Arizona's Own Espresso Pundit

Let's Build a Newspaper

The old newspaper model is dead.  The body is still warm and it will be a long time before rigor mortis sets in, but the model is dead.   I don’t know what’s going to replace it, but the days of a newspaper owning a downtown high-rise filled with 2500 full time employees who use a $100 million press to deliver a four-pound bundle of paper to 400,000 people is coming to an end. 

The new model will obviously have a major Internet component, but that doesn’t mean that a brick and mortar company with lots of employees and a huge printing press can survive merely by shifting its product to the net. 

People ask me what the newspaper of the future (NOF) is going to look like.  My response is two words.  "Open Source".  The NOF will be written by scores of volunteers.  Elected officials, state agencies, political candidates will file stories directly to a common website.  They will be followed by waves of commenters, bloggers, cartoonists and reporters. 

Folks ask me how the NOF will eliminate bias.  I ask “you mean eliminate the bias like the Mainstream Media has eliminated the bias?”  You won’t eliminate bias; the NOF will embrace the bias. If you  get a story from Congressman Shadegg’s office or Giffords’ Office, you can consider the source.  The comments section will be a vehicle to respond and other reporters/bloggers can respond as well

I think people are tired of having their news filtered and diluted through the media.  They want their news straight.

So let’s build a newspaper.  I’m opening up my other website “Espresso Straight News” to scores of people who want to build an open source online newspaper. 

If you work for a state agency, elected official, candidate, utility, or municipality and you want to post news or agendas directly, just email me for a password.  If you have always wanted to blog, write, comment, draw or whatever—email me for a password. 

Pick a topic.  Want to write about sports, lifestyle, local politics?  Welcome aboard. 

And if you don’t want to write the news, but you are looking for news straight from the source, check out espresso straight news.  It's going to take us a while to build it, but I think you will see the Newspaper of the Future. 

Chuck Shipley Has Passed Away.

This just in from ATRA.

To: ATRA Members

From: Kevin McCarthy

It is with deep regret that I inform you that Chuck Shipley passed away sometime this morning.  I do not have any information on the cause of death at this time.  I will pass along further information regarding services when they are available.

Chuck was a long time ATRA member and a dear friend.  Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.

Good Guy Bias

The most common example of media bias is what I call "Good Guy Bias."  That's when someone does something completely outrageous but the media overlooks it because he's such a good guy.  In other words, he has the right political persuasion. 

Here's a great example of Good Guy Bias.

First the background.  Child Protective Services is a disaster.  Children are dieing while under CPS supervision and occasionally while in CPS foster care. 

Rep. Jonathan Paton has done the most to expose the problems with CPS and is calling for hearings that are open to the public. 

Paton, a Republican and vice chairman of the Government Committee, says CPS must be more open with its work in order for lawmakers and the public to know if the agency is doing its job. He wants to make the findings of the committee hearings public and argues that CPS' confidentiality should end with the death of a child.

In fact, Paton has even filed an affidavit on behalf of the Star in a lawsuit to get access to the information. 

Standing in the way of that access are two other State Representatives. 

Hershberger, a Republican, and Bradley, a Democrat, warn that lawmakers who don't fully understand the extremely sensitive, potentially dangerous and grinding work of Child Protective Services can do more harm than good with their push for openness.

Then we get this bombshell.

Bradley, who runs La Paloma Family Services Inc., a nonprofit that operates residential care facilities and foster care that handles children in CPS' care, said more than 90 percent of kids in La Paloma's care are affected by substance abuse in the family.

"The fact we have to go up and explain why substance abuse treatment is so important to child welfare is ludicrous," he said.

It turns out that Bradly receives direct financial benefits from CPS contracts.  He openly advocates for more CPS funding, claims jurisdiction in oversight hearings and insist that those hearings should be held in secret.

This conflict is well known at the Capitol.  It's simply not reported.  Even in this article, Bradley is not criticized for his conflict, the information is provided as background. 

Can you imagine if a Conservative had direct financial ties to a troubled agency and openly advocated for additional funding and insisted he be allowed to conduct investigations and that the results should remain secret? 

Bradley is good guy.  His contract is with state agencies, not private industry.  It's not like he is a conservative who owns a daycare, or advocates for tax decreases.  HE advocate for more funding.  Sure it's a conflict, but their heart's in the right place.

Update:  The comments are mentioning Yarbrough and I should have been more clear that I was thinking of Yarbrough when I wrote this piece. 

Yarbrough is an example of the opposite treatment.  The alleged conflict is much less direct than Bradley's.  Indeed, the Tribune reporter conceeded in the piece that there was no conflict.  But the story was A1 above the fold. 

Bradley on the other hand has a real conflict.  He has a direct contract with CPS and he's fighting on CPS's behalf--over the Star's objections--to keep the CPS investigation secret.

Yet, no paper has questioned Bradley's conflict and the Star only uses it as background.  The only reason that the media has been silent about Bradley is that he's a Good Guy.

(The classic example of Good Guy Bias is when Eddie Basha compared Wal Mart to Nazis and the ADL didn't object.  I wrote about it here in October of 2004.  Espresso Pundit had, like, 20 readers then, so you probably missed it.  At the time I called it the "Basha Defense" instead of "Good Guy Bias".  But that would be confusing now.  That's because, despite the fact that Basha is a former Democratic Gubernatorial nominee and has spent a lifetime advocating for "Good"' causes, he refuses to kiss the Union ring so he's no longer tolerated by the Democratic Elite.  Basha is no longer allowed to use the word "Nazi" with impunity because he is no longer a Good Guy.)

   

Space Junk

One of the advantages of incumbency is the ability of elected officials with higher political aspirations to use taxpayer money to increase their name recognition and build a grass roots network.  Some of this activity is a legitimate part of the job and some crosses the line into campaigning.  It's the elected official's responsibility--with the help of a vigilant media--to ensure that the line isn't crossed. 

At the ASU Law School for example, Attorney General Terry Goddard has a satellite office.  I've walked by it hundreds of times and never gave it a second thought.  After all, the law school is a resource for the entire legal community.  There are pro bono clinics, mediation clinics and it's not surprising that the AG has an office there. 

But then I saw this.   

SCOTTSDALE - The Arizona Attorney General's Office has chosen the Granite Reef Senior Center in Scottsdale for the site of its 35th satellite office.

Thirty five satellite offices?  Give me a break.  That's an example of using state resources to build a grass roots network.  Each office comes with its own opportunity to groom volunteers, issues press releases and conduct stunts. 

Here's a good example.

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard will be in Oro Valley Wednesday to dedicate the attorney general's new Oro Valley Satellite Office, according to a press release.

Or you can stage cool events.

(Phoenix, Ariz. – July 12, 2007) Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard is inviting Pima County residents to join him for the dedication of the Attorney General’s Oro Valley Satellite Office at 2 p.m. Wednesday, July 18. The public is invited to meet Goddard and staff and volunteers from the Attorney General’s Community Services Program.

Also that day, Attorney General Goddard and AARP will host a Shred-a-Thon from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in an effort to prevent identity theft.

What: Satellite Office Dedication and Shred-a-Thon
When: Wednesday, July 18
Time: Dedication: 2 p.m. Shred-a-thon: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Where: AARP Tucson Information Center, 6700 N. Oracle Rd., Suite #331

A few satellites are a good thing.  But NASA has learned that too many satellites are merely dangerous space junk.  Goddard needs to learn the same lesson. 

The Path to Power

The Republic's Richard Ruelas has written an article about the Men's Grill at the Phoenix Country Club and it includes this interesting tidbit. 

The president of the Nucleus Club, former Democratic state senator Slade Mead, said the club did not consider the separate grills a problem. "It's never been an issue," he said.

In case you are not familiar with the Nucleus Club, here's how the club describes itself.

The Nucleus Club raises a steady stream of funds for the Maricopa County Democratic Party and its grass-roots operations, while providing a regular meeting place for people interested in current events and politics.

I'm not going to make a big deal about an arm of the Democratic Party meeting in the last remaining venue that is segregated by gender.  The Republican Party has always been in the forefront of integration.

But notice how Ruelas describes Mead "former Democratic state senator Slade Mead."   That's an understandable mistake.  After all, Mead is the president of a Democratic fund raising organization and he's a former Senator who consistently voted with the Democrats and was an invaluable asset to Governor Napolitano.

But Mead was elected as Republican.  He switched parties and unseated Republican Senator Lori Daniels by blasting her from the right.  Considering Mead's history and current leadership role in the Democratic Party, it's time for the media to realize that Mead's brief term in the Senate was no accident.  It was a well orchestrated dirty trick. 

Segregation and Dirty Tricks.  It sounds like Mead's a fan of Lyndon Johnson's early work. 

Here's the Letter

I mentioned earlier that the Republic has decided not to distribute the paper in Tuba City and Page.  You won't be able to read it on the left, so click here for a copy of the letter that the paper is sending out.

 

Will the Last One to Leave Please Turn Out the Lights

Here's an internal Republic email. 

On the eve of Jodie's last day, here's one more dose of bittersweet news.

Hal Mattern is leaving the paper after 28 years to take a job as director of communications and magazine editor at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.  His last day will be on (or about) Aug. 1.

For the past three-plus years, the smooth-writing Hal has recorded the lighter side of business in the daily Buzz, and before that covered nearly every beat imaginable in business and at the state Capitol.

As with Jodie's move, it's a great opportunity for him, but a loss for us.

Details to come on how we will regroup ... but be assured that we will!
Your suggestions, expressions of interest in the Buzz job and other biz openings, etc., are always welcome.

The Governor is Right

I've been waiting a couple years to write that headline.  (Now I can point out how fair and balanced I am.)

Here's the Guv's point.

Some business criticism of the state's new employer sanctions law against hiring of illegal immigrants is exaggerated, Gov. Janet Napolitano said Wednesday.

She probably read it in Espresso Pundit first...Ok, maybe not.   

Let's Open This Up a Bit...

The great thing about blogs is that they bypass the filters imposed by the mainstream media.  Of course, blogs themselves are a filter.   I don't claim to be a comprehensive source of news and I don't have the time or the space to post the dozens of press releases that I receive each day.

I have another website called "Espresso Straight News" that I built as an attempt to provide a source for unfiltered news.  I printed the stories straight from the news makers, and all I wrote was the headline.  Unfortunately, even though posting each article only took a few minutes, I was spending an hour or so a day updating the site and policing the comments.  Eventually, I decided I should probably finish law school instead.

But I haven't given up, so here's the new plan.  I'm going to open Espresso Straight News up to the news makers.  If you represent a political organization, elected official or candidate and you want to post news entries directly to the website, just send me an email and I'll send you a password as a guest blogger. 

Posting is easy and if you have questions about the process, I'll be glad to help.  I'm hoping to get 10 or 15 regular contributors.  Those articles combined with the comments should provide quite a bit of unfiltered content for political junkies.   I want to emphasize that I'm not going to facilitate anonymous posting.  I'll verify the guest bloggers before I give them a password and all the posts will identify the source by name. 

Send me an email greg@azcpa.org if you want to sign up. 

And if no one signs up and I have to abandon this in a week...you can all have your money back. 

Republic Abandons Northern Third of the State

The Republic has announced it will no longer distribute to Page and Tuba City. It's a cost-cutting move, according to a letter received by sources today.

This is especially sad because the Republic used to be known for its Native American coverage.  In fact, in the late 80s the Republic published a series of stories on Native American issues that was a finalist for a Pulitzer. 

Although the Republic still runs lifestyle features about Northern Arizona, it long ago abandoned covering any actual news that occurs north of Bell road. 

This is a great example of a downward spiral:  The paper stops covering the outlying areas.  Circulation in those areas drops off because there is no local coverage.  Someone in the paper's Accounting Department points out that it's really expensive to deliver a handful of papers to a hamlet at the edge of the state and Management eliminates the distribution. 

I predict that within the next five years, we will see this pattern in much of rural Arizona.  How much money is the Republic willing to lose in order to distribute to, say, Williams, Bisbee, or Greer?  Eventually Yuma, Kingman and Flagstaff will become too unprofitable as well.

A newspaper is something of a public trust.  State statute forces businesses to spend millions of dollars on public notices that appear in the paper.  The assumption is that the paper will be widely distributed and people in outlying areas will have access to this public information. 

When the newspaper abandons the unprofitable areas, the justification for forcing business to publish notices decreases dramatically.   Additionally, since the Internet is a much more efficient distribution method for public notices it's time to modernize the public notice statutes in order to give business the option of posting the notices on line.