I posted the following at one of the ADN's blogs about a half an hour ago. The letter is based on the following quote by ADN Editor, Pat Dougherty:We take our responsibilities as Alaska’s largest news organization very seriously. Whether we are covering public corruption or the homefront consequences of the Iraq war, the effort to build a gas line or the effects of global warming in Alaska, we know that if we don’t do the story, it may not get done.
Both R. J. Dillon of the Fairbanks News-Miner/An Alaskan Abroad and I take serious issue with your undeserved moment of hubris.
Dillon wrote "And I thought my ego was out of control.
"This from the newspaper that has a part-time Washington, D.C., correspondent and no reporter in Juneau or the Valley (or at least they just got rid of one Mat-Su scribe). Does the ADN even have a military beat anymore? And I can't remember the last time an ADN reporter actually ventured off the road system to do a story.
"All scandal, all the time does not equal good statewide coverage."
I differ with Robert on some of the details, but he hit the nail on the head. I feel like the ADN has a decent stable of outstanding, award-winning reporters being led by a management team who totally misunderstand how to apply that talent.
I feel that you've handled aspects of your transition to interactive web presence rather well this past year. But, as an example, your current search for community bloggers, as covered by Steve Aufrecht at What Do I Know?, shows how clearly your paper's ties to old forms will both hold your newsmaking ability back and possibly lead to the ultimate demise of the paper itself.
As Aufrecht poses in his second article about Kathleen McCoy's efforts to interest community councils and others in participating in the ADN "community blog" efforts, an immediate question one can ask is "will the ADN recommend its own blogs over those who don't participate in their agreement [I'm paraphrasing]?"
The reality of the other side of your conceited "if we don’t do the story, it may not get done," is the truth of it on more levels than you consider. How many thousands of words has the ADN devoted to the sorry story of Chris McCandless, or to bragging about how controversial Craig Medred's views on McCandless are?
Yet, it appears to me, you've entirely missed a far more interesting story , that of Erin McKittrick and Bretwood Higman. A search request of your archives came back with Did you mean Erwin McKittrick AND prettied Hinman[?]
I know for sure that some of the ADN's reporters are aware of this incredibly epic and absolutely Alaskan story, so nobody can say the ADN isn't aware that the story is there, and is being covered by others. I've been, and other Alaska blogs have been covering their trek by pack rafts, hiking boots and skis from Elliot Bay to Unimak Island.
And your web interface is incredibly klutzy in many ways. The architecture of your web interface is bizarre, with many isolated niches for information, displayed in confusing ways. As in "Which of the two editor's blogs did Pat write his announcement on this time?"
To illustrate how inconvenient your interface is, I'm going to post this letter on my site, with hyperlinks, within the next hour. More readers will see it there by Monday than would have seen it at this well-hidden blog in days. And that isn't hubris.
There are many other important Alaska stories out there which ARE being covered, but NOT by the ADN. Many.
You owe each and every Alaska media outlet earnestly covering these events a full apology, Pat...
photo of Patrick Dougherty courtesy of the Anchorage Daily News
6 comments:
Perhaps Pat can explain why Total Points Muckraker covered the Ben & Ted Stevens scandal before Ted's raised Girdwood chalet was raided by the FBI, and why they beat ADN on the Dumb Young Coconut Grove illegal earmark story.
ADN has really gone downhill since the Howard Weaver days. It's a real scandal that they no longer have full time Mat-su, Juneau, and Fairbanks bureaus, and ridiculous that they only have a shared "McClatchy Bureau" in DC instead of an actual ADN reporter.
Daugherty, remember, is the wimp who caved in when Frank the Bank leaned on the ADN about Doogan's columns that spoke truth to power. He was also the editor that drove the once great Alaska Advocate into the ground.
harpboy - I'd forgotten that story. Shows you how many layers of ineptitude Dougherty is responsible for since Weaver's exit.
Wha wha whaaa
Start your own newspaper already.
anon,
that's sorta what is happening here...
Dougherty is a suit. He arrived at mid-level management in the McClatchy heirarchy by climbing a corporate ladder in competition with other mid-level managers, not a journalism ladder, and not a community ladder. The terms of Dougherty's career have to do with advertising revenue and readership. Now what does it tell you when Dougherty is compelled, without any competition, to reorganize the format of ADN's print and web content? Most likely, Dougherty is getting the McClatchy word about their ratio of revenue-to-staff & fixed costs. Dougherty's thinking is vertical, and it shows.
You, Mr. Munger, own your own business in Alaska, and all that implies. So long as you clearly understand your service and the terms of engagement, you are always going to have the quality advantage over a McClatchy operation and the Doughertys of the world. Heck, that is how the old underdog ADN won the contest with the Times.
You are flirting with that which ADN and the new owners of KTUU will increasingly need - quality content. They do not understand how to get quality content from Alaska without expensive overhead. ADN and AP and Reuters and KTUU will not be your competition - they are going to be your market.
With respect, rather than pounding on Dougherty, perhaps a little thinking about how you could help solve his problem, as a reliable high quality source of real, statewide Alaska news, about real people and real communities would be in order. However you form it, the 'Alaska Progressive' could be a substantial, high quality byline. Darwin rules.
polarbear - some excellent food for thought.
I am looking for quality content, provided by other people, as well as my own. I'm hoping that through keeping up with technological, communications, political and societal changes here in Alaska, that places like PA will become new, rapidly evolving media nodes.
You're right, that we have structural advantages over places like the ADN, for a number of reasons. It is sad that so much talent at MSM outlets just keeps on getting used below its potential because to use it to investigate thoroughly might scare away ad revenue, or might offend friends and neighbors.
As a prominent Mat-Su Valley GOP power broker - Robert Hall - told me during the Kohring trial, I'm more "idea-driven than power driven." I'm still not quite sure what he meant, but I do like the idea of many viewpoints contesting for validity, rather than that of ideas packaging themselves for "shelf space."
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