Huckleberries Online

Joker: Reporters are like VCR’s

Posted by Cindy

Dec. 28, 2009 3:48 p.m. • 38 comments

Joker says: “Are reporters even necessary? This story proves we have lots of little news gatherers out there in cyberspace and they work for FREE.

Sure they have unconventional names and they mix in their opinion with what happened, but news is a conversation (shameless stolen from the departed Steve Smith). The Spokesman-Review should terminate every single reporter and let the bloggers tell us what’s going on the world.

Reporters, like the VCR, are no longer useful or necessary.”

I’m hoping this was written in that special invisible sarcasm font, but maybe not. What do you think— are reporters no longer useful or necessary?

38 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Lizard_People on December 28 at 4:03 p.m.
The whole debate about the integrity of reporters vs. bloggers was hashed out ad nauseum back in the nineties with the arrival of Matt Drudge.

Honestly, I don’t see much of a difference. Newspaper reporters are more clever at weaving their agenda into the stories they write, but I’ll take the blantant spin by bloggers every time.
Sisyphus on December 28 at 4:13 p.m.
There’s great value in professional journalism providing reliable information. Democracy doesn’t operate as envisioned without it. It becomes a corrupt farce. Sound familiar?

Journalists have to be rewarded for the hard work they do. If they don’t, they start doing the level of work for which they are paid. Not a justification, a fact. But turning news into entertainment is a misguided business model providing fodder for cynics. We are all diminished by it.

I know one journalist in Boise with a great nose but is not photogenic and getting up in the years. His opportunities for advancement get taken by younger prettier people without formal education and whose knowledge of the world around them is woefully lacking. Garbage in garbage out.
Cabbage Boy on December 28 at 4:14 p.m.
A good investigative reporter (of which the SR used to have a couple in NI) would be an advantage. But, if we are talking reporters by today’s standards, yeah, might as well go with the comment feed from blogs.

As far as VCRs, what do you have against them Joker. They are still necessary to play the vast library of children’s videos we have.
idawa on December 28 at 4:24 p.m.
this post reminds me something I recently read on cracked.com list of the top 5 tv shows of the decade - on naming The Daily Show to the list, the author wrote:

“And the fact that most of our elders call us “the worst generation” for relying on a comedy program for our news, while we call them “the insanest generation” for creating an environment in which a comedy program is one of the more reliable sources of news, seems like one of the more interesting conflicts of the decade.”
Sisyphus on December 28 at 4:26 p.m.
Excellent example idawa.
meghannc on December 28 at 5:48 p.m.
Here’s a quick update on the facts of the story:

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/dec/28/man-shot-downtown-cda-doing-better-family-says/

I just got the complete (93-page) police report and will be piecing together a story, to include interviews with family and friends of both the suspect and victims, tonight after I read it. I’ll post a link when it’s ready.
Bent on December 28 at 6:26 p.m.
Cool Meghann… this has to be rockin for a sitting journalist. Blogs and commenters are smoking out the sources and leads … it’s awesome, and I don’t think it can be simplified as easily as joker would like to have it…
fortboise on December 28 at 6:34 p.m.
Reporters are absolutely essential. The idea of having whoever happens to show up and feels like blogging about it be our source for the news is ludicrous.

Just as one small example… I have some specific interests in what our Idaho Legislature is up to, but I’m not prepared to spend most or all of my time sitting in the gallery or bouncing around in committee meetings.

If the original comment was not intended as irony or sarcasm, it’s ignorant, and insulting to the people who do the hard work of real journalism. (But I guess it’s so ignorant that it doesn’t rise to much of an insult.)
spokelooneh on December 28 at 6:40 p.m.
First I’ve heard of there being a third victim.

Looking forward to your story on the police report, Meghann, and thanks for your hard work.
fortboise on December 28 at 7:06 p.m.
Just waded through that long comment thread in which Joker’s comment was posted, so I’ve seen the context. No way I can read it other than sarcastic.

Cancel my dudgeon.
Cindy_H on December 28 at 7:32 p.m.
@fortboise: I kinda liked your dudgeon.
Just saying.
meghannc on December 28 at 9:16 p.m.
I’m not sure what leads on this story have come from blogs, other than the tip about the suspect’s name, which helped me get the name about two hours before the police news release did.
meghannc on December 28 at 9:18 p.m.
Hey spokelooneh, your post is the first I’ve heard about a third victim.
Sam on December 28 at 9:28 p.m.
Meghann - great follow-up story. Lots more detail and way to wade through that monster police report in a short amount of time.

I could have sworn I read in your previous version of the story that Jordan Burgess was also injured. I think Spoke may be referring to that, but I’m not sure.
spokelooneh on December 28 at 9:32 p.m.
Could have sworn you’d reported Burgess’s brother was also a victim.

and I notice your new story is up at the previous link.
spokelooneh on December 28 at 9:33 p.m.
Thanks for that confirmation, Sam.
meghannc on December 28 at 9:42 p.m.
The story quoted Jordan Burgess as saying his brother was off a ventilator and doing better since getting shot in the stomach in a fight that also injured his friend, Bradley J. Phillips, 25, who was shot below the left knee cap and taken to Kootenai Medical Center.
spokelooneh on December 28 at 9:44 p.m.
Incorrect.

Sam and I read the same thing.

––––––––-

Link to police report?
Sam on December 28 at 9:56 p.m.
It could have been an editor had tweaked a sentence to read rough. It was basically a paragraph that appeared to say there were three people injured. Unfortunately, that version of the story doesn’t seem to be in my computer’s cache, though I’m working to see if I can dig deeper into this laptop to find that version.
meghannc on December 28 at 10:00 p.m.
The article was replaced by the updated version, but luckily Google is on our side:

Brandon R. Burgess, 25, is off a ventilator and doing better since getting … Bradley J. Phillips, 25, said his brother, Jordan Burgess. Phillips was shot below the left knee cap and taken to Kootenai Medical Center. …

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rl…

This is the last I’ll be posting on this blog regarding this story. My work stands for itself.

––––––––-

We’re not posting the police report because it contains loads of private information about witnesses.
Sam on December 28 at 10:01 p.m.
OK, from another version I found online I think Spoke and I read it wrong.

Here’s, I believe, the sentence:

“Brandon R. Burgess, 25, is off a ventilator and doing better since getting shot in the stomach in a fight that also injured his friend, Bradley J. Phillips, 25, said his brother, Jordan Burgess.”

Found that here:

http://dailyme.com/story/2009122800003425/brief-man-shot-downtown-cda-family.html
Sam on December 28 at 10:01 p.m.
Great work, Meghann, keep it up!
spokelooneh on December 28 at 10:03 p.m.
Yeah Sam, I went back looking through my cache too, as I clearly remember what I read. Alas, had rebooted in the meantime, can’t find it in my cache, and don’t feel like digging deeper.

I DO want to see the police report however. And Meghann’s newest story needs to be posted out front. Cindy, hello?
spokelooneh on December 28 at 10:04 p.m.
That’s not it, Sam.
spokelooneh on December 28 at 10:05 p.m.
“http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rl…

This is the last I’ll be posting on this blog regarding this story. My work stands for itself. ”

That Google link goes to Google’s homepage.
Sam on December 28 at 10:07 p.m.
Spoke - you can make a public records request for the police report.
spokelooneh on December 28 at 10:09 p.m.
“We’re not posting the police report because it contains loads of private information about witnesses.”

So redact the private information then. SOP.
spokelooneh on December 28 at 10:11 p.m.
“Sam on December 28 at 10:07 p.m.

Spoke - you can make a public records request for the police report.”

I consider that the press’s job, and redact personal information as (absolutely) necessary.
Sam on December 28 at 10:18 p.m.
Spoke - the Spokesman-Review, as with many other newspapers, has a policy of providing the entire document or not at all. No redactions.

We in the media have a responsibility to weigh more factors than your, and I don’t mean to be rude by this, insatiable curiosity over this case.

Journalists have a large reach with our pens and we have an ethical duty to be judicious sometimes in the information we provide to such a large-scale audience. Especially when it comes to personal details. It’s in the Society of Professional Journalists’s Code of Ethics, as is it generally in the individual ethical standards of various newspapers.

Just because information is public record doesn’t necessarily mean we go out of our way to explode it into the public atmosphere.

If you truly are this curious about this case the Kootenai County Courthouse is there and waiting.
Cindy_H on December 28 at 10:31 p.m.
Thanks for explaining Sam.
And Spoke… I do have a life and a job outside blogsitting.
Just saying.
spokelooneh on December 28 at 11:06 p.m.
“Sam on December 28 at 10:18 p.m.

Spoke - the Spokesman-Review, as with many other newspapers, has a policy of providing the entire document or not at all. No redactions.”

Is that policy in writing? Where? Is it in the reporters’ Union Contract?

“We in the media have a responsibility to weigh more factors than your, and I don’t mean to be rude by this, insatiable curiosity over this case.”

Seems to me there was quite a few people interested in the case, probably generating the most discussion EVER over a Holiday period when DFO wasn’t around. Just because you’re pissed off that I mentioned that you were on Johnson’s FB list, for which I made NO allusion to ANYTHING, doesn’t mean this is is not in fact a VERY important story. One man was critically injured, could very well have died. Another was shot in the knee and will no doubt be in rehab for that for a very very long time.

A PROMINENT business leader in town popped the caps in both those people, perhaps justified or not. He’s facing 30 years i the slammer. He also pretty banged up, and we still don’t clearly know who perpetrated that.

Dozens of people apparently witnessed what lead up to the shooting, as well as the shooting itself. Yet we get a couple of pages of quotes and “analysis” from a NINETY-THREE PAGE police report.

That’s pretty damn paltry. And hardly enlightening as to a major crime event that happened in downtown CdA.
Sam on December 29 at 7:25 a.m.
Spoke - I’m not at all mad you mentioned I was on his FB page. I still am, in fact. I’m fairly selective as to what on the Internet is public about me, so if you know about me being there, it’s because I’ve added people with the knowledge that it could be public. I had no problem coming on here explaining and offering the perspective that I can.

The policy for the Spokesman, I believe, is indeed in writing. It’s been years since I’ve worked there, so you may want to check with someone current. But it is a policy.

There’s no doubt that this case has generated interest not only in Coeur d’Alene and Spokane but across the Northwest, as there are quite a few people acquainted with Adam because we went to school with him from elementary school on up. Facebook is teaming with conversations about this amongst us who went to school with him as well - and I live 400 miles away.

The point is that just because people are interested in the case doesn’t mean the media needs to go to extraordinary lengths to satisfy your lurid curiosity.

I stand by my opinion on this and I suppose we’ll have to agree to disagree, Spoke, as I’m not here looking for a fight, simply offering you up some perspective.
Megan_B on December 29 at 9:00 a.m.
Unbiased journalism is absolutely essential to keeping the politicians and police department honest. Commentary blogs, comedy shows, etc, get their fodder from the unbiased journalism. You can’t have one without the other.
Bent on December 29 at 11:24 a.m.
“I’m not sure what leads on this story have come from blogs..” — Cuniff

Yeah, you are probably right “Lead” was probably the wrong word, maybe “little nuggets” would have been better… BTW, great follow up story Meghann.
moscow_minidoka on December 29 at 11:31 a.m.
Disagree strongly. Without objective journalism, everything becomes opinion.
Lizard_People on December 29 at 12:00 p.m.
But there is no such thing as objective journalism.
spokelooneh on December 30 at 2:16 a.m.
“The point is that just because people are interested in the case doesn’t mean the media needs to go to extraordinary lengths to satisfy your lurid curiosity.”
-Sam Taylor

Lurid? Not hardly. Just trying to ascertain an account of the sequence of events with a modicum of detail.

It hasn’t been forthcoming in the media.

I would think a 93 page police report would fill in some of the many blanks that are missing.
Megan_B on December 30 at 9:21 a.m.
Richard Nixon, anyone?

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.