Editors' Corner

Sounds like a disease. And for some in the newspaper business, it is; but it's a good one to have. I'm talking about the people who have seen it all and can remind you of it, especially when you're headed in the wrong direction. I was reminded of it when I was talking to a reporter about the departure of longtime editor Phil Drake. His memory of what we covered (or didn't cover) in the past helped in making stories richer and more complete. An editor who has been here for ten years wouldn't make the same mistakes that I do. Whether it's noticing that northwest Pasadena has seen similar problems in the past or that Irwindale may be able to teach a lesson to Industry in the building, or not building, of an NFL stadium. New reporters, new copyeditors, new editors, new whatever. You can overcome it. But when history leaves the room smoking a cigar and taking his dog, it hurts the paper more than most would ever know.

Posted by Edward at 6:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I probably shouldn't say this, but I'm not a fan of political endorsements. And it's that time of year. I know why we do it. Our business is to cover the community. As a member of that community, we should say who we believe would best lead. But in age where bitter partisanship is the coin of the realm, and newpapers are considered bias toward one side or the other, I don't think most people get that there is a news side and opinion side. I have never been told we should write stories that bolster a particular candidate, and I have never (well, except for that once) tried to influence our op-eds. But I don't think people see the distinction or how serious we take it. And in the end, I think endorsements are overrated. Of course, no has really asked me what I think so...I'm just going to keep this between us.

Posted by Edward at 6:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

But his spokesman said the governor was joking.
Maybe next time.

Posted by Edward at 6:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

James Watson of DNA helix fame apparently retires.

Posted by Edward at 4:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

That's the way it feels in the San Gabriel Valley with the fires practically surrounding us. But it's only been about fires for us.

Posted by Edward at 7:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rebecca Aguilar, a Dallas tv reporter who was awarded the Broadcast Journalist of the Year honors from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists* this past month, was suspended for the above interview. According to the Dallas Morning News, a 70-year-old businessman shot and killed an intruder who had broken into his West Dallas salvage yard — where he also lives. It was the second time in three weeks the owner killed an intruder.
Aguilar found the man at a department store; apparently he told her he was going there. In the interview, she asks him, "are you a trigger happy kind of person? Is that what you wanted to do? Shoot to kill?" The man sounds like he breaks down.
The interview prompted an angry response. I think she did cross the line. She planted herself inside the man's car so he couldn't even close it if he wanted to. But I believe a reprimand would have been more appropriate. Sometimes the excitement of getting an interview clouds journalists' judgement. But we don't leave our humanity at the door. And where were her editors?
- an added note. Aguilar responded to the criticism here, and NAHJ responded with a letter demanding she be reinstated.
*As a former NAHJ member (I didn't quit because of principles, I left because I'm lazy and don't particularly like joining groups) I do have to ask, would they have been so easy to dismiss the inappropriate part of Aguilar's interview, if the reporter was white and male, and the driver was a 70-year-old Latina who was protecting her property?
A standard is a standard regardless of the racial or ethnic component.

Posted by Edward at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Demanding web user information and arresting newspaper executives. Do you really think Mr. Pink Underwear and friends went overboard?
According to LAO:The controversy began when New Times, after years of reporting aggressively on local Sheriff Joe Arpaio, published his home address on the Internet, in apparent violation of state law. (The paper also has published the address in print, but that's apparently not against Arizona law.)

Posted by Edward at 11:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Frank Girardot spotted this online last night. Don't ask me what he was looking for.

Posted by Edward at 9:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I posted this this morning. The new news apparently bypassed me quickly.
"VVM Executive Editor Michael Lacey talking to reporters earlier this a.m. after being released from MCSO custody.
Village Voice Media Executive Editor Michael Lacey was released from PHX's 4th Avenue Jail around 4 a.m. this morning after being arrested Thursday evening by plainclothes agents of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. Charged with the misdemeanor of revealing grand jury information in this week's cover story Grand Jury Targets New Times and Its Readers, Lacey was released on a $500 bond. His co-author on that story, VVM Chairman and CEO Jim Larkin was arrested on an identical misdemeanor charge Thursday evening and released hours prior to Lacey." (h/t LAO)
- I'm getting a sense that more and more people think that a free press is an archaic term and can be abused with impunity. And so far, it seems they are right.

Posted by Edward at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Continuing a theme by Foothill Cities, I point to some weird shit going on in Arizona. The recent attempts by our local cities to either threaten or actually shut down bloggers caused quite a stir. Some called it an overreaction and that government officials would never go that far. But there are always some willing to step over the line. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, of tents and pink underwear fame, and friends are crazy examples of that. Spurred by critical stories, they went to a Grand Jury and served subponeaes that should make every web user and blogger shudder:
-The subpoena demands: "Any and all documents containing a compilation of aggregate information about the Phoenix New Times Web site created or prepared from January 1, 2004 to the present, including but not limited to :
A) which pages visitors access or visit on the Phoenix New Times website;
B) the total number of visitors to the Phoenix New Times website;
C) information obtained from 'cookies,' including, but not limited to, authentication, tracking, and maintaining specific information about users (site preferences, contents of electronic shopping carts, etc.);
D) the Internet Protocol address of anyone that accesses the Phoenix New Times website from January 1, 2004 to the present;
E) the domain name of anyone that has accessed the Phoenix New Times website from January 1, 2004 to the present;
F) the website a user visited prior to coming to the Phoenix New Times website;
G) the date and time of a visit by a user to the Phoenix New Times website;
H) the type of browser used by each visitor (Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Netscape Navigator, Firefox, etc.) to the Phoenix New Times website; and
I) the type of operating system used by each visitor to the Phoenix New Times website."
*Moved up.

Posted by Edward at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The LA Times has an interesting yet oddly written story about campaign contributions to Hillary Clinton from people in New York's Chinatown. " In April, a single fundraiser in an area long known for its gritty urban poverty yielded a whopping $380,000."
..."And Clinton's success in gathering money from Chinatown's least-affluent residents stems from a two-pronged strategy: mutually beneficial alliances with powerful groups, and appeals to the hopes and dreams of people now consigned to the margins."
Uhm...$1,000 donations from restaurant workers in some of the cheapest places in town? The reporters (editors?) seem to back into another explosive Norman Hsu type revelation as an afterthought.

Posted by Edward at 8:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We always have a laugh when we see corrections in other papers. But it's not so funny when we do it. Like we did today. We wrote that a man was fatally stabbed...er....except he wasn't. We fixed the web edition, but the print will have the correction. What's worse is that it was my fault. As I tell reporters, every time an editor reads your story that's one more chance it will be screwed up. So they should read, if possible, their story after an editor reads the copy.
- we're also working on adding corrections on the web page.
ps. The headline comes from Monty Python's Holy Grail

Posted by Edward at 5:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's the new news. We'll look into it.

Posted by Edward at 6:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

OK. I admit it. Here's actually rare good news and the story teases out the bad news in a way that would hurt a yoga master.

Posted by Edward at 6:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

That would be an investigator reporter. Better than being called a vulture or ghoul, I suppose.

Posted by Edward at 6:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cool

Posted by Edward at 3:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One bill signed by the governor that caught my eye:
SB 362, from state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto. It prohibits employers and others from forcing
anyone to have a radio frequency identification device implanted under their skin.
"Others"? wives? girlfriends? bookie?

Posted by Edward at 8:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

At Save our Community, more discussion on Councilman Gary Taylor's continued attempt to expose what he says is a hostile working environment for employees. Jennifer McLain's story on Sunday is more evidence, though not indisputable, that there is a least an appearance of a problem. I admit I'm one who believes few things should be secret when it comes to government. And eventually the report about sexual harassment will have to be made public. Having said that, I think Taylor may be in trouble. What that will eventually mean is up in the air. One commentator noted that if no one is ever held liable, what's the point of the law. If Taylor is hyping the findings, he is going to look like a craven politician.
But what if he is exposing something that needs to be exposed?

Posted by Edward at 6:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sunday's column: It starts with a friendly phone call, whispered rumor or "leaked" documents.
After some pleasantries, the caller asks if a story can be buried or outright killed. Or a disgruntled gadfly peddles rumors of bias because she doesn't like the coverage of a dogged reporter. Or documents, with color coded Post-It notes, land on an editor's desk and supposedly expose city officials.

All were attempts to influence our paper, all happened in the past year and none affected our coverage. It's not a boast; it's a sad commentary on how some people view journalism and their local newspaper.

I remember, when I was a reporter, a newly installed city manager, possibly the most thin-skinned government official I ever met, wanted to end what he felt was my continuing negative reporting. Most of the stories were about how council members, despite denials, were making decisions without the public knowing, including deciding to fire his predecessor and hire him.

So the well-connected executive told underlings that he had connections inside the newsroom and intended to stop my inquiries.

Another time, a school board member, upset at our coverage, came in and talked to editors and complained. The stories were solid and hammered him for making unilateral decisions, intimidating staff and generally making a fool of himself.

Later, he told other board members and school administrators that the stories would end because he had talked to my bosses.

Of course, the pronouncements soon filtered back to me. Both times, I told my editor what I heard.

He would raise his eyebrows and smile. Then he told me, both times, it might be a good time to get those stories I was working on, one about the city official and another on the board member, in the paper.

I know it doesn't always happen that way, especially at small, local papers like ours.

Outside and inside the paper, people are always trying to influence reporters and editors.

Not all are insidious attempts to mislead us, but some are. The task is to know the difference and act accordingly. Sometimes even the people who believe they are hiding their true agenda hand us a nugget of information we can use to find the truth.

It's the attitude we try to have here. We don't always get it right, but for the most part we do. And when we don't get it right, we admit our mistake, find out what went wrong and fix it.

We also try to make sure reporters realize that they and government officials or public relation spokespersons on good days are friendly adversaries and on bad days are just adversaries.

Those who don't get that shouldn't, and usually don't, last long in journalism or at least not here.

Edward Barrera is the Metro Editor for the San Gabriel Valley

Newspaper Group.

www.insidesocal.com/editors

Posted by Edward at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

We get hundreds of e-mails a day, many we can't use because they are not connected to our area. This one we won't be using but was so interesting I had to post:
"Three Squares Greetings, a newly formed Los Angeles based company that designs greeting cards with very special and specific sentiments "For Those Who Can't Come Home" because they are in custody in penal institutions, has just announced its two new lines of greeting cards."
- The rest of the e-mail, sans contact info, is after the link. I have to wonder though with all the time inmates have, is this really a needed niche market? And what would the cards say?

Long Awaited Line of Greeting Cards Fill Void in Greeting Card Industry

A Special Niche For Inmates & Those Who Communicate With Them

Los Angeles, California, October, 2, 2007—Three Squares Greetings, a newly formed Los Angeles based company that designs greeting cards with very special and specific sentiments "For Those Who Can't Come Home" because they are in custody in penal institutions, has just announced its two new lines of greeting cards. The unique lines of greeting cards have special and appropriate messages that do not ignore the realities of incarceration. One line of greeting cards is for those who are incarcerated to send out to their relatives, friends and others they desire to communicate with on the outside, the other is for family, and friends of inmates, as well as others who wish to communicate with inmates. Three Squares Greetings acknowledges inmates and their situation with each distinctive card, thereby filling an industry void with a long awaited line of greeting cards, carving out a niche for inmates and those who communicate with them.

Company Founder and CEO Attorney Terrye L. Cheathem, asserts, “At Three Squares Greetings, we know that it has been impossible to find greeting cards that express difficult, sensitive, and sometimes mixed feelings to loved ones and friends who find themselves entrenched in the criminal justice system. For this reason, we have dedicated ourselves to creating a vast array of greeting cards for birthdays, holidays, and other events in the lives of those who just can’t come home. We are providing an option for inmates and those who love and communicate with them (their mother, father, grandparents, wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend, child, relative, minister, or friends) to send greeting cards with specific and special messages that empathize and synchronize with the incarceration. With sentiments such as, “Thanks for coming to court…” or “Thanks for bringing the kids to see me…all I really have to look forward to is seeing you and the kids…” as well as, “Sorry about your arrest…” “Money on your books…” “Haven’t forgotten about you…” “Keep your head up…” and, “Praying for you…” I believe that our cards can satisfy what they have been looking for in terms of a personalized greeting card that is truly reflective of their situation.”

Cheathem founded the greeting card company as a result of not being able to find a suitable birthday card for a relative who was in custody. Dismayed, she left store after store without an appropriate greeting card to send. She also recalled her observations of the anguish suffered by family members of those in custody. They longed for a greeting card that did not ignore the realities of incarceration, acknowledging the circumstances, and conveying heartfelt sentiments. So, Terrye decided to carve out a niche in the greeting card industry, by creating and publishing a unique line of greeting cards designed specifically to serve this population throughout the world.

Regarding Three Squares Greetings, Terrye further voiced, “We know there are few words to express thoughts and feelings when a family member, close friend, or the child of a close friend is arrested. Our mission at Three Squares Greetings is to make it easier for you to communicate with those loved ones. Three Squares Greetings does not ignore the reality of those facing the criminal justice system. We recognize that when our loved ones are locked away, we still love them, miss them, and think about them. We appreciate and realize how emotional it is to see a loved one in court during various court proceedings. Furthermore, we understand that our parents, children, brothers, sisters, spouses, other relatives and friends continue to be our relatives and friends, even when they can’t come home because they are in custody. An arrest or conviction doesn’t change our feelings, because we love them no matter what. This is what Three Squares Greetings says; this is what it’s about. It is in this way that I am thrilled to present Three Squares Greeting cards and hope they are appreciated by all.”

Inmates are indeed pleased and thankful for Three Squares Greetings greeting cards. One inmate at Mule Creek State Penitentiary in Ione, California avowed, “Now, thanks to Three Squares Greetings, we inmates have more options when sending greeting cards.”

Posted by Edward at 4:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's all about Halo, the video game: “If you want to connect with young teenage boys and drag them into church, free alcohol and pornographic movies would do it,” said James Tonkowich, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, a nonprofit group that assesses denominational policies. “My own take is you can do better than that.”
- Considering the Catholic Church priest scandals, wasn't there a better choice of words? (h/t gs)

Posted by Edward at 6:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been on the city desk for a little more than 2 months, but I've already seen the desperation that comes toward the end of the day when no major local news has happened. Panicked editors troll the wires or cross their fingers for a high-speed chase or some other minor catastrophe to occur so that we can have something juicy for the front page - the prayer usually includes a request for good photos too. We sometimes joke that if the day is too slow we'll have to start sending out staffers to create some news - but it's always in jest.

But you can always count on some slimeball* to take that joke and the desperate quest for news too far. This story, from the Times of India via The Guardian, recounts how one TV journalist in India tried to convince a distraught businessman to off himself and his family on camera. The journalist has since been arrested and charged with abetting* suicide.

*updated by kk.

Posted by Kate Kealey at 8:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We were under a withering spam attack over the last few weeks, so we had to turn off the comment sections. We hope it's fixed for now.

Posted by Edward at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

La Verne has a good reputation for being transparent in its local government. That's a good thing since the City Council appointed Richard Mckee to the planning commission Monday night. Too bad the open-government advocate doesn't live in some of our less than open cities.

Posted by Edward at 5:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)