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Saturday, June 21, 2008

Does The Morning Call Have a Watchdog Reporter?

QCD's blogger list, which consists of about a gazillion reporters, now lists Paul Muschick as "watchdog columnist." Back in March, The Morning Call was looking for someone "to act as a zealous crusader for the reader by exposing fraud, inequity, injustice and incompetence in government, institutions, bureaucracies, corporations and business via a twice weekly watch dog column."

Gee, I thought they were all supposed to do that. Silly me.

In any event, congrats to Paul, who was very well-regarded when he covered Northampton County. I saw him figure things out in five minutes that would take me several days.
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14 comments:

  1. Bill VillaJune 21, 2008 at 12:25 PM

    Paul, all the best to you, but stay as far away as you can from the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office. Trust me, you don't want to know anything about the 'Perpetrator Protection Mill' for select/connected homicidal drunk drivers that DA Jim Martin is running out of there or how The Morning Call facilitates Martin's case fixings in the clever ways it excludes select information from its coverage of these cases. Ask Glenn Kranzley and Dave Erdman and Debbie Garlicki. DA Jim Martin is strictly off limits and for reasons Glenn and Dave and Debbie may or may not explain to you. In the meantime, I've heard there's a puppy mill operating right out in the open in Lohapcotongswamp Township ...

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJune 21, 2008 at 10:58 PM

    Bernie,

    What’s the excitement? Paul was Allentown’s city reporter these past two years and failed to report on any of the shenanigans that pass for local government here.
    Perhaps he will be sent on a mission to pursue Republican graft in some suburban locality while we here in the city watch it crumble around us.


    Scott Armstrong

    ReplyDelete
  3. Blah SocietyJune 22, 2008 at 1:11 AM

    Let's not forget about the garbage that Muschick wrote after a lame poll was conducted regarding Allentown (blog link).

    Let's all congratulate Muschick by slapping our heads while repeatedly saying, "doh!"

    ReplyDelete
  4. Angie VillaJune 22, 2008 at 10:30 AM

    Good point AJ. I wrote about that bogus poll


    http://bloggingdottie.blogspot.
    com/2008/05/junk-science.html


    It took me less than five minutes to figure out how skewed that poll was.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Blah SocietyJune 22, 2008 at 5:36 PM

    Dottie,

    I remember reading you're excellent blog about the poll shortly after I read the actual article by Muschick.

    It's just another reason why we need more local bloggers and less "watchdog" reporters.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Bill VillaJune 22, 2008 at 7:00 PM

    To see the total inventory of 'watchdog investigative reporting' by The Morning Call over the past 3 years, click on "Special Reports" under "News" at mcall.com.
    As you'll see, it's an embarrassingly short and fluff-laden list of "exposé stories" for a newspaper the size of The Morning Call ...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Blah SocietyJune 23, 2008 at 12:02 AM

    Bill,

    My journalism professors (and mentors) use to tell me constantly that "all journalism is investigative reporting." Until TMC realizes this, don't expect anything too professional.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousJune 23, 2008 at 7:56 AM

    Bernie -

    Whether Paul is a good reporter (or not) is not in question.

    The real question is what the Call will print and/or let him cover. I think many of his Allentown stories were heavily edited in the past.

    A city government like Allentown's has enough going on to win a Pulitzer Prize for a newspaper that is willing to pursue the truth.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Bill VillaJune 23, 2008 at 9:01 AM

    "Bill ... "all journalism is investigative reporting."

    I agree, a.j.c.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Bill VillaJune 23, 2008 at 9:10 AM

    "A city government like Allentown's has enough going on to win a Pulitzer Prize for a newspaper that is willing to pursue the truth."

    ... there's also a Pulitzer to be had for that news organization (Express-Times? Philadelphia Inquirer?) willing to investigate and expose The Morning Call.

    Crony corrupt politicians are a dime a dozen, although still a swell story when they're toppled.

    But a NEWSPAPER that betrays the public trust by looking the other way and enabling crony corruption ... while steadfastly refusing to meet with watchdog citizens who have compiled damning evidence against an 'elected' official who is engaging in it with impunity ...

    now there's a story.

    ReplyDelete
  11. AnonymousJune 23, 2008 at 10:04 AM

    All of you are pathetic. The Morning Call doesn't care what any of you think.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Bernie O'HareJune 23, 2008 at 10:13 AM

    I enjoy the comments from others. If the MC does not care what its readers think, that itself is an indictment.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Blah SocietyJune 23, 2008 at 3:43 PM

    Bill Villa...

    If you could, e-mail me when you read this.

    ReplyDelete
  14. AnonymousJune 23, 2008 at 5:55 PM

    There's no money in news.

    Want news, buy your own newspaper.

    It's the Republican way!

    ReplyDelete

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