Journalism

KNPR struggles with fundraising drive

Our local public radio station is at the end of the second week of it's quarterly fund-drive and with the extra week the donations are still more than $80,000 short. I gave up quite a while ago on the station because it doesn't serve us at all well. The only brief encounters I have are the clock-radio in the morning where I haven't setup a good podcast alternative yet. Apparently KNPR is aware that we listeners will turn to podcasting but there still seems to be a disconnect when it comes to how poor their services are for listeners in Southern Nevada. With that in mind here are some suggestions that might bring listeners back and get our donations to flow to them instead of the stations producing great programming:

USA Today fact checking comes up short on Colorado State's CAM the Ram

Much has been made lately about media outlets mis-quoting sources in articles. Often the sources are surprised but a story in Friday's USA Today shows just why they shouldn't be. USA Today did an article about college sports teams with live mascots. In a sidebar in the print version of the story they identify the Colorado State University mascot as a "Bighorn Sheep". A check of the university's recent news release reports (correctly) that CAM is a Rambouillet ram.

Ditching the print paper

Though it is heresy for someone with a degree in journalism I have to agree with Unclutterer's assessment that folks would be wise to drop print newspaper subscriptions. As the article points out even in the case of papers that have paid online subscription models (i.e. Wall Street Journal) the online subscription is cheaper and has features you'll never find between the pages in the morning. Candidly the only reason to get a print paper these days would seem to be a form on information snobbery of being able to show you get the New York or Los Angeles Times while the neighbors only get the Las Vegas Review Journal. Even with commutes and assuming not everyone has an iPhone there are tools like Google's offline news reader, not to mention countless desktop RSS news reader programs. The time has clearly come that if one's interest is really in information that the laptop has replaced the newspaper. If image is worth killing trees and you don't mind not having information on a business trip and the clutter a newspaper adds then by all means keep on with the print subscription.

One reason to blog

When I first heard the story of a fraud being perpetrated using a "horseback ride" I started blogging about it. I went in search of other sources online and found newspapers pointed to a previous scam that was similar to the current version. When I contacted those papers they stood by the stories they had written and didn't do anything about the evidence they'd been duped. It was then I thought that this scam should end now. It should never be repeated. It should not be possible for anybody to not know about the fraud or the scam artist behind it. A comment here this weekend suggests it has worked, at least once. A great day for blogging.

Taping an execution

Adam Curry says the video of Saddam Hussein constitutes a MSM tipping point. "Recorded on a cellphone by a single citizen in Iraq, seen worldwide the very next day," Curry's blog post said.

Call me cynical but I am not buying it. First, where are the videos shot by "single citizens" in Iraq? If the citizens of Iraq are taking video with their cell phones and posting it to the internet why are we not seeing the videos elsewhere? And why would an event as tightly controlled as the execution of a brutal dictator be so uncontrolled as to have someone show up without it being planned. Somewhat conveniently said video was pointed out to the main stream media and picked up and aired within hours.

Somehow we are to believe that the fingerprints of the mainstream media are not all over this "happenstance."

Truth in reporting

This will be a brief comment on a couple of stories out there today. First off there is the linkbait article suggesting Apple's days are numbered. To anyone who knows the market it's hard to take even as a parody but there would be temptation on some of our parts to pump the article in hopes of getting a few more (as yet unpurchased) Apple shares at reasonable prices. But then that wouldn't be ethical.

Then there is this piece of investigative journalism. The main problem is there doesn't seem to have been much investigation. The errors and omissions as well as morphing of time lines are horrendous in this article. You'll notice nowhere in the article does it mention the other businesses in California that benefit from the mutual aid agreements between the states, not even the other businesses in Sandy Valley. The article ends with the line that "not counting the motocross" there have been 300 calls in California handled by Clark County Fire. Taking even the highest figures for the motocross at the heart of the story there have been fewer than a dozen.

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