I was amused by the most recent response:
Which of those were scoops? You may have had something posted FIRST, but other media outlets had to get interviews, check facts, write stories void of personal opinion and according to AP style, etc. I know for a fact at least half of those stories weren't picked up by journalists or editors who read this blog!
Sure, there are some who read this blog and consider it a good source for news. I consider it gossip, not news. Anything with a source has already been reported.
Bloggers aren't journalists.
Period
I normally would let this go by except that it appears this comment came from the Joplin Globe building. If this is the attitude a majority of Globe reporters have (and I don't believe it is), then whoever Globe management selects to succeed Ed Simpson has my complete sympathy.
Which of those were scoops? Why does it not surprise me that there is someone at the Globe who does not recognize a scoop when he or she sees one?
And while it is true that I seldom conduct interviews, anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis has more than ample evidence that I know where to find records and documents to back up my reporting. Unfortunately, I have seen stories in Missouri newspapers that indicate few reporters know how to use documents. Many political reporters believe they have done their job if they call a Democrat, then call a Republican, then call it a day.
I also know for a fact that more than half of the stories I write have not been, and will not be, picked up by the Globe or other area media outlets. The attitude that if the traditional media does not think a story is a story then it is not one could be the reason why newspaper readership in the United States continues to decline at an alarming rate.
And I love the AP style comment. The reader is making it sound as if writing in AP style slows down the process, or somehow makes writing a news story more difficult.
This nonsense of a story not being a story until the Joplin Globe considers it one could be one of the reasons why this blog's readership continues to grow. It also could explain why the Joplin Daily, Joplin TriState Business and the Joplin Business Journal have been able to establish footholds in the metro area.
As for whether this blog constitutes journalism, I leave that for the readers to decide. I don't believe all bloggers are journalists. But the practice of journalism is not limited to those who work for traditional print or broadcast media outlets...fortunately for readers.
13 comments:
I think I know where the last comment came from. Let me explain their position. Many of the local journalists you criticize and gloat over beating to stories are young people fresh from college who are being robbed of their idealism by a miserly corporation. They are compelled to work miserable hours at pitiful wages to pursue a career that they consider worthwhile but that their many critics disdain.
They see you as someone who has left the field yet comes and lectures them on how to do their jobs. You can use your skills whenever you like and select whatever story strikes your fancy, pounce on it and then gloat at your victory. You are not under any obligation to cover a beat, answer calls from irate sources or the local gadflies. Yet, they must “feed the beast” everyday no matter what happens. No one calls and complains when the Turner Report doesn’t come on time. You are never forced to decide whether to cover a murder trial or ice cream social. The journalists you criticize must cover many stories or events each day over a wide geographic area. Each story must be structured in a certain fashion and contain specific elements or one of the many bosses or critics will pounce.
The newsrooms of the Globe, Daily and the local television stations are bare. The Globe alone once had more reporters than all of the current outlets combined. Please direct your disdain for the current state of the local media to the executives residing at 3500 Colonnade Parkway in Birmingham, Ala., who are more interested in promoting golf courses than serving communities; to the executives in Fairport, N.Y., who must now answer to shareholders instead of readers; to Perry Sook, who is more interested in bilking a dime from cable companies than making sure audiences have access to local news; and to the management of Saga Communications, who will always consider this nothing more than a small market.
And your blog is somewhere between gossip and journalism. I think it’s something like an opinion page.
Well said. I've always contended that if Randy was as good as he thinks he is then media outlets would be knocking his door down to have him in thier newsrooms. Their is a reason he's teaching Junior High kids and not working at a local newspaper. It's doesn't seem too hard to figure out.
I have a great sympathy for the working reporter. In fact, nearly all of my criticisms have been with the corporate bosses who are responsible for the sorry condition some of our local media outlets are in these days. In fact, I have been quick to praise the work done by many reporters, from the Globe and elsewhere, under trying circumstances. Good reporters have been underpaid, overworked, and allowed to move elsewhere, while the ones who remain behind are forced to produce an artificial quota of stories per day or per week.
As for the second comment, I received a fairly steady supply of offers for the first few years I was out of journalism, but the offers eventually did stop coming, when people finally realized I wasn't just teaching until I could find another newspaper job. As the first comment noted I am able to pick and choose my stories. I don't have to supply advertising copy for a never-ending series of special sections and niche magazines created because of the journalistic bankruptcy of the people in charge of our area print media. Besides, you also have to take into consideration the woeful pay area journalists receive. I can't afford to take a $5,000 to $10,000 a year pay cut to work as a reporter.
Journalists should be paid more and allowed to do some work of substance. I haven't seen any indication that anything of that nature is going to happen.
riddle me this batman - did you actually give someone the opportunity to leave an anonymous post on this site only to call them out? is that the way this transpired or did the responder leave the identity "from inside the joplin globe" when replying?
Truly anonymous posts are hated on this blog! The creator/typist of this slag pile of digital bits attempts to trace from where all posts are originating and fron whom. Paranoia runs deep and negative or opposing views are not particularly welcome.
Bloggers are not Journalists, they have no editor! They serve only their own whims and interests.
I like the comment about journalists having to write basically Ad copy to survive in a modern newspaper. It's right above the Ad somewhere down in this blog for Randy's newest tree-killer paperback "book."
Geez... is this the best we can do as far as commentary in Joplin?
Well, you could always reprint what the AP puts out. Oops. You and all the other area newspapers already do.
The statement about this blog czar hating anonymous posts is absolutely true. Mr. Turner seems to want to spend every waking moment trying to trace any post that refutes what he says. When the post is supposedly "traced" then the conspiracy theorist in him begins. Who knows if he even knows where the post comes from. He could be fabricating stories to fit this "conspiracy theory" of his. You have to have a lot of free time on your hands. He added the word verification box below the comment section, which serves absolutely no purpose, because the anonymouse website won't load it. (although it has been reported and they are fixing this problem soon!)
I wondered why the cowardly Anonymouse comments had disappeared. The only reason I added verification, and it is the reason why most bloggers add it, was to eliminate the spam comments directing people to websites for everything from stocks to Viagra. I have no problems with anonymous comments or I could have very easily fixed this blog so that anonymous comments could not be left on it at all. The only times I have mentioned who has a certain IP address is when it has a direct bearing on the slant a commenter has, as was the case the other day. And I was accurate about the location of that comment. If I remember right, the original Anonymouse comments all came from someone who was attacking (and greatly twisting the truth beyond recognition as he did so) any posts I made about Gary Nodler. I encourage all comments, anonymous or otherwise, except for those which contain obscenities, or those which are clearly out of line with inappropriate personal or sexual comments about anyone whether they be public or private individuals.
But there you go again showing your disdain for anonymous comments by calling them "cowardly" while at the end of your comment you say you encourage them? You cannot have it both ways by talking out both sides of your mouth. You encourage them until they don't suit you?
Perhaps I need to use one-syllable words so you will understand, but I will try anyway. It is not the anonymous comments that are cowardly, though there are some that will say things under the cloak of anonymity that they would never have the courage to say to someone's face; it is a person who is so afraid of his identity being revealed that he not only posts anonymously, but he does it through a second cloaking device. But then again, you are already aware of how I feel about this, since I wrote about this the last time someone was using the "anonymouse" service.
No need to use one-syllable words as I would put my intellignece, education, and job history up against yours everyday. You will always come up short in that department. You are a complete disappointment to education and, dare I say, journalism.
This one is too easy: I bow to your superior intellignece, only I usually spell it intelligence.
Wow....is that all u have old man.....a typo? You really proved your point! Congrats! Stick to one syllable words. It suits you better.
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