But I’ll be heretical enough to ask whether investigative journalism is what the public most wants from the press, whether chronic suspicion — as opposed to skepticism — can breed chronic cynicism, whether ever-sparer journalistic resources are best put to bringing down the bad guy or to helping us in our daily lives. What is the proper calling of journalism?
Category: Media
Errol Morris Interview
Errol Morris discusses advertising and his recent documentary, the Fog of War in this interview.
HuffPost: But there’s certainly been criticism, especially with McNamara, that you may not have pushed hard enough.
Morris: In truth, I wish I had done something like that when he went on and on about the Gulf of Tonkin incidents. Didn’t we try to provoke them? A number of people have criticized me and the movie for giving a false impression or what they consider to be a false impression of those events.
HuffPost: You and Eric Alterman had a conflict about this issue in the film, about footage that may or may have existed showing McNamara discussing secret intercepts regarding the Gulf of Tonkin.
Morris: Right. Alterman just engaged in hand-waving. It’s sort of, “You’re not a historian so why should I listen to you?” I’m not a big enthusiast of that kind of argument. It’s like in Mr. Death, Fred Leuchter, the Holocaust denier, has a degree from BU in history. Does that mean that his historical views are more valid? No.
I’m always puzzled when people ask if a film is true or false. Fog of War, true or false? Fahrenheit 911, true or false? Sorrow and Pity, true or false? Isn’t what interests us about documentary film, that there is a claim that relates to the world and hence does have truth value? You can think about things that are said by people and think, is this true, is this false, what is this?
Political Math
Mary Lazich comments on the political spin around small changes to the State’s UW Budget (the budget is going up, just not quite as much as Governor Doyle wants). Doyle refers to this as a “cut” while Lazich corrects his math:
There are two ways to do simple math. There is the way most everyone does it. And there is the way Governor Jim Doyle does it.
As a member of the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee entrusted with crafting the state budget, I voted with the majority to approve a package to give the University of Wisconsin System a slight increase in state aid over the next two years. The increase amounts to $9 million.
Nevertheless, the governor could not resist issuing a news release referring over and over again to “cuts” he called “senseless.” Apparently in the governor’s world of fuzzy math, an increase is considered a cut.
The fact is the Joint Finance Committee gave the UW System more money for the next two years. The UW System is not being shortchanged. It receives close to $1 billion a year. That is billion with a “b.” Funding for the UW System accounts for close to 8% of the entire state budget.
Matt Pommer, writing in the Capital Times also referred to this change as a “cut”. He doesn’t mention total state support anywhere in the article. We’re better off getting our facts right. There’s no doubt that education funding at all levels has its challenges, but we do currently spend a great deal of money on education, at all levels. Choices must be made, perhaps there are things the State should not fund, allowing additional cash for education purposes.
Finally, Madison’s recent school referenda initiative was also somewhat guilty of this. The questions were often phrased as costing a taxpayer no more than a Latte per day (avoiding any mention of the current, growing school taxes that property owners already pay). Transparency is critical to public support. Our politicians, and some writers, have a ways to go on this matter.
AJR on Lee Enterprises, Parent of the Wisconsin State Journal
At the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison, Bill Wineke, the books editor and a columnist, recalls a time in the early 1970s–he’s been there since ’63–when he wrote a column that was distributed to about 15 Lee papers.
After a number of weeks, the State Journal decided to syndicate the column and asked the papers to pay 50 cents each, for postage. Every one of them dropped it.
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Ron Seely, science and environment reporter at the Wisconsin State Journal, said in late April that his paper was leaving two key jobs unfilled: a regional reporter position and an assistant city editor job. “That makes it harder on our already small staff,” he said. “That’s frustrating.”
Jason Shephard take a look at the local daily newspaper business in the June 2, 2005 Isthmus – available now. Shephard mentions Lee’s 20% profit margins along with a few local reporter’s comments.
Madison Commons Project
Kristian Knutson on the UW Madison J School and Capital Newspapers Project (backed by a $12K grant):
The Madison Commons Project looks promising as a media literacy venture, but there are several questions are raised by its structure. These are asked below the fold.
Rarely do new initiatives result from a top down process. Knutson muses on generating “free content” for the newspaper world.
Dane101 on Local Newspapers Credibility
Two months after community controversy first surfaced over the ethics of Wisconsin State Journal-published Capital Region Business Journal and the advertiser membership of its accompanying advisory board, Madison’s largest newspaper is working to maintain its credibility.
President Visits Milwaukee Web News Firm
President Bush made an interesting choice during his visit to Milwaukee today, stopping to say hello to the folks at www.onmilwaukee.com. The legacy publication, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel mentioned the visit and the domain!
More Wal-Mart Supercenters?
The Daily Union Editorial Page:
That said, we can’t help but notice that the Daily Union staffers have been receiving more than their fair share of “thank-yous” of late, and particularly since May 3. That was the day we reported that the Jefferson Common Council decided 5-3 to ignore high circulation figures and drop the Daily Union after nearly two decades as the city’s official newspaper. Apparently a lot of our Jefferson readers now want us to know that they, at least, appreciate our efforts. Their pats on the back have felt nice.
Conversely, the stabs from five aldermen who perceive our coverage of municipal meetings as biased and erroneous have not. They’ve pointed, in particular, to one discussion on Wal-Mart in which proponents claim we slanted our front-page story against a SuperCenter being built in Jefferson. We’ve also misinterpreted quotes recorded on tape, they say.
New York Times to charge for some Online Articles
The Capital Times Holds a Town Meeting
Click to view a larger version of this photo |
The Capital Times held a Town meeting at Ancora Coffee on Monroe St. this evening. While the crowd was thin (total of 25 or so people, a number from the paper) this event is a useful idea.
The way we all obtain information has changed so dramatically, and continues to do so, it’s difficult for me to see the daily newspaper surviving, given the current economics. Weekly and Sunday publications have a better shot, I think – maybe. The trick for the Cap Times is to figure out how to migrate their local coverage into the internet era AND change the way they publish. I’m not sure that their current approach to the internet makes any sense – simply repurposing newspaper content online. |
Having said all that, there will always be a market for excellent reporting. My youngest attended the town meeting and wrote up an article, for publication here 🙂
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