Hang Down Your Head, Mr. Dooley

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‘Afflicting the Comfortable...’

This famed journalistic self-justification comes from Mr. Dooley, the pen name of a great journalist of the last century, Finley Peter Dunne (1867-1936):

“Th’ newspaper does ivrything f’r us. It runs th’ polis foorce an’ th’ banks, commands th’ milishy, controls th’ligislachure, baptizes th’ young, marries th’ foolish, comforts th’ afflicted, afflicts th’ comfortable, buries th’ dead an’ roasts thim aftherward.”

But the Poynter Institute’s “Dr. Ink” says journalists should dump Mr. Dooley:

“[J]ournalists should never use the phrase again to justify their actions, unless they want old Mr. Dooley to roll over in his grave. It is true that the worst journalism comforts the comfortable and afflicts the afflicted. That is a breach of duty.

“We need journalists to get at the truth and to keep watch against abuses of power. They have a hard enough time getting that right. So let's absolve them of the responsibility of charity or iconoclasm. If journalists want to comfort the afflicted, they should send money to the Red Cross.”

—Dr. Ink (Roy Peter Clark), “Afflicting the Afflicted,”
Poynteronline, 2002

• Editorial Comment: Or to the St. Mumbles Home for the Terminally Verbose, where growing troops of laid-off journalists end up.

• Etch-A-Sketch: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs from Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, on governments and thinking? Click here.

• Relocation: The JCOM faculty are now baffled by stacks of boxes as we complete our move from the venerable old Animal Science Building to swanky new offices in the new Ag Building on the USU Quad.

• HELP WANTED: New Faculty for Fall 2012! The JCOM Department at Utah State is taking applications for a multimedia instructor, teaching our new required multimedia class and assisting with the Aggie TV newscast classes. For full position description, click here.

News from our award-winning student news site, The Hard News Café
• Breaking Aggie TV News for March 28, 2012
• Hyde Parkers will always get top priority for park use, mayor says, by Shannon McCleve
• Hard News Café March News Roundup (March 26)
• The Brady Jardine Story, on KUTV2’ Talkin’ Sports, by ATV Sports’ Bailey McMurdie
• City Council votes to expand River Heights with annexation, by Sean O’Sullivan
• License plates stolen by thief in the night, by Chris Lee
• Logan man arrested on suspicion of felony theft, by Tmera Bradley
• The Aggie TV News Team Cache Rendezvous (March 21 edition). Bookmark ATV News
• Cat dies in RV park fire; trailer renter charged with arson, by Mary Stocking
• Fate of Cherry Peak ski area appeal still undecided, by Josh Ruggles
• Scottish Highland Games: A different kind of fling in Richmond, by Chris Lee
• USU Eastern student journalists win 11 Utah Press awards
• Aggie journalists win 17 regional SPJ Mark of Excellence Awards
• JCOM Scholarships for 2012-13. Deadline: April 2

PeezPIX by Ted Pease
Catalog here


Spring’s coming....



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Supreme Ignernce

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Think for Yourself

“Governments are most dangerous when they try to tell people what to think.”

—Anthony M. Kennedy, U.S. Supreme Court associate justice, 2002

• Editorial Comment: Yeah, butt out. We have pundits and cartoonists for that.



• Internet Immoderation: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs from Sacramento Bee editorial page editor Stuart Leavenworth, on the Internet as fire-starter? Click here.

• Over the transom:
Council debates nudity, chickens
Kennebec (Maine) Journal
That can’t be good....

• Relocation: The JCOM Department begins its move today into its swanky new offices in the new Ag Building on the USU Quad.

• Faculty Wanted! The JCOM Department at Utah State is taking applications for a multimedia instructor, teaching our new required multimedia class and assisting with the Aggie TV newscast classes. For full position description, click here.


News from our award-winning student news site, The Hard News Café
• Hard News Café March News Roundup (March 26)
• The Brady Jardine Story, on KUTV2’ Talkin’ Sports, by ATV Sports’ Bailey McMurdie
• City Council votes to expand River Heights with annexation, by Sean O’Sullivan
• License plates stolen by thief in the night, by Chris Lee
• Logan man arrested on suspicion of felony theft, by Tmera Bradley
• The Aggie TV News Team Cache Rendezvous (March 21 edition). Bookmark ATV News
• Cat dies in RV park fire; trailer renter charged with arson, by Mary Stocking
• Fate of Cherry Peak ski area appeal still undecided, by Josh Ruggles
• Wellsville City Council looks for solutions to sidewalk problems, by Jimena Herrero
• Scottish Highland Games: A different kind of fling in Richmond, by Chris Lee
• ‘Empty Bowls’ Fundraiser to Help End World Hunger, by Allie Jeppson
• Trenton youth pleads guilty to December robbery of convenience store, by Chris Lee
• USU Eastern student journalists win 11 Utah Press awards
• Aggie journalists win 17 regional SPJ Mark of Excellence Awards
• JCOM Scholarships for 2012-13. Deadline: April 2

PeezPIX by Ted Pease
Catalog here


Spring’s coming....



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Marketplace of Immoderation

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Blunt Instrument

“The Internet has been described as the great equalizer of democracy, and used responsibly, that is undoubtedly true. But in lightning-fast fashion, the Internet also makes it easier for partisans to engage in hate speech, spin conspiracy theories and use intimidation in an attempt to squelch opposing opinions.”

—Stuart Leavenworth, editorial page editor,
The Sacramento Bee, URL, Feb. 25, 2012
(Thanks to alert WORDster Tony Seton)

• Editorial Comment: If t’were done, best that it were done quickly.

• Accidental Truth: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs from British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, on most people’s aversion to truth? Click here.

• Relocation: The JCOM Department begins its move today into its swanky new offices in the new Ag Building on the USU Quad.

• Faculty Wanted! The JCOM Department at Utah State is taking applications for a multimedia instructor, teaching our new required multimedia class and assisting with the Aggie TV newscast classes. For full position description, click here.


News from our award-winning student news site, The Hard News Café
• Hard News Café March News Roundup (March 26)
• Logan man arrested on suspicion of felony theft, by Tmera Bradley
• The Aggie TV News Team Cache Rendezvous (March 21 edition). Bookmark ATV News
• Cat dies in RV park fire; trailer renter charged with arson, by Mary Stocking
• Fate of Cherry Peak ski area appeal still undecided, by Josh Ruggles
• Wellsville City Council looks for solutions to sidewalk problems, by Jimena Herrero
• Scottish Highland Games: A different kind of fling in Richmond, by Chris Lee
• ‘Empty Bowls’ Fundraiser to Help End World Hunger, by Allie Jeppson
• Trenton youth pleads guilty to December robbery of convenience store, by Chris Lee
• USU Eastern student journalists win 11 Utah Press awards
• Aggie journalists win 17 regional SPJ Mark of Excellence Awards
• Backyard beekeeping 101: Smithfield class attracts honey of a crowd, by Jessica Wilkinson
• JCOM Scholarships for 2012-13. Deadline: April 2

PeezPIX by Ted Pease
Catalog here








Spring sunrise, Cache Valley.


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Stones in the Road

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Accidental Truth

“Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.”

—Winston Churchill (1874-1965),
British politician

• Editorial Comment: Yesterday I tripped over an fragment of wisdom, but it scurried away while I was dusting myself off.


• The Paper Chase: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs from New York Times columnist and author Gail Collins, talking with David Letterman about the future of the paper newspaper? Click here.

• Faculty Wanted! The JCOM Department at Utah State is taking applications for a multimedia instructor, teaching our new required multimedia class and assisting with the Aggie TV newscast classes. For full position description, click here.

News from our award-winning student news site, The Hard News Café
• Hard News Café March News Roundup (March 26)
• Logan man arrested on suspicion of felony theft, by Tmera Bradley
• The Aggie TV News Team Cache Rendezvous (March 21 edition). Bookmark ATV News
• Cat dies in RV park fire; trailer renter charged with arson, by Mary Stocking
• Fate of Cherry Peak ski area appeal still undecided, by Josh Ruggles
• Wellsville City Council looks for solutions to sidewalk problems, by Jimena Herrero
• Scottish Highland Games: A different kind of fling in Richmond, by Chris Lee
• ‘Empty Bowls’ Fundraiser to Help End World Hunger, by Allie Jeppson
• Trenton youth pleads guilty to December robbery of convenience store, by Chris Lee
• USU Eastern student journalists win 11 Utah Press awards
• Aggie journalists win 17 regional SPJ Mark of Excellence Awards
• Backyard beekeeping 101: Smithfield class attracts honey of a crowd, by Jessica Wilkinson
• JCOM Scholarships for 2012-13. Deadline: April 2

PeezPIX by Ted Pease
Catalog here








Spring sunrise, Cache Valley.


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Paper Chase

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Wishful Thinking

DAVID LETTERMAN: Now let’s just say I live to be 90, will there still will be a published, hand-held paper version of The New York Times or will it all be electronic?

GAIL COLLINS: Well, there will be a hand-held version—something in your hands.

LETTERMAN: But it won’t necessarily be paper.

COLLINS: I can’t promise paper—I hope it’s paper. . . . I like paper, I’m going to go for paper.

—“NYT’s Gail Collins chats with David Letterman,” on Romenesko, March 25, 2012.
(Letterman, by the way, is 65. Collins, a New York Times columnist,
was played onstage to “Funky President”—“people people, we gotta get over before we go under. . . .”)

• Editorial Comment: Fishermen sure agree.

• No Mo’ Mao: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs from Chinese activist, novelist and pop culture icon Han Han, on Mao Zedong and books? Click here.

• Faculty Wanted! The JCOM Department at Utah State is taking applications for a multimedia instructor, teaching our new required multimedia class and assisting with the Aggie TV newscast classes. For full position description, click here.

News from our award-winning student news site, The Hard News Café
• Hard News Café March News Roundup (March 26)
• Logan man arrested on suspicion of felony theft, by Tmera Bradley
• The Aggie TV News Team Cache Rendezvous (March 21 edition). Bookmark ATV News
• Cat dies in RV park fire; trailer renter charged with arson, by Mary Stocking
• Fate of Cherry Peak ski area appeal still undecided, by Josh Ruggles
• Wellsville City Council looks for solutions to sidewalk problems, by Jimena Herrero
• Scottish Highland Games: A different kind of fling in Richmond, by Chris Lee
• ‘Empty Bowls’ Fundraiser to Help End World Hunger, by Allie Jeppson
• Trenton youth pleads guilty to December robbery of convenience store, by Chris Lee
• USU Eastern student journalists win 11 Utah Press awards
• Aggie journalists win 17 regional SPJ Mark of Excellence Awards
• Backyard beekeeping 101: Smithfield class attracts honey of a crowd, by Jessica Wilkinson
• JCOM Scholarships for 2012-13. Deadline: April 2

PeezPIX by Ted Pease
Catalog here








Spring sunrise, Cache Valley.


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The People’s Revolution

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No Mo’ Mao

“I don’t believe anyone who truly loves literature can also love Mao Zedong. These two things are incompatible. Even putting aside his political performance, or how many bad things he did, or how many people starved to death because of him, or how many people he killed, there is one thing for sure: Mao Zedong was the enemy of writers.”

—Han Han, Chinese blogger, novelist, essayist and race-car driver,
in Evan Osnos, “The Han Dynasty: How far can a youth-culture idol tweak China’s establishment?” The New Yorker, July 4, 2011
Image: China Daily

• Editorial Comment: Well, that stuff aside—Mao did like at least one little red book....


• Doonesbury: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs from Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Garry Trudeau, on his latest strips attacking laws on women’s reproductive rights? Click here.

• Faculty Wanted! The JCOM Department at Utah State is taking applications for a multimedia instructor, teaching our new required multimedia class and assisting with the Aggie TV newscast classes. For full position description, click here.

News from our award-winning student news site, The Hard News Café
• Cat dies in RV park fire; trailer renter charged with arson, by Mary Stocking
• Fate of Cherry Peak ski area appeal still undecided, by Josh Ruggles
• Wellsville City Council looks for solutions to sidewalk problems, by Jemina Herrero
• Scottish Highland Games: A different kind of fling in Richmond, by Chris Lee
• ‘Empty Bowls’ Fundraiser to Help End World Hunger, by Allie Jeppson
• Trenton youth pleads guilty to December robbery of convenience store, by Chris Lee
• USU Eastern student journalists win 11 Utah Press awards
• Aggie journalists win 17 regional SPJ Mark of Excellence Awards
• Review: ‘West of Memphis’ is chilling, heart-wrenching, by Natasha Bodily
• Backyard beekeeping 101: Smithfield class attracts honey of a crowd, by Jessica Wilkinson
• JCOM Scholarships for 2012-13. Deadline: April 2
• Hard News Café March News Roundup (March 19)
• The Aggie TV News Team Cache Rendezvous (March 21 edition). Bookmark ATV News

PeezPIX by Ted Pease
Catalog here








Spring sunrise, Cache Valley.


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See You in the Funny Pages (or not)

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WORDmeister note: Reproductive rights are back in the news as states (like Texas) impose new laws on abortion, presidential candidates address contraception and right-to-life issues, and Rush Limbaugh attacks women who want contraception covered by insurance as “prostitutes.” Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Garry Trudeau addressed the issues in Doonesbury strip that some U.S. newspapers (Oregonian, Indianapolis Star, Washington Post, Kansas City Star, Los Angeles Times and others) found too graphic, adult, controversial or tasteless to run either next to Garfield on the funnies pages, or on the editorial page. The question: Where is the “appropriate” place for commentary on important social issues under consideration in the public sphere?

Comic Malpractice

“I chose the topic of compulsory sonograms because it was in the news and because of its relevance to the broader battle over women’s health currently being waged in several states. For some reason, the GOP has chosen 2012 to re-litigate reproductive freedom, an issue that was resolved decades ago. Why [Rick] Santorum, [Rush] Limbaugh, et al., thought this would be a good time to declare war on half the electorate, I cannot say. But to ignore it would have been comedy malpractice. . .

“Roe v. Wade was decided while I was still in school. Planned Parenthood was embraced by both parties. Contraception was on its way to being used by 99 percent of American women. I thought reproductive rights was a settled issue. Who knew we had turned into a nation of sluts?”

—Garry Trudeau, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist,
interview with Michael Cavna,
“Comic Riffs,” The Washington Post, March 9, 2012

• Editorial Comment: Gotta admit—There is something funny going on.

Related:
• Romenesko: Report: Some papers won’t be running next week’s ‘Doonesbury’ strips, March 9, 2012
• Reader Supported News: Part I. Part II. Part III.

• When Reporters Lie: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs about a fabricated “This American Life” story by Mike Daisey on Apple factories in China? Click here.

• Faculty Wanted! The JCOM Department at Utah State is taking applications for a multimedia instructor, teaching our new required multimedia class and assisting with the Aggie TV newscast classes. For full position description, click here.

News from our award-winning student news site, The Hard News Café
• Trenton youth pleads guilty to December robbery of convenience store, by Chris Lee
• USU Eastern student journalists win 11 Utah Press awards
• Aggie journalists win 17 regional SPJ Mark of Excellence Awards
• Review: ‘West of Memphis’ is chilling, heart-wrenching, by Natasha Bodily
• Teams vie to live healthy in Live, Love, Nutrition Challenge, by Kristi Ottley
• Mendon’s GOP caucus: Record turnout, strong support for Hatch, by Josh Ruggles
• Backyard beekeeping 101: Smithfield class attracts honey of a crowd, by Jessica Wilkinson
• JCOM Scholarships for 2012-13. Deadline: April 2
• Hard News Café March News Roundup (March 19)
• The Aggie TV News Team (March 7 edition). Bookmark ATV News

PeezPIX by Ted Pease
Catalog here






Spring Break at Houda Beach, Northern California



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When Reporters Lie

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Putting the Peel Back on the Apple

“In a surprising turn of events, This American Life announced this afternoon that it is retracting its exposé of the working conditions at Apple’s factories in China. . . .

“‘Regrettably, we have discovered that one of our most popular episodes was partially fabricated. This week, we devote the entire hour to detailing the errors in “Mr. Daisey Goes to the Apple Factory,” Mike Daisey’s story about visiting Foxconn, an Apple supplier factory in China. Rob Schmitz, a reporter for Marketplace, raises doubts on much of Daisey’s story . . .

“‘Ira [Glass] also talks with Mike Daisey about why he misled This American Life during the fact-checking process. And we end the show separating fact from fiction, when it comes to Apple's manufacturing practices in China.’

“In a statement on his website, monologist Mike Daisey, whose one-man show provided the basis for the episode, explained that he was standing by his work: ‘My show is a theatrical piece . . . . What I do is not journalism. The tools of the theater are not the same as the tools of journalism. For this reason, I regret that I allowed THIS AMERICAN LIFE to air an excerpt from my monologue. . . .

“‘My mistake, the mistake I truly regret, is that I had it on your show as journalism. And it’s not journalism. It’s theater.’

“In another statement . . . host Ira Glass insisted, ‘Our program adheres to the same journalistic standards as the other national shows … in this case, we did not live up to those standards.’”

—Forrest Wickman,
“This American Life Retracts its Apple Exposé,”
Slate.com, March 16, 2012
Image: Mike Daisey doing his show, “The Agony and The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs.” (AP Photo/Stan Barouh)

• Editorial Comment: In journalism, there’s only truth, not some reporter’s (or “artist's”) “larger truth.” Got to hand it to Ira Glass for his response, though

Related:
• This American Life retraction
• “An acclaimed Apple critic made up the details,” Marketplace

• Mixed Bag: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs from the Pew Center on the state of the news media 2012? Click here.

• Faculty Wanted! The JCOM Department at Utah State is taking applications for a multimedia instructor, teaching our new required multimedia class and assisting with the Aggie TV newscast classes. For full position description, click here.

News from our award-winning student news site, The Hard News Café
• USU Eastern student journalists win 11 Utah Press awards
• Aggie journalists win 17 regional SPJ Mark of Excellence Awards
• Review: ‘West of Memphis’ is chilling, heart-wrenching, by Natasha Bodily
• Teams vie to live healthy in Live, Love, Nutrition Challenge, by Kristi Ottley
• Mendon’s GOP caucus: Record turnout, strong support for Hatch, by Josh Ruggles
• Backyard beekeeping 101: Smithfield class attracts honey of a crowd, by Jessica Wilkinson
• JCOM Scholarships for 2012-13. Deadline: April 2
• Hard News Café March News Roundup (March 19)
• The Aggie TV News Team (March 7 edition). Bookmark ATV News

PeezPIX by Ted Pease
Catalog here






Spring Break at Houda Beach, Northern California



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