Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Herb Everett, who will lead Saturday's podcasting session at ConvergeSouth, did a podcast about ConvergeSouth, and you can listen to it by clicking on the link at this page. 1:42:06 PM   permalink   comment []

Duncan Black, a k a Atrios, will lead the session on Policing the Media at Converge. He tells us a little about it here. "Generally, my take is the more criticism the better and we should all - print reporters, news anchors, radio hosts, and bloggers - welcome it and be more willing to embrace our mistakes rather than running from them." 1:35:42 PM   permalink   comment []

Wharton went to Greenville, thinking about Greensboro. Please forward the link to your City Council rep. And if you can find any hold-outs in the blogging-isn't-journalism camp, send it to them, too. 9:52:55 AM   permalink   comment []

City press release: "With recorded rainfall at nearly a foot below normal, the City of Greensboro is encouraging citizens to voluntarily reduce their water consumption." We are much better positioned to deal with a drought than we were last time, but things are getting serious. "Greensboro's Water Shortage Response Plan provides for mandatory restrictions when the water supply drops to 150 days. Currently, the City's reservoirs have an estimated 170 days of water supply." 9:17:23 AM   permalink   comment []

DarkTimes: Tierney proposes a new, 50-cent-per-gallon gas tax, with the proceeds going to personal Social Security accounts. Even Grover Norquist is willing to consider it, he says. "A 50-cent tax increase would reduce driving but still yield nearly $70 billion in extra revenue annually, according to Peter Van Doren, the editor of the journal Regulation at the Cato Institute. There would be enough to put about $440 into the personal account of every worker now paying into Social Security." Kristof says "judicial activism" has brought many positive changes, but that legislation is the better way to go. "One of the most fundamental mistakes that liberals made after World War II was, time after time, to seek social progress through the courts rather than through the political process...court rulings can constitute fine justice and bad law." Conservatives will use judicial activism too, he warns. 9:09:11 AM   permalink   comment []

Facts gleaned from the obits: Nipsey Russell's real name was...Nipsey Russell. 9:03:37 AM   permalink   comment []

Patrick Eakes on falling out love with baseball: "After player strikes, management lock outs, and threats of even more work stoppages, my loyalty was worn down to the nub. It was also obvious almost a decade ago that baseball had been infiltrated by steroid puppies. "So I don't love the Braves or major league baseball, for that matter. I don't really hate MLB either. I just don't care anymore." That's exactly how I feel. I didn't make a decision, I had a realization. I'll follow it, from a distance. But it's not important to me anymore. 8:56:31 AM   permalink   comment []

Mickey McLean outlines the faith-blogging session he'll lead at Converge on Saturday. "We've all heard the old adage, 'You're not supposed to discuss religion or politics in polite company.' So why do so many people blog about these topics? Are social norms and etiquette different in the blogosphere than they are at your average genteel dinner party? Or have times just changed, and anything and everything is fair game for discussion and debate?" 8:52:44 AM   permalink   comment []

Phil Meyer: "Newspapers are responding by going into Internet businesses on their own, but it will never be the same because they have lost the monopoly power created by the high entry cost of buying a printing press." More: "Today's newspapers are stuck in the old hunter-gatherer model of journalism. But now we need information processing more than information production." Phil will be at Friday's Converge j-con. 8:40:34 AM   permalink   comment []

John Robinson on his paper's coverage of the Truth & Reconciliation process. "While there are a few things that I wish we had done differently, I think our coverage has been measured and appropriate." He says complaints about coverage are par for the course on controversial issues. That's true, but not germane to any specific case. The complaints about the coverage of this process are quite particular: that it was not undertaken as an ongoing project, but doled out piecemeal to different reporters from hearing to hearing, including on one occasion an intern; that there has not been substantive reporting on the Commission or its staff, which would have explained to the community what the process was and who was behind it; and that articles and headlines have sometimes been dismissive or negative. He also cites the work in the editorial section, which has indeed done plenty on this story. But that's not relevant here -- as people at the paper like to point out when it suits them, the news and editorial functions are separate. The complaints I've heard about the N&R's coverage are about the news coverage. JR says a decision was made not to put a team on the project, and to do routine news coverage of the hearings. In my view, the choice not to put a single reporter, or perhaps a rotation of two reporters, on the job from the start fragmented the coverage, and kept the paper and its readers from understanding that the hearings themselves were a vital part of the process. JR says Margaret Banks will be covering things from here, and repeats the comment that he made here last week, that this is a marathon not a sprint. That's good news. I appreciate the dialog, I think this is a great use of his blog, and I remain hopeful that they are listening over on Market Street. But the fact remains that the hearings have come and gone, and the monopoly daily newspaper in this town could have done much more to explain them to its readers. 8:34:23 AM   permalink   comment []

Rosh Hashanah. I just know I'll keep writing 5765 on my checks for a few weeks anyway. 8:13:15 AM   permalink   comment []