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Mar
9
UPDATE: PD says news of death or going digital-only is “baseless”
Filed Under Blogging, Business, Cleveland+, Media, Ohio, Politics, social media, Tech, Writing | 7 Comments
This post describes the best incidence I know of, so far, that screams for teaching media literacy.
Let’s start at the beginning.
I saw this tweet on Twitter because I follow the Twitter handle, “@themediaisdying”:
INTERESTING ; TIME : “The 10 major newspapers ‘that will either fold or go digital’” http://tinyurl.com/azofa5
I clicked on the tiny url link in that tweet and it brought me to a blog post at the blog of the website, Journalism.co.uk, a nearly 10 year old online publication put out by Mousetrap Media, described here as an “an independent online publishing company.”
The Plain Dealer is listed as the tenth major newspaper, on the list of ten papers that are predicted to either “fold or go digital.”
Like a good blog post, the post at blogs.journalism.co.uk included a link to where they got the list.
Here’s where they got the list:
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1883785,00.html
TIME.com, its business section. Here’s a screenshot, just so we all know what we’re talking about:
Now, at that article’s online location, there was a one paragraph blurb about the outlook for The Plain Dealer and I published that blurb in this blog post earlier today.
My post grabbed the attention of other bloggers who are interested in the PD and I also posted the information on The Moderate Voice, though I did not include the blurb about the PD there, since TMV is a nationally read blog with a truly national audience. I did, however, note in the headline of the blog post that the item was from TIME.
Why does any of this matter?
John Kroll of the PD, with whom I’ve always had and hope to always have a good relationship, left a comment on my post that’s timestamped 7:07pm. Here’s what he wrote:
The Plain Dealer would like to note that reports of our death are greatly exaggerated. Or, in the exact word of Publisher Terrance C.Z. Egger, “baseless.”
My experience of John is that he does have a good sense of humor, probably what some might call dry and so I appreciated the way in which he wrote this comment.
The hyperlink on the word “baseless” goes to this cleveland.com blog post:
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/03/publisher_calls_report_baseles.html
It’s titled, “Plain Dealer publisher says online report of paper’s imminent demise is ‘baseless’” and the byline is Patrick O’Donnell.
I’m not going to fisk or reprint the entire post. I would urge people who are interested to go and read it for themselves.
The most salient points of the post, in my opinion, are the following:
1. First, Terry Egger, the PD’s publisher, and O’Donnell, the writer of the article, provide information about the origin of the top 10 list. Specifically:
Though this [list and article] appeared on Time’s Web site and with a Time logo on Yahoo!, the report twas from an online-only site, 247WallSt.com.
…
“People put this out there and associate Time Magazine with it,” Egger said, upon hearing that another source produced the report. He doubted readers would notice that distinction. “It’s still the Time brand it’s associated with.”
2. Egger provides information in support of the health of the paper (and I believe just last week I read that Susan Goldberg told the group at the City Club that the paper operates in the black, I don’t remember exactly where I read that though so consider it just my memory and possibly fallable):
But Egger said The Plain Dealer and its parent corporation, Advance Publications, remain committed to producing news both in print and online.
“Every plan we have for the immediate future is to make that work,” he said.
…
Egger said that newspapers are having financial difficulties, but The Plain Dealer made money in 2008. Though it laid off a significant number of employees late last year, Egger said the paper budgeted to make money in 2009.
“Everybody’s got challenges and we’re going to figure them out,” he said.
3. Most of the remainder of the article provides information about the writer of the article and list, the sources he consulted and how he analyzed the PD the way he did. As Egger notes and the reporter confirms, although he says that he spoke to people at Advance (but would not name them), he said that he did not speak with anyone at the PD. Understandably, Egger was unhappy about that:
Egger bristled that the report did not include any comment from The Plain Dealer or Advance Publications. The report’s author did not include a response from any of the 10 publications or any indication he tried to reach them and they did not respond.
Sigh and take a deep breath. What is going on here?
Bottom line? Business in the 2009 news provision world as usual. That is, if you realize just how much news is now provided and consumed online. But there’s a sense in Egger’s reaction that he does not quite grasp this reality, no matter the lip service he may give to understanding that this is between TIME and its content providers.
Why do I make this conjecture?
Mostly because I wrote for Newsweek.com The Ruckus for several weeks last year, and Newsweek made it extremely obvious that I was a blogger and you could go see my content and my bio and everything else about me. TIME, on the other hand, is using a content provider and doing several things to blur the lines: the byline is for the content provider, but when you click on it, it goes to a TIME feedback screen. At the end of the article, there still is no information about the specific content provider.
In other words, it’s as if you’re reading a print publication and see (AP) or (REUTERS) – you know it’s a wire service providing content, it’s not a Plain Dealer reporter who wrote it, but you – the reader – have to just trust the PD, because you cannot follow up in any meaningful, immediate way like you can with appropriately linked and sourced online material.
Now, in the mind of the reader, the PD is still responsible to the extent that the PD contracts with those entities. But we know that the PD is trusting those entities to provide a certain agreed upon or understood quality.
And so, people who get their news primarily from online resources will trust them exactly the same way, unless you’re more media literate and, like me, come to expect far better linkage and transparency.
I’m sure it sucked to feel burned by TIME using a content provider that makes it seem as though TIME is predicting the demise of the PD. But this was the result of a business decision made by TIME.
Media literacy education legislation. That’s the best advice I can offer.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:52 pm March 9th, 2009 in Blogging, Business, Cleveland+, Media, Ohio, Politics, social media, Tech, Writing | 7 Comments
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Mar
9
Obama creates post, appoints Ambassador-at-Large for International Women’s Issues
Filed Under Barack Obama, Foreign Affairs, Government, Hillary Clinton, leadership, Politics, Whitehouse09, Women | Comments Off
Major hattip to RHReality Check.
US President Barack Obama announced Friday the creation of a new foreign policy position designed to tackle global women’s issues.
Obama named Melanne Verveer, an aide in former president Bill Clinton’s administration, as ambassador-at-large for international women’s issues. She will serve at the State Department under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Verveer will have to be approved by the Senate.
More about her at Wikipedia and from her lengthy bio at Vital Voices (two Republican women are honorary members of the board, listed at the very top: Sen. Kay Baily Hutchison and former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum Baker):
Melanne Verveer is Co-Founder, Chair and Co-CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international nonprofit that invests in emerging women leaders – pioneers of economic, political and social progress in their countries. Vital Voices builds the capabilities, connections and credibility of emerging social entrepreneurs to unlock their potential as catalysts of global progress. Through its leadership development and local empowerment programs around the world, Vital Voices works to expand women’s roles in generating economic opportunity, increasing political participation and protecting human rights. The Vital Voices Global Leadership Network of more than 5000 women in 85 countries represents the vital voices of our time.
The bio there will give you all the background re: her prior role in the Clinton Administration and many other roles she’s had over the years.
It appears that this announcement came in a late Friday afternoon batch of appointments, caught, in particular, by Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times.
From the announcement Sweet published:
Previously, Verveer served as Executive Vice President of People for the American Way, a civil rights and constitutional liberties organization where she played a key role in the passage of several landmark civil rights bills. She was Coordinator for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs for the U.S. Catholic Conference, Field Manager of Common Cause and worked in the U.S. House and Senate as Legislative Director and Special Assistant respectively. Verveer is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Women’s Foreign Policy Group, the Washington Institute on Foreign Affairs and Women In International Security.
The President’s decision to nominate an Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues is unprecedented and reflects the elevated importance of global women’s issues to the President and his entire Administration.
On paper, she certainly sounds incredibly well-qualified. This post, I assume, will go well with Sen. Boxer’s new subcommittee responsibilities for global women’s issues.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:16 pm March 9th, 2009 in Barack Obama, Foreign Affairs, Government, Hillary Clinton, leadership, Politics, Whitehouse09, Women | Comments Off
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Mar
9
[profanity alert] What do Jews do: The Women of Purim
Filed Under Holidays, Jewish, Judaism, leadership, Women | 1 Comment
There’s such a long break between holidays that I’d almost forgotten to blog about Purim. I did tweet about the Purim carnival we attended yesterday, including the mechanical bull. Though here’s shot of the jousting kids do blurry and padded enough so you can’t ID anyone:
You know, like many religions, the story remains the same, even if the celebration is a little different. So here’s a good post from BlogHer 2008′s Purim coverage about Esther and Vashti and mine from last year.
The big revelation I’ve had is that Vashti stood up to the pervy men while Esther used her wiles to save others. In their own way, both figured out how to survive and fulfill principles within the rubric of their time. Hard to see how the challenge has changed all that much.
Here’s how some others celebrate:
Vashti Wears Prada celebration with hip-hop:
On Monday, March 9, Chabad of the North Shore will host a live hip-hop concert as part of its Purim Holiday Celebration. Nosson Zand will be performing at the event.
Chabad of the North Shore, in conjunction with the North of Boston Jew Crew, welcomes the entire North Shore community to the “Vashti Wears Prada” Purim Celebration. This fabulous evening will be open to the entire community and will begin at 5:30 p.m. with a light kids’ dinner and a full Purim carnival, featuring face painting, fortune telling, crown decorating and more. The carnival will be followed by a full multi-media Megillah reading for the kids led by Layah Lispker, and an adults Megillah reading led by Rabbi Yoel Kranz. Following the Megillah readings delicious Italian cuisine will be served, setting the stage for a truly elegant, red carpet, real live children’s fashion show. All this will make way for the highlight event of the evening.
A Recession Kind of Purim, including key passages such as this (go to the link for the full script): Read more
By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:40 pm March 9th, 2009 in Holidays, Jewish, Judaism, leadership, Women | 1 Comment
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Mar
9
3/10/09 Deadline to apply for Progressive Women’s Voices media training
Filed Under leadership, Media, Women | 1 Comment
From the Women’s Media Center Progressive Women’s Voices training program:
The Women’s Media Center is a nonprofit media advocacy organization founded by Jane Fonda, Gloria Steinem, and Robin Morgan to make women visible and powerful in the media. The WMC is “changing the conversation” with our Progressive Women’s Voices program by making sure that there are plenty of qualified, authoritative, progressive women experts available to editors, reporters, producers, and bookers. Sadly, despite the numbers of women working in education, we rarely turn on the TV and see a woman – as I’m sure you are well aware. I would love to have a conversation with you about the PWV program, to give you a bit more info and to see if you are interested in applying.
Our first four classes are a truly stellar group, with experts in economics, foreign policy, reproductive rights, environmental issues, racial justice, voting rights, the history of feminism, immigrant communities, outsider cultures, national security, and many more areas of expertise. With our training and help, our PWV women have written Op Eds in the Washington Post and The New York Times, features for Elle and New York magazine, were quoted in USA Today, Forbes, Variety, Mother Jones, the Wall Street Journal, Slate, Salon, The New Republic, the Los Angeles Times, on the Associated Press and Reuters wires, appeared on Good Morning America, CNN, MSNBC, CBS Nightly News, Fox News, ABC News, CNBC, The Tyra Banks Show, PBS’s “To The Contrary,” Bill Moyers, on numerous NPR shows, and in hundreds of other significant media outlets. Full info is available on our program page:
http://womensmediacenter.com/progressive_womens_voices_program.html
Although I didn’t get accepted during their first round and I’m not available to attend the dates coming up for the second and third sessions this year, I’d urge women who think this might be something they’d love to do to apply or, if you have questions, contact the WMC.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:05 pm March 9th, 2009 in leadership, Media, Women | 1 Comment
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Mar
9
[video] The Party of No
Filed Under Barack Obama, conservatives, Government, leadership, Politics, Republicans, Whitehouse09 | 6 Comments
Hattip Progress Ohio.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:58 pm March 9th, 2009 in Barack Obama, conservatives, Government, leadership, Politics, Republicans, Whitehouse09 | 6 Comments
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Mar
9
Plain Dealer: #10 on TIME’s list of papers soon to fold or go digital
Filed Under Business, Cleveland+, Media, Ohio, Writing | 4 Comments
Read it and shake your head – because, again, with this kind of thought (that advertisers will soon realize that no one clicks on Internet ads and will then come back to the newspapers and save them – no, really, that’s what’s being suggested) being proffered by the professional journalist atmosphere, they’re only tempting the fates as they scrunch the blinders tighter.
Original story here, where they write this about the PD:
10. The Cleveland Plain Dealer is in one of the economically weakest markets in the country. Its parent, Advance Publications, has already threatened to close its paper in Newark. Employees gave up enough in terms of concessions to keep the paper open. Advance, owned by the Newhouse family, is carrying the burden of its paper plus Conde Nast, its magazine group which is losing advertising revenue. The Plain Dealer will be shut or go digital by the end of next year.
And the list from the first link in this post:
Time’s predictions for the next US papers to face the chop:
1. The Philadelphia Daily News
2. The Minneapolis Star Tribune
3. The Miami Herald
4. The Detroit News
5. The Boston Globe
6. The San Francisco Chronicle
7. The Chicago Sun-Times
8. NY Daily News
9. The Fort Worth Star Telegram
10. The Cleveland Plain Dealer
You can pull those blinders as tight as you want, but just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:31 pm March 9th, 2009 in Business, Cleveland+, Media, Ohio, Writing | 4 Comments
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Mar
9
Haveil Havalim #204, #205, #206 and #207 (Carnival of Jewish Blogging)
Filed Under Blogging, Carnivals, Israel, Jewish, Judaism, Religion, Writing | 2 Comments
I’ve fallen behind in linking to Haveil Havalim (Carnival of Jewish Blogging) so here’s an update:
#204 hosted at Here in HP
#205 hosted at Sarah’s View
#206 hosted at The Israeli Solution
#207 hosted at The Real Shliach
These carnivals cover a very broad range of thought on an also very broad range of topics related to being Jewish including but not limited to holidays, culture, anti-Semitism, humor, Judaism, the personal, politics, Torah and a lot of miscellaneous.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:39 am March 9th, 2009 in Blogging, Carnivals, Israel, Jewish, Judaism, Religion, Writing | 2 Comments
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Mar
9
Embryonic stem cells: so that no fearmonger should ever go hungry
Filed Under Barack Obama, conservatives, Ethics, Health Care, Politics, Science | Comments Off
If you’ve ever argued with someone who doesn’t have good arguments (or can’t provide decent evidence to support their side), you know that they start going to their next best thing until they either concede, walk away or just say, “Because I said so.”
Fearmongering has a similar path – if the things about which you want people to be scared either aren’t scaring them or have become completely impotent as things about which people are willing to get scared, you have to either find new ways to get people scared about that thing, or you need to find more things about which people should be scared.
The social conservatives are using the latter method. The Fairness Doctrine and FOCA are not happening things – they just aren’t. So now, they are moving on to fears they see in embryonic stem cells.
U.S. House minority whip, Eric Cantor (R-VA) opposes President Obama’s support for increased access to and funding of embryonic stem cell research because, he said this weekend,
“Frankly, federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research can bring on embryo harvesting, perhaps even human cloning that occurs,” Cantor said. “We don’t want that. That shouldn’t be done. That’s wrong.”
Odd that Cantor had just said that talking about embryonic stem cell research was an unnecessary distraction from talking about the economy, and then went on to talk about it. The Family Research Council calls Obama’s policy a “deadly executive order” – I can’t find anything on what they call waterboarding.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:19 am March 9th, 2009 in Barack Obama, conservatives, Ethics, Health Care, Politics, Science | Comments Off
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Mar
9
Erica Williams of Campus Progress chatting up the future w/C-SPAN
Filed Under leadership, Politics, Women | 2 Comments
What a fascinating young woman. When she talks about Michael Steele telling her that she is the future, he got that right.
Erica Williams of Campus Progress (which is connected to the Center for American Progress, which also sponsors Think Progress) was the guest this morning on CSPAN’s Q&A. She was excellent. You can read about the program here and there’s a link to the transcript as well. I thought they said that there would also be a podcast of it but I don’t see a link to that.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:04 am March 9th, 2009 in leadership, Politics, Women | 2 Comments
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