldn’t be more excited about our growth here in Texas and look forward to continuing to make a positive impact across the state.”</i></blockquote><p>Yes, TPA via TPS wants member newspapers to think about giving T-Mobile free advertising.</p><p>As I said above, presumably no editor worth his salt runs a word of this. But, a pink-slime, non-politicized version like CherryRoad's Sherman Dumpacrap might say, "Hey, there's no paper in Bonham and we can make this Bonham news!" (Bonham is one of those new stores.) Or Marlon Hanson's Focus Daily News <a href="https://www.focusdailynews.com/t-mobile-bringing-new-stores-and-more-5g-to-texas-including-new-midlothian-store/" target="_blank">running it</a>, as it looks to be ever more a dumpster fire. (Will have a post all about it next month.)<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34589810.post-69020194193362444992023-11-30T09:00:00.001-06:002023-11-30T09:00:00.156-06:00Removed: Dan Froomkin<p> When he was at the Washington Post, Froomkin actually had something to say, so I added his <a href="https://presswatchers.org" target="_blank">Presswatchers</a> to my blogroll.</p><p>It's leaving.</p><p>Froomkin has become nothing but a #BlueAnon shill. He doesn't cover how the press do or don't cover independent and / or third party presidential candidates, except maybe tangentially on how that ties to Democrats. He doesn't at all cover press coverage of the two big US foreign-policy issues, Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Gaza. He's basically wasted space trying to "work the refs."<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34589810.post-9959223499291641672023-11-16T09:00:00.000-06:002023-11-16T09:00:00.149-06:00CNHI clickbait<p> It's interesting how articles from one CNHI paper appear on another's website even if they have no real relevance there.</p><p>For instance, Gainesville ISD, in Gainesville, Texas, looking for substitute teachers? Nice. I'm sure that readers in Cleburne, Texas, 100 miles away, and 100 miles of driving across the Fort Worth half of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, have no real interest. </p><p>Yet, the story is on the website of Cleburne's paper as well as Gainesville's.</p><p>I guess it's an attempt to goose online pageviews. </p><p>It probably won't be that successful of one. And, it sounds typical of CNHI.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34589810.post-29772239861827396792023-11-09T09:00:00.001-06:002023-11-09T09:00:00.193-06:00The Texas Press Association in 20 years?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AA1h30Hx.img?w=800&h=435&q=60&m=2&f=jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="261" data-original-width="800" height="199" src="https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AA1h30Hx.img?w=800&h=435&q=60&m=2&f=jpg" width="608" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>It's no secret that "The Great Hollowing Out" is happening, or rather, accelerating, in the High Plains of all Plains states. This includes Texas, and it includes the escarpment areas to the east of the 100th meridian, where, to use biological descriptors, the mixed-grass prairie starts giving way to shortgrass. In Texas, think everything west of Abilene, in every county of less than 10,000 population, and some bigger than that. <br /></p><p>But hold on to that thought.</p><p>In many cases, it's not totally a hollowing out, especially at the southern end. It's "The Great (Hispanic) Replacement." Or, it's "The Great (Hispanic) Replacement" keeping a "Great Hollowing Out" from being a "Humongous Implosion."</p><p>Take <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crockett_County,_Texas" target="_blank">Crockett County</a>. After a spike in the 1940s, has been fairly flat (a smaller surge in the 1970s) until the turn of the century. Then, it started declining more.</p><p>Counties similar in size that haven't imploded as much is due just to oil. But, just as farms kept getting bigger, especially out on the High Plains, after the most recent oil bust due to overpumping shale, big oil companies vowed to automate more and this time, they're at least halfway holding on to that.</p><p>A few counties, like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Davis_County,_Texas" target="_blank">Fort Davis</a>, have bucked the trend. That said, Wiki notes that its average age is over 60 (just one of six counties in the US; two of <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220718110001/https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022/population-estimates-characteristics.html" target="_blank">the others</a> are New Mexico counties with old fart Anglos), meaning the Anglo White folks there are old indeed. In another decade, let alone 20 years, it too will be Hispanic majority, and younger. (For the non-Texans, that's not an oil area.) Or Presidio, where Alpine, especially, has become a retirement area.</p><p>But, in the "cis-Pecos" (take that, wingnuts) High Plains of southern Texas, The Great (Hispanic) Replacement" is the thing.</p><p>Why did I focus on Crockett County?</p><p>A story in the TPA Messenger this summer about the Ozona Stockman fixing to go belly-up before being acquired by Rambler Media.</p><p>I don't see that paper as the hub of a seven-county area, though. Of the nine counties it borders, five have papers. Of the four that don't, one is closer to Midland and the other to San Angelo than to Ozona. (And, that county is smaller in size than Crockett, and has been without a paper 15 years or more.) The third, Terrell, home of Sanderson, has less than 1,000 in the county. </p><p>The fourth, Val Verde? Southern Newspapers, referred to here in years past as the "southern front" or similar, owned the Times-News until killing it in late 2020. (Del Rio.)<br /></p><p>Nobody's tried to restart it, right?</p><p>Not totally. <a href="https://www.epnewsleader.com/" target="_blank">A paper out of Eagle Pass</a>, website and weekly print, purports to cover Del Rio and to deliver the paper there. Yeah, Eagle Pass is 55 miles away, but Ozona is more than 100. <br /></p><p>And? The Eagle Pass paper bills itself as bilingual and Val Verde County is more than 90 percent Hispanic (of any race). There's also the web-only (and monolingual, I venture) <a href="https://830times.com/" target="_blank">830 Times</a>.</p><p>And, that Eagle Pass paper, despite including a print product, is NOT a TPA member.</p><p>Folks, IMO, that's where West Texas, and especially Southwest Texas, newspapering is headed in the longer-term future. Yeah, it's nice for a Rambler Media, or other nonprofit corporation or whatever, to step in. (That said, sometimes noblesse oblige is more "nice" than nice.) But, Anglo White folks will likely have limited success.</p><p>Plus, if you're acquiring papers like that for the legals? Well, most those counties will likely have two, tiny, incorporated towns max. (Terrell has none.) They'll likely have no more than two school districts. And, the county government.</p><p>So, outside of budget and tax stuff, very few other legals. Not in oil country in some of these cases, so no legals there. No other environmental or industrial legals. </p><p>And, if the only display advertising you're getting in a monolingual paper is the old White folks stores that will soon close, you're in trouble. The dollar store that's the only "grocery" if your county is less than 5,000 will likely lowball you on insert rates or even stiff you outright, because it has a captive audience.</p><p>Finally, no matter the ethnicity of the inhabitants, this area will surely continue to become ever more despoblado due to climate change. <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2023/06/21/texas-cities-record-heat/" target="_blank">Del Rio at nearly 115</a> and the crappy Texas electric grid doesn't help.</p><p>So, as I see it, on the High Plains and in the upper Valley above Laredo and the gateway to the actual valley, the TPA faces a combination of more papers closing, or, if they're being replaced, replaced by bilingual ones that just don't see much value in the TPA. It's going to have to do recruiting and selling.</p><p>Flip side? If the Hispanic-oriented press, outside of East Texas' metroplexes, grows a lot more, could we see a Texas Hispanic Press Association, and not as part of TPA, but as its own entity?<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34589810.post-50447927972854532112023-11-02T09:00:00.005-05:002023-11-02T09:00:00.189-05:00Applying to Wick, not knowing it<p> I've written here before about Wick Communications, both <a href="https://beloblogging.blogspot.com/2018/07/take-pass-on-wick-communications.html" target="_blank">some general problem</a>s with it being ultra-cheap assed with its daily papers and a <a href="https://beloblogging.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-newest-cheap-assedness-from-wick.html" target="_blank">laughable idea</a> of an in-house social media system for people to report ideas or even extended Facebook style stories to its newspapers.</p><p>Well, I applied via LinkedIn to another Wick property that I didn't realize at the time was a Wick property. Five-day daily, still, town of 6K and change, county of 11K. Bigger papers to south and east, so really not much circ outside the county.
Gutted AP after long-time former editor retired. Suspect that this is a recent acquisition by Wick and they did the "dirty" after said person retired.
Indeed, it's so new that wasn't on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wick_Communications#Newspapers" target="_blank">Wikipedia's page</a> about Wick before I posted an edit. And, per what I've said about Wick and dailies? <a href="https://www.montrosepress.com/site/forms/subscription_services/" target="_blank">Montrose still is</a> a daily in print. Some part of me appreciates the desire to continue to do that, but some part of me says HUH?</p><p>Or so it seems, on still being 5-day daily. Their website sucks on not having an "about" link anywhere. But, their e-edition page <a href="https://www.montrosepress.com/eedition/" target="_blank">confirms</a>.</p><p>Back to the newspaper of application. Assuming the takeover was in the last year, even with Wick's continued wedding to daily print, I can't see it staying that way. If so, would my salary be cut?</p><p>And, why did Wick buy this paper? Outside of Aridzona, and to a lesser degree, Washington, North Dakota and Colorado, they still don't have a concept of "clustering."</p><p>Wick strikes me as similar to Southern.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34589810.post-86052951170272105082023-10-26T09:00:00.005-05:002023-10-26T09:00:00.182-05:00RIP Bruce Alsobrook<p> I knew Bruce when I was in Sulphur Springs, at the News-Telegram. He had moved from being the editor there at one time to "Country World," a weekly ag magazine. After he was let go, I was moved into his spot AS WELL AS expected to still contribute stuff for the daily paper, per the shitheads at Southern Newspapers, for whom I will not work. (I guess nobody at the paper edited his obit, as it says "Town and Country" magazine.)<br /></p><p>Bruce, from what I had heard from people who were there before me, was a good editor of writers for style and content, and presumably a good assignment editor. But, man, was he slothful. That's why he was let go. (And the cheap-asses at Southern made me their rented mule.)</p><p>He was a good person, as was his wife and family. He was in less than the best of health five years ago, as was his wife, who died last year.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34589810.post-44853427004108416102023-10-19T09:00:00.001-05:002023-10-19T09:00:00.133-05:00Don't blindly romanticize the dying community newspaper<p><a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/local-newspaper-legacy-springfield-massachusetts" target="_blank">Great piece</a>, to just that critical end, by Pro Publica.</p><p>This:</p><blockquote><i>As they vanish, local newspapers are taking on a halo of everything that used to be good about America. They’ve come to symbolize not just halcyon days of neighborly virtues — imagine “It’s a Wonderful Life” if Jimmy Stewart played the editor of the Bedford Falls paper — but the very “bedrock of American democracy.”</i></blockquote><p>Is indeed how the remnant of readership of many newspapers remembers the "golden days" of the print media world.</p><p>That remnant, as we all know, is itself older to much older, and Whiter to much Whiter, than the national population.</p><p>Daniel Golden, who worked for the Springfield (Massachusetts) Daily News and its post-merger renamed successor for more than 40 years, notes the reality was different, often far different.</p><p>Riffing on the situtation described at the top of the story, where the town of Ware was debating in government meeting whether or not to privatize the city's water and sewer system, he goes back to around the time he started in Springfield:</p><blockquote><i>The same focus that inundated readers with information about every committee meeting, crime and high school football game fostered a certain coziness with the area’s power players. Boosterism and conflicts of interest occasionally interfered with telling the full story. It’s possible we would have done a searching examination of a plan to privatize Ware’s water system — unless we risked offending a powerful local figure or business interest.</i></blockquote><p>That's about right.</p><p>There were other things as well, things that fortunately I never ran into when a cub or brave at a newspaper under somebody else's editorship and never tried on my own. (Springfield, Massachusetts having an ME insisting that Mount Saint Helens needed to be localized is laughable.)</p><p>OR, more seriously, things that today's digital-era reporters bitch about happening then. Not wanting your pay to be dependent on the number of clicks? But a Springfield Daily News reporter back in the 1970s and 1980s was paid by how many different small-town meetings he hit with stories filed.</p><p>That said, personally, I'd call Springfield a regional newspaper, more than a community newspaper.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34589810.post-49601737336077484782023-10-12T09:00:00.006-05:002023-10-12T09:00:00.143-05:00The herd of money behind the UnHerd<p> I am assuming that the UnHerd Ventures mentioned <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/sep/27/us-billionaire-ken-griffin-in-talks-over-bid-to-buy-telegraph-led-by-gb-news-co-owner-paul-marshall" target="_blank">in this piece</a> by the Guardian as part of a team looking to acquire Britain's The Telegraph, owner of what the Guardian <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/sep/27/laurence-fox-gb-news-comments-ava-evans-investigation-inappropriate" target="_blank">elsewhere calls</a> "right-leaning" GB News with scandals, is also behind the UnHerd online newspaper of the infamy of fake leftists and horseshoe leftists like Thomas Fazi.</p><p>The first link notes that Sir Paul Marshall, owner of the London-based Marshall Wace hedge fund, owns the UnHerd Ventures media group, and is looking to join with US hedge fund magnate Ken Griffin.</p><p>And, UnHerd Ventures' <a href="https://unherd.ventures/" target="_blank">website</a> confirms it owns the newspaper/magazine.<br /></p><p>And, MediaBias/FactCheck confirms that UnHerd is "<a href="https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/unherd-bias/" target="_blank">center-right bias</a>." (I agree that it's not total wingnut; the degree to which it has British or American, but not continental European, leftism, is not always horseshoe theory leftism. But, enough of it was, and both in that and non-horseshoe theory leftism, there just wasn't enough, and I unsubbed long ago.)</p><p>It also has failed one fact check and is climate denialists. <br /></p><p>AND? MBFC also says Marshall was a major Brexit donor.</p><p>The Telegraph is conservative, giving the upper-crust appearance of not being Murdoch-wingnut in Britain, but actually, <a href="https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/daily-telegraph/" target="_blank">it pretty much is</a>.</p><p>So, toff owners of New Wave gussied up toff media looking to buy old toff media.</p><p>That said, on The Telegraph, <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/former-mirror-chief-montgomery-assembles-backing-for-telegraph-bid-12970633" target="_blank">they're competing with other toffish types</a>, including the Daily Mail's owner looking for Saudi money to help his bid. </p><p>It's going to be nasty; the Barclays, who own the paper, have bad debt and are trying to, essentially, fight a creditor takeover by Lloyd's.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Fleet St, London, UK51.5142292 -0.107725923.925492865524966 -35.2639759 79.102965534475032 35.0485241tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34589810.post-64132618447918448852023-10-05T08:49:00.026-05:002023-10-05T10:29:18.190-05:00Journalism Protection and Competition Act: Another misfiring bill?<p>Per a recent presser, the National Newspaper Association supports the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/673" target="_blank">Journalism Protection and Competition Act</a>, S 1094,
to make large social media companies? and news aggregators? pay for using newspaper content. I
oppose, partially but not entirely based on what's happening in Canada
with its social media journalism law. </p><p>There are several issues here.</p><p>One, per what IS happening in Canada, Facebook et al are not "grabbing" your newspaper's story links. Rather, individual people are posting links. How do you address this? Related? The NNA presser says only "social media," which to me means Facebook, Twitter, etc., but, the law appears to point to search engines like Google and Bing and news aggregators like Google News and MSN. Can't NNA write a news release accurately? I quote:</p><blockquote><i>Publishers asked Members of Congress to support two important journalism bills — the Journalism Protection and Competition Act, S 1094, to force large social media platforms to pay for the journalism they take from newspapers — and the Community News and Small Business Support Act, HR 4756, which would provide tax credits for small businesses to advertise in their local newspapers.</i></blockquote><p>Oy. I do NOT consider Google News a "social media platform" and don't know who does. So, now that we're clear? </p><p>The bill itself is about Google and other search engines, first, and presumably Google News and similar aggregators, second. I think. <a href="https://jolt.law.harvard.edu/digest/the-journalism-competition-and-preservation-act-opportunities-and-risks-for-news-content-creators" target="_blank">This piece says</a> that three entities fall under the distribution minimum size: Google, Google News and Facebook. (It's from the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology, and, is about an earlier version of the bill; but I presume the same distribution size or similar applies.) So, we're back to the Facebook issue of, "it doesn't grab stories." Beyond that, <a href="https://www.garbageday.email/p/why-do-facebook-users-keep-commenting" target="_blank">per this Garbage Day Substack</a>, on its algorithm and such, you're competing with weirdness at Facebook these days. (And competing with arbitrary whims, of course.)<br /></p><p>Two, however you address that, what's a fair compensation level? I know it says "negotiations," but what happens if they simply stiff you?<br /></p><p>Three, how tight is your paywall? If it isn't, why are you protesting? This is true whether we're talking about Google / Google News, or about Facebook et al.<br /></p><p>Four, if you're a community newspaper of any size and get an attention-grabbing story out of the blue, like Marion, Kansas, how do you stop the MSNs and Yahoos of the world from re-running this, like their news aggregation with the wire services? If that's not airtightly clamped down, then it needs to be. From my time as a copy editor at a seven-day daily, I remember daily papers sending stories to AP but putting geographical restrictions on them.</p><p>The News Media Alliance has a presser about "<a href="https://www.newsmediaalliance.org/myth-vs-fact-the-journalism-competition-and-preservation-act-jcpa/" target="_blank">myths vs realities</a>." It's not bad, but I think it misses points, too.</p><p>If you don't want your stories on Facebook, make your paywall harder. If you don't want them on Google or Google News, get hard protection against your website being crawled. That simple. (At Nieman Lab, Joshua Benton wonders/fantasizes about <a href="https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/10/if-google-suddenly-had-real-competition-in-search-how-would-news-publishers-world-change/" target="_blank">what would happen</a> if Google had a legit competitor.)<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34589810.post-63624764836761080852023-09-28T09:36:00.001-05:002023-09-28T09:36:00.153-05:00One-siderism on killing journos in Ukraine<p><a href="https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/09/evidence-suggests-russia-has-been-deliberately-targeting-journalists-in-ukraine-a-war-crime/" target="_blank"> Nieman Lab reprints</a> a piece from <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-reports-suggest-that-russia-has-been-deliberately-targeting-journalists-which-is-a-war-crime-213663" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> decrying Russian attacks on journalists.</p><p>It ignores that Ukrainian journos could themselves be killed <a href="https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/here-are-stories-5-reporters-persecuted-ukraine-doing-their-job-past" target="_blank">in Ukraine pre-invasion</a> and that Russia has accused Ukraine of deliberately targeting journos <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/22/russian-journalist-killed-three-wounded-near-ukraine-frontline" target="_blank">during the war</a>.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0