Showing posts tagged “media”
Fiona Morgan ·
16 Jun 2009, 12:28 PM ·
Comment
The North Carolina legislature got one step closer today to passing a bill that would prevent bullying and harassment of children, but not without some rhetorical fireworks from one of the measure’s most vocal detractors.
As Mark Binker reports for the Greensboro News & Record, the House Judiciary I Committee voted 9-5 in favor of SB 526, the School Violence Prevention Act, which would require school districts to adopt polices to counter bullying. The bill has already passed the Senate and is expected to reach the House floor this week
According to Twitter reports from the committee room, N.C. Rep. Paul “Skip” Stam, a Republican from Apex, argued vehemently against language in the bill that would specifically protect children from being bullied on the basis of sexual orientation. The bill also includes language about race and religion. Its supporters say policies that spell out the basis of the harassment are more effective. The coalition of supporters includes the state Parent Teacher Association and NC Pediatric Society.
Stam reportedly called same sex parents “more dangerous than second-hand smoke.”
Here are some highlights of the bullying discussion, presented in chronological order, with Twitter lingo intact. (Note: an @symbol before a name indicates that is the party’s Twitter username. #NCGA is a hashtag that indicates the post pertains to the North Carolina General Assembly.) :
@PPCNC [Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina] #ncga Stam now fear-mongering, anti-bullying bill will lead to marriage equality-I wish
@PPCNC #ncga Now Stam saying having same sex parents more dangerous than second hand smoke, really over edge now
@gregflynn Stam is repeating lie about “30 sexual orientations”. This is NOT in DSM-IV as definitions of SO. It’s a lie. #ncga
As bills fly quickly through the legislature during these last few weeks of the session, Twitter has become an increasingly valuable resource for finding out the status and hearing discussion of legislation. You can read these accounts by searching Twitter.com for the hashtag #NCGA (for North Carolina General Assembly).
You’ll see a mix of tweets (Twitter posts) from journalists, advocates and citizens of various political stripes. If you want to follow professional journalists’ posts, we highly recommend @LauraLeslie (WUNC radio’s capitol reporter), @binker (Mark Binker of the News & Record), @Josh_Ellis (of StateGovernmentRadio.com) and @Barry_Smith (of N.C.’s Freedom Newspapers).
North Carolina, media bullying bill, media, NC General Assembly, Paul Stam, twitter
Jennifer Strom ·
2 Mar 2009, 8:27 AM ·
1 Comment
Listen in as the Indy’s head honcho, Sioux Watson, chats with WUNC’s Frank Stasio on The State of Things at noon today.
Durham, Durham County, business Durham, media
Fiona Morgan ·
17 Feb 2009, 12:47 PM ·
Comment
After 32 years as a journalist, editor and publisher at The News & Observer, Ted Vaden is leaving for a public relations job at the Department of Transportation.
We wish Vaden well. After all the anxiety over layoffs at the paper, the new opportunity (and $117,000 annual salary) must be irresistible. The work public information officers do can be quite valuable.
But what does it say about the state of journalism that the guy whose job is to “[monitor] N&O coverage for fairness and accuracy and [serve] as a readers’ representative at the paper” will now be in charge of spinning for one of the most egregiously mismanaged and obfuscating agencies of state government?
N&O Publisher Orage Quarles III, to whom Vaden reports, told the Indy he doesn’t yet know if he will hire a replacement. Under pressure due to parent company McClatchy’s falling profits, Quarles recently announced there will be more staff cuts coming.
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media media, News & Observer, newspapers
Fiona Morgan ·
4 Sep 2008, 2:43 PM ·
Comment
Howard Weaver, vice president for news at The McClatchy Company, tried to go for a punchy lead in his blog post about how the press should handle the many stories swirling around the Republican vice presidential nominee.
“I believe I’d fire any reporter who wasted a chance to question Gov. Sarah Palin by asking a single question about pregnancies, DUIs or thuggish boyfriends.”
Weaver’s point is pretty simple: Reporters should be asking Palin tough questions about the economy and foreign policy; the personal stuff is a distraction.
Problem is, the post came the same day McClatchy announced more imminent job losses at its daily newspapers across the country. The News & Observer, for instance, which is owned by McClatchy, announced it is offering buyouts to 320 employees, including every full time newsroom staffer. This is after a long summer of buyouts, layoffs and wage freezes.
You’d better believe McClatchy’s rank-and-file employees read Weaver’s blog, Etaoin Shrdlu (named for the most frequently occurring letters in the English language because the phrase was used as filler by Linotype operators, back in the day when newspapers were making money hand over fist).
The lead itself became the story, thanks to a long collection of mostly anonymous comments. A sampling:
After these buyouts, there are no reporters left to fire….
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media McClatchy, media, News & Observer
Fiona Morgan ·
3 Sep 2008, 12:41 PM ·
Comment
Grab your parachute while you can. The News & Observer today announced it would offer buyouts to 320 employees — roughly 40 percent of its workers — including every full timer in the newsroom. More cuts to the paper itself are also on the horizon.
Today’s announcement confirms a report in the Indy last week that What’s Up, the weekly entertainment tab, would cease publication, with its content folded into the Friday features section. The N&O’s story also alludes to its parent company’s sale of real estate holdings — the Indy also recently reported that the company’s Chapel Hill headquarters on Franklin Street is up for sale.
The only people celebrating this news are influence-peddling politicians and incompetent bureaucrats The N&O has been doggedly reporting on all year.
media media, News & Observer
Fiona Morgan ·
3 Sep 2008, 12:03 PM ·
Comment
WUNC radio reporter Dave DeWitt has a good media story today on how the local newspaper squandered its head start on the Web. WRAL is beating The News & Observer as the area’s leading online news site — in fact, DeWitt reports, “The Triangle is one of the very few places in the country where a local TV website gets more visitors than the website of the largest local newspaper.
DeWitt reports that WRAL is succeeding in large part because online readers want crime, traffic and above all, weather, all of which a TV station — this one in particular — does well. It doesn’t matter that The N&O actually posts more content throughout the day.
“In the end,” DeWitt says, “the power lies with the person who searches for the news they want during their lunch hour or before they leave work to go home. And more and more, that person is choosing a quick check of I-40 traffic over a well told story.”
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media media, News & Observer, WRAL, WUNC
