I. KTUU's headline reads:Opponents accuse Miller of wanting to repeal 17th amendment
According to the Fairbanks News-Miner (and reported at PA early yesterday):
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller told a Fairbanks audience Monday that he would back an amendment to repeal the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constititution.
Why would an opponent, drawing from a credible news source's attribution, be "accusing" Miller, when it appears that Miller proudly asserted his belief? You've got me.
The tone of KTUU's print piece on this is somewhat strange, turning the issue around from one of Miller having had made the statement in a public forum (not very well attended though - less than 200 in the Carlson Arena), to one of his opponents making accusations. Alaska journalism at its worst? No, but dismal.
II. For Alaska citizen journalism at its best, one needs look no further than the bombshell story broken Tuesday by Jeanne Devon at The Mudflats and at Huffington Post (where it was headlined for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon):
Internal Emails Suggest Palin to Run for President
AK Muckraker has managed to get hold of emails from within Tea Party Central that show how thin-skinned Todd Palin can be. They also point toward what I've been predicting will happen - Palin's announcement on February 6th, 2011, that she will be starting an exploratory campaign setup for a presidential run in 2012.
Why that date? It will be Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday. She uses Reagan as her most frequent prop, and although I'm sure he'd be turning over in his grave if he knew who it is that seems to invoke his spirit most frequently in American politics, Ronnie's 100th and at his Presidential Library is the most likely place for the announcement.
III. This is already beginning to look like Joe the Teabagger's worst week yet, but there may be a lot more in store for the next John Lindauer before Friday afternoon gives him a bit of respite and time to visit with close friends.
7 comments:
Wow ! Jeanne Devon is the pillar of Alaskan bloggers and KTUU is a bunch of Journalism 101 students.
Phil, do you have any idea, other than your time at KRAB, of how a newsroom operates ?
It's obvious that you don't.
Jeanne does important work, but for her own credibility she needs to do a better job of confirming sources, a concept that appears to be lost with the Alaskan bloggers.
The "iceberg" story, the supposed FBI investigation, the rumors of divorce, all of it is shoddy at best.
Anon @ 7:57 am,
I'm not getting your point.
Are you saying that the KTUU headline is accurate?
Are you denying that the Mudflats story is important?
Please address my questions specifically.
Anon @ 7:57
Your statement seem to put all the blogs together,most of the stories you use as examples were run on other blogs not the mudflats.
And the mudflats is very good at checking sources and letting people know when a posting is based on rumor.
What's that anchor's name on KTUU - Meagan? The overly skinny one with the dark hair -badly cut for her narrow face?
I've watched her many times with her barely controlled facial expressions and tone on other reports she's done; She is obviously a Tea Bagger and a Miller supporter.
I didn't see this particular piece, but I bet you she had something to do with it! Am I right?
That would be Megan Baldino. I won't make any comments on her political affiliation as I haven't seen any evidence pointing one way or the other.
Other than the fact that news rooms often print misleading headlines, I don't see any connection between your snippy comment and Phil's post. The POINT of the post was to show that the headline is misleading (which it is), and to comment briefly, but with good cause, that it doesn't show much journalistic competence when headlines are a poor match for the facts.
Asking that non-journalistic entities suddenly exhibit or adhere to honorable and ethical journalistic ideals is simply another mal-adaptive case of magical thinking.
I state that knowing full well how inadequately a self-described 'newsroom' of today actually works.
So-called newsrooms of today haven't a shred of journalistic ethics. They've collectively set those considerations aside long ago.
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