Sunday, the Arizona Republic published a column written by Doug MacEachern where he blamed the political mess in Quartzsite in La Paz County on Clarence Dupnik.
The sheriff of Pima County.
Since Tucson, the county seat of Pima County, is roughly 240 miles from Quartzsite, this seems to be a bit of a stretch. However, if this is an accepted journalistic practice, does that mean that I can blame the biker rally killings in Coconino County this weekend on the gun nuts in the Arizona legislature? Perhaps making Rep. Jerry Weiers (R-Glendale), the lege's resident biker advocate/lobbyist, the poster child of the blamefest?
It wouldn't be any more accurate than MacEachern's diatribe, but apparently, "accuracy" isn't a requirement for Arizona journalists, at least not for those who are senior staffers at the Republic.
Showing posts with label Journalism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Journalism. Show all posts
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Monday, January 05, 2009
The Arizona Guardian - a new political news site for Arizona
Rising from the wreckage of the East Valley Tribune, four longtime political writers and editors have launched a new political news site, The Arizona Guardian.
Paul Giblin, Dennis Welch, Patti Epler, and and Mary Reinhart have joined together, along with Bob Grossfeld (in charge of non-editorial stuff) to form the company behind the website, Arizona Guardian LLC.
Yes, in a move that is reminiscent of the long lost "good ol' days" of journalism, the journalists will be in charge of making journalistic decisions, not some bungee managers whose sole journalism credential is that they may have once read a newspaper between MBA classes.
In an email publicizing their project, they called this the "soft rollout" period, leading me to expect that they'll go to a pay-for-access or advertiser-supported (or some combination of the two) model soon.
Based on what is currently on the site (the possibility of Sue Gerard returning to the Department of Health, a profile of Democratic State Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, and a likely date for Jan Brewer to name her choice to replace her as Secretary of State [next Monday], etc.) and the professional histories of the principals (lots of investigative work), I'm hopeful for this site's journalistic success. Certainly, it should be better than the late and not so lamented PolitickerAZ. It should even be more informative than the Arizona Capitol Times, a publication whose news content is mostly filler to wrap around the revenue center of the paper, the legal notices.
As for *business* success, we'll just have to wait and see.
Also, thus far, The Arizona Guardian seems to be non-partisan, though I'm sure that the first time they do an investigative piece on an elected official, that official's supporters will accuse the Guardian of working for the other party.
They seem to be leaving the partisan sniping exactly where it belongs - with bloggers and press secretaries.
Anyway, I wish the Arizona Guardian and its principals success, and hope they bring a modicum of real journalism to AZ's political scene.
Later!
Full disclosure section of the post - I have no association with the Guardian, its principals, or its staff. In fact, I have never even met any of the principals and have no idea who its staffers may be.
So there. :))
Paul Giblin, Dennis Welch, Patti Epler, and and Mary Reinhart have joined together, along with Bob Grossfeld (in charge of non-editorial stuff) to form the company behind the website, Arizona Guardian LLC.
Yes, in a move that is reminiscent of the long lost "good ol' days" of journalism, the journalists will be in charge of making journalistic decisions, not some bungee managers whose sole journalism credential is that they may have once read a newspaper between MBA classes.
In an email publicizing their project, they called this the "soft rollout" period, leading me to expect that they'll go to a pay-for-access or advertiser-supported (or some combination of the two) model soon.
Based on what is currently on the site (the possibility of Sue Gerard returning to the Department of Health, a profile of Democratic State Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, and a likely date for Jan Brewer to name her choice to replace her as Secretary of State [next Monday], etc.) and the professional histories of the principals (lots of investigative work), I'm hopeful for this site's journalistic success. Certainly, it should be better than the late and not so lamented PolitickerAZ. It should even be more informative than the Arizona Capitol Times, a publication whose news content is mostly filler to wrap around the revenue center of the paper, the legal notices.
As for *business* success, we'll just have to wait and see.
Also, thus far, The Arizona Guardian seems to be non-partisan, though I'm sure that the first time they do an investigative piece on an elected official, that official's supporters will accuse the Guardian of working for the other party.
They seem to be leaving the partisan sniping exactly where it belongs - with bloggers and press secretaries.
Anyway, I wish the Arizona Guardian and its principals success, and hope they bring a modicum of real journalism to AZ's political scene.
Later!
Full disclosure section of the post - I have no association with the Guardian, its principals, or its staff. In fact, I have never even met any of the principals and have no idea who its staffers may be.
So there. :))
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