On Tuesday, I told you about a recent sham campaign finance report filed by Allentown Mayor Edwin Pawlowski. He claims to be penniless and to have collected no contributions between January and October, but documents filed with the Department of State by other committees tell a different tale. They show that Pawlowski's PAC actually received at least $18,550.Voting Registrar Stacy Sterner has ordered Pawlowski to amend his campaign finance report to tell the truth. After consulting with the Department of State, she tells me that if a campaign committee spends $250 or more to influence an election, it becomes subject to Pennsylvania campaign finance law. Pawlowski may be King of Renaissance Square, but is bound by the same laws that apply to everyone else.
What this means is that, in addition to correcting the bogus report Pawlowski filed in October, he must also file a thirty day post election report. That report was due on December 4, but the Allentown mayor has yet to file it. The penalty for failing to file a timely report is $10 per day for the first six days, and then it jumps up to $20 per day to a maximum fine of $250. Hizzoner has already reached that point, and must use personal funds to pay his fine.
55 comments:
PAWLOWSCOLIOSIS!!!
His codpiece is bigger than yours O'Hair
Extremely intelligent repartee from a typical Pawlowski acolyte.
Bernie,
Thanks for the update, perhaps 2009 will bring about deliverance for Allentown from the incompetence and arrogance of the current regime. This blog will play an important role by shining a light on the truth.
Scott Armstrong
The dems are already angry at him for holding a 2009 mayoral election fundraiser before the November 2008 Presidential and Congressional election, drawing money away from the candidates who were running for office. Where's that reported?
Bernie, forgive me if this is OT (but I don't think it is) - a common comment regarding Pawlowski is his relationship w/ the Morning Call and the fact that they coddle him. Earlier in his term they definitely did.
However, with how that paper has been decimated, are they still coddling him or are they just incapable of covering anything any more?
The Banker
The MC and ET are in business to make money. What appeals to me is intense local coverage, but some reporters tell me that market research reveals there is just no interest in that these days. People apparently prefer local news with a lighter theme. I honestly don't know bc I have not seen the data I've heard discussed. What I do know is that the reporters at both papers can easily do a story like this or the one I put out yesterday. I've seen them at work and they really are quite skilled. It takes them minutes to learn things that take me days. They have the additional advantage of impartiality, at least to the extent that is humanly possible.
With all the drains on manpower, it is no longer possible for them to do as many investigative pieces. This really bothers the reporters, who take pride in their work, as they should. But we all suffer.
True, we do all suffer. My preference would be both - I want to see both lighter info as well as the intense coverage on issues we need to know about. I don't see that happening the Call, I don't read the ET so I can't say how they do.
It's a damn shame.
The Banker
Bernie,
I know for a fact that stories have been “shelved” because the research/investigation was turning up information that contradicted the claims of the last two administrations. Don’t you find it curious that in the last several years the “Call” has changed its Allentown city reporter every twelve to sixteen months. These reporters all started their city assignment cold and were re-assigned just as they seemed to be getting up to speed on this municipality’s civic complexities. How does one make sense of this sort of management?
To your other point, perhaps one can produce polls that would support the notion that people want fluff in their newspapers but this flies in the face of our own subscriber expectations. I have yet to hear anyone praise the changes that the “Call” has made in its desperate bid to save itself. It seems they have succeeded only in hastening their imminent demise.
Scott Armstrong
Scott-
That is one of the most uninformed posts I've seen in awhile. To say that reporters are shelving stories at the mayor's behest shows a complete lack of knowledge of the news industry. As a reporter for one of the "businesses" Bernie speaks about, I have NEVER been told not to write any story. 99 percent of all the reporters I know don't give a damn about Ed P. or any other administration official in any government. We care about writing good stories. To say you know anything about the MC or the ET "for a fact" just shows your ignorance and how far you'll go to convince people you're "on the inside". This conspiracy theory stuff has become such standard fare for bloggers that its a cliche. Nothing to write? Take a shot at the local paper...or the MSM as you blogger types like to call us.
And no offense to Bernie, because I genuinely respect him and enjoy his take on local news, but the story about Eddie P.'s campaign finance reports was not exactly hard hitting stuff. Worth a story? Maybe. Worth the mutual admiration society you guys have created for yourselves? Nah.
anon 12:58, of course your comment would have much more credibility if you signed your name, why didn't you? i was told by a morning call reporter that they must have permission from their editor before spending time on a story; could not that editor deny permission and repress a story in that manner? several years ago there were two reporters to cover the city beat, now there is one, surely some stories now must get the shelf! michael molovinsky
Isn't it all clear to everyone? Bern Ohare just loves to hate Mayor ED. That fact will never change and that is the only reason bern posts about him all the time. Like hey.... how many other mayors does he whine about???
Mike-
I sign my name to every story I write. Signing it here just opens me up to nonsense from Villa, Armstrong and others. But the real truth is, I don't really give a frog's ass about my credibility in the blogosphere. My credibility in the "MSM" is impeccable.
I love how you all like to comment about what you were "told" or what you "heard" or "know." Truth is, you have never been in a newsroom and have no idea what goes on here. The idea that there is someone here "steering" coverage of local government is ridiculous. "I don't need "permission" to work a story. Do I talk to editors and other reporters about story ideas? Sure. Do I ask permission? Absolutely not.
And the best part about all this black helicopter stuff all of you foam at the mouths about is you can't come up with examples. Do you have one instance of some malfeasance that went uncovered? Again, posting a campaign finance report on the web is not exactly Woodward and Bernstein (due respect to "Bernstein" O'Hare.) Give me an example of something that has gone uncovered...just one. The problem is generally when I ask that question of you blogger types, you tell me that's not your job, that's mine.
Enough with the conspiracies. Is that the extent of this "movement" you all like to credit yourselves with?
To the Morning Call employee deflecting criticism here, it's NOT so much about hiding stories, it's about selectively IGNORING them.
Much of the the Lehigh Valley seems to think The Morning Call is no longer a credible watchdog.
The thing is, I'm asking, what stories were "selectivelhy ignored." Can you name one? That's a serious question, yet nobody can ever answer it. The only answers I'm EVER able to get (and believe me I've asked many bloggers and message board conspiracy theorists over the years) are nonsensical ramblings about liberal bias etc. or X-files theories about the DA and the Morning Call being in cahoots.
I'm not deflecting criticism, I'm saying you're wrong in your assessment of how things are done at a newspaper.
Thanks for the reply. I'll give you a few examples. Examples of public official performance that seem questionable to many citizens.
First and foremost, the current Allentown mayor shows very little leadership ability. His practices seem less than upfront.
Secondly, the Allentown School District administration has made several curious decisions and its own leadership seems less than upfront, particularly in terms of student crime.
Third, most citizens would agree the amount of crime in Allentwon is disportionate for the size of the city, while its administration shows little, or no, concern or visible attempts to combat same.
Fourth, most would agree, the Allentown Police Department is greatly undermanned and demoralized. We see no serious effort to reverse that.
A few years ago, local citizens could count upon their paper to protect them, to represent them, to challenge those in charge of government departments that are underperforming. I think that faith has been lost.
There seems to be nothing investigative about what the Call does anymore. That in itself, is a failure.
OK- We're getting somewhere, but this is exactly what I'm talking about.
How in the world does a paper "report" on leadership ability? What exactly would we report? One anonymous poster's OPINION that Eddie P. is not a leader? That's not a story. It might be a column or it might be an editorial, but there is no news story there. If you are going to comment intelligently on news coverage A. you have to realize what makes a news story and B. you have to separate editorials and columns from news stories.
I GUARANTEE you I can find someone who thinks fast eddie is a GREAT leader. Should I write that too?
Student Crime. That's a specific I can work with. I'll pass it along.
We report on city crime all the time. Bernie himself criticized us for our reporting on two Jewish gentlemen who dumped chicken in a river. We've also written to death the community policing stories and the retirement stories.
The problem here again is, give me a specific. Disproportionate based on what criteria? Yours? The state police? Who?
Now, when I ask you to clarify, you'll tell me that I'm the reporter, I should look into it. That is the problem. We don't deal in generalities, we don't deal in opinions.
It is SO easy to sit here and post anonymously about what we are NOT doing, yet when challenged to give examples you give me vague topics.
A few months ago, our Allentown beat reporter wrote an excellent story about the retirements within the police department and the ridiculous pensions to which tose retirees were entitled. Are we to write that story every day? If we did, you would then say there's nothing new in the Call, we only recycle old news.
I often wish that some of you "black ops" guys could sit here for a few hours to see how things work. But you wouldn't because if you couldn't "blog" about the pathetic "MSM" what would you write about?
If anything, the Morning Call over reports city affairs by covering them in almost real time and then again the next day, and then again with a follow up. Suburban affairs are usually only covered once the day after the incident or the decision.
If anything, The Morning Call challenges our leaders in their job. They certainly don't make it easy for them.
Excellent replies. Thank you. I expect our little exchange to generate a few more responses that might help explain why I believe The Morning Call has lost the respect of its community.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year Bernie..
MSM,
Although I generally attach no credibility to anonymous comments for obvious reasons, I'll assume you're who you say you are. And I recommend you remain that way during your stay here or you will be trashed, although it won't be coming from Armstrong.
Let me also say that I've been to several news rooms several times. What I've written about the MSM has been pretty factual. I've reported the layoffs here before they were covered by the MC. I reported the bankruptcy here, at least a full day before the MC latched onto it. I try not to make wild accusations about the MSM that I am unable to back up.
You ask to name just "one instance of some malfeasance that went uncovered?" I can do that.
1) Earlier this year, Mayor Pawlowski filed his campaign finance report very late, was fined the maximum and paid the fine out of campaign funds. That story was never covered.
2) When he was ordered to pay funds from his own account instead of using campaign funds, that story was never covered.
3) I published an email from then top city official Dougherty, demanding that city workers get thru the paperwork quickly for some rich dude who wanted a swimming pool permit. He is directly quoted as saying this means money from Air Products. That story went uncovered.
4) When LANTA (and Mayor Ed) changed its routing to brush the poor people off hamilton Street in a blatant act of discriminatory gentrification, the MC turned a blind eye, refusing to cover the story until Channel 69 picked up on it and was embarrassing them. It's pretty pathetic when print journalism is beaten out by broadcast journalism, but there it is.
In addition to this failure to coverr malfeasance, and these are just a few examples, there is disturbing failure to provide coverage at all.
1) LC's Board of Comm'rs, the largest local government in the Lehigh Valley, conducted at least two meetings this year with no coverage at all, not even from a stringer.
2) For the final budget hearing in A-town, the largest city covered by the MC, the paper sent a stringer who simply lacked the understanding that beat reporters have.
3) The paper regularly fails to cover committee hearings.
4) The paper hides in the bushes every election cycle, refusing to give candidates a forum in which to air the issues, thus favoring incumbents.
I agree with your assessment of my story. Wasn't that much. You folks would have done a better job. Why didn't you?
I've said nothing about conspiracies or black helicopters. I've only answered your question. If this were not New Year's Eve, I'd go into even more detail.
The reality is that people are increasingly refusing to buy newspapers. Instead of slamming my readers as kooks, maybe you should open your eyes to the flaws within your own industry. If readership in the blogs is going up while your readership declines, that should be telling you something. I'm not saying this to be a wise ass. I do admire and respect journalists and will readily concede that we bloggers are a poor substitute for you. But you need to clean up your act or you'll be applying for a job as Mayor Ed's spokesperson.
Tom, Happy New Year to you!
Bernie, well said, I can't add anything. Happy New Year as well!
The Banker
Retired ASD teacher here.
Well done, Bernie!
(wink)
Happy New Year!
Retired ASD!!!!!!
I've missed you. It's so nice to hear from you. Happy New Year. i owe you a dinner at Rios. Drop me a line next week.
In other words, print what O'Hare thinks is news and ignore the politicans he loves.
I was asked to name just one instance of malfeasance that went uncovered. I named several. Given time, I could come up with many more. And the paper's total abrogation of its responsibility to cover the LV's largest gov't has nothing to do w/ any partiocular politician. It has everything to do with poor news coverage. I answered the question. You make personal attacks.
I will (not anonymously) state one of the many reason why the Morning Call has lost my respect in the community:
Stop pandering to the New York crowd just to sell some papers. You are alienating your local base that has been here a hell of a lot longer!
Good thing I'm not an Eagles fan. I would be FURIOUS that the Giants and Jets get as much space as the Eagles. At least the Steelers play in Pennsylvania!!!
I know you guys are busy reading your own diversity articles all day long and looking at statistics of who is moving in from where, but, in my opinion, you are only shooting yourselves in the foot.
I started the IRONPIGS blog in part because I am sick and tired of seeing all the New York Yankees hats on the street all day long. I am not even a great baseball fan. I like hockey. I am a fan of my hometown, though.
Keep on doing what you're doing. I'm sure you guys have a hell of alot more training and experience. You must know what you're doing. I will just continue to not buy your paper until you figure out what state you're in.
In my opinion, this is emblematic of a larger problem:
The Morning Call spends all day trying to not offend anyone and be so inclusive, they end up offending everyone and including nobody.
But then again, what the hell would I know?
IronPigPen,
For someone whose favorite sport is hockey, I love the job you're doing at your blog, whose link is at the left sidebar here.
I've seen more detail in your posts concerning minor league baseball than I've ever seen anywhere. I am delighted by all the detail because I love baseball and really enjoyed watching the IronPigs last year.
For baseball nuts, your blog is a dream come true. You should be on the payroll.
Bernie-
Anon 7:24 is not me. Tough to tell all of us anons apart. Thanks for the response, I was waiting for you to weigh in. I'm half in the bag and too tired to respond, but I will - maybe tomorrow. I love these debates. Until then, Happy New Year to all.
C'mon, admit it, you may change your blog handle to Bernstein O'Hare.
MSM dude/dudette,
I know you were not that particular Anon, but I answered him/her, too. I have an immense amount of respect for the reporters bc I see what they do every day. I have seen people like Paul Muschick or Scott Kraus or Sarah Cassi or Tracy Jordan develop major stories in minutes that would take me days. So don't get me wrong.
I'll look forward to you setting me strraight, but I'll be a little busy tomorrow. Scott Armstrong and I are taking a black helicopter ride.
You and Scott enjoy. I'll be out conspiring with local politicians about what stories i should cover. When I'm done, I'll go to my secret left wing bias club meeting and then it's off to my editorial meeting to get permission for my stories.
Do me a favor, lay off with the "trashing" threats. That's bush league stuff. Have a debate or don't, but threatening to trash me on your blog just shows that you don't think you have the goods to back up your arguments.
As for meeting coverage, are you suggesting that when the Northampton Council meets to approve a professional service contract with the local vet we should be there? Is that a good use of resources?
When the committee on veterinarian services meets to discuss said contract, should we be there? Again, is that productive? Is there a need to know about the $8,000 per year vet contract. IS that one of the "shelved" or "selectively ignored" stories?
I wasn't trying to trash your story for what it was. I was saying it wasn't worthy of this back patting you were all engaged in.
As for the others, there are some good points in there I concede.
I have no illusions that my industry is in its glory. We are struggling alongside everyone. Better than some, worse than most. The truth is, many of us won't be in this business in 5 or maybe even 2 years.
My defense of newspapers is a reaction to your readers' conspiracy theories. They claim to "know for a fact," have "been told" or "heard" things that simply aren't true. Credibility is gone when you state something as fact that simply isn't.
Do we miss stories. Sure. Do we sometimes pass over things that 10 years ago may have been in the paper in favor of a bigger or more time consuming story. Definitely.
Do we conspire with anyone to keep stories out of the paper. Not a chance. What Armstrong, Molovinsky, Villa and even you don't understand is that if an editor ever told the average journalist to kill a good story, there would be a revolt, not just in the newsroom, but I'd bet in other newsrooms as well.
The last point I'll make is that because you or one of the others here THINK something is news, doesn't make it so. Those stories you listed, may have been news, I don't know, But missing commissioners' meetings or council meetings when nothing is on the agenda is a fact of the business. Always has been, at least in my years as a newspaper reporter. No conspiracy, no collusion, just time management.
Happy New year Bernie.
MSM,
I made no threat to trash you here or anywhere and was perhaps unclear. That's a flaw in Internet exchanges. My point is that you are anonymous and should remain that way bc there are some people, one in particular, who will start trashing you immediately if you identify yourself. I apologize if you think that I was intimating this is something I might do. I'm glad for the exchange and your anonymity enables you to avoid those slings and arrows.
I am presuming you are what you say you are. I know one former reporter who used that black helicopter and conspiracy theory argument all the time. He went into public relations and became a professional spinner.
Aa far as a claim of political bias is concerned, I have never made any such claim. I lean liberal myself, and think it is hard to contend the paper is biased towards liberals when, on Election Day, the paper is wrapped in a NRA baggie. Other readers have different views, but I see no political bias.
But I do make a claim of media bias - it is a slight bias in favor of incumbents. They guarantee you access, so you tend to favor them in your reports. It's hard to avoid.
As far as Northampton County coverage is concerned, I don't have to tell you what to do. Market forces are at work there. You have competition. There are two newspapers and they try to scoop each other all the time. The result of this friendly rivalry is better coverage for the public.
In LC, where there is no competition, you tend to get complacent. You do not attend committee meetings. Other reporters have told me this themselves. The reporters actually prefer competition. It makes them better.
Look at your Queen City Daily blog. It is updated so infrequently it should be called the Queen City Monthly. Paul Muschick, a great reporter, used to post the agenda of ZHB meetings. That may not sound like much, but that's how some eager beavers learned about Sam Bennett's zoning application for a B&B.
Last night, I had an exchange with a sports blogger. Your local sports ccoverage is horrific, and that's one reason why he started. He's got some great ideas, something you should be doing already. This is a guy that already wortks 9 to 5 and his blog about the Iron Pigs has so much detail that the paper should put this guy on its payroll and hire him to cover the Pigs.
Yesterday, you were asking for just one example of malfeasance that you've missed. Now you've come down to earth and concede you've missed stories. I give you credit for that and wish I were that willing to admit error. That is your saving grace.
Again, I've conceded my story about Pawlowski is no pulitzer. But it was a story, as you concede. It's pretty signifigant when the mayor of Pa.'s third largest city claims falsely, on a notarized statement, that he has no contributors. I do appreciate the readers who have commended it and in fact was complimented by a few reporters. That's the highest praise.
To your final point, there is simply NO excuse for missing meetings of the LV's largest local government. I'm sorry, but that is an abdication of your responsibility to the public. You cannot be watchdogs if you are not there. It's irresponsible.
Let me give you an example. Last year I attended my first meeting of the LC Board of Commissioners. There was no beat reporter assigned. That night, a comm'r suddenly announced he was resigning. It took everyone by surprise. The MC missed that one. You need to be there to write the stories.
Thank you for the exchange.
" Bernie O'Hare said...
I was asked to name just one instance of malfeasance that went uncovered. I named several" That is true Bernie. The big difference between your blog and a newspaper is,just as someone mentioned, credibility. You as a blogger have free will as to what you post. A newspaper printing an article does not. Blogs have the option to post at will using pure opinion, sensationalism, and satire as well, with the public never knowing at times which is which. Take for example the topic pictures such as Pawlowski as a king and Angle's Bull Dog truck. Where does the line from fact to fiction or one sided opinion start and end? Or better yet OPINIONATED "FACT" start and stop? That, Mr O'hare, is the difference between a blog and a newspaper. Thank you and Happy New Year for you and yours.
I completely agree. This blog is opinionated and makes no claim to objectivity. My experience has told me that opinionated sources can have almost as much credibility as those which claim to be impartial, so long as they tell the truth and disclose their bias.
As far as King Ed and the Ron Angle Bulldogmobile or my report of Bill White's arrest are concerned, I assume my readers are intelligent enough to discern fact from fiction.
I don't spoonfeed them.
I'm curious if the Anon Reporter understands what the responsibility of the Fourth Estate demands?
What you deem as non stories/non news is the exactly the type of selective journalism that keeps information out of the hands of the public.
You feel that misfiled campaign finance reports are nothing. I want to know where, when, and how the mayor is getting his money. There is an election year next year, and his campaign money is an important aspect that everyone should be aware of.
Editorials are just as important as news, but when the editorials fail to address problems in the city, that is an issue. Editorials blasting those with Tattoos, or who has the best Christmas Lights are the type of fluff that keep the bare minimum of subscribers reading.
However, for those of us that read several newspapers a day, our city reporting is a joke. It is the morning call's responsibility to hold accountable all public servants to the Lehigh Valley. Demos, Repubs, Independents, all should be taken to task when they fail to their jobs, and they should be praised when they succeed.
The job of the Fourth Estate is not to selectively make decisions on what is news, and what is not. It is to report, and research, everything that makes the political sphere understandable to the masses. If you do not agree that is fine, but I suggest yo go and take Journalism 101 again in that case.
Well Timmy-
Thanks for the lecture, but I'll stack my journalistic credentials up against anyone's. As for your judgment of "news," where do you believe the newspaper would write all of this news? Would we put out a 400 page paper that few if anyone would read? Would we write as news anything that came across our desks?
And you Tiny Tim are incorrect. The role of the fourth estate has always been to be the gatekeeper. Right or wrong, the role is not to print every piece of "news" that you and the rest of the Cratchets think should be in the paper. It is to look at events with an objective eye and make decisions about what our space will allow us to print. Always has been and for better or worse, as far as the hard copy newspaper goes, always will be.
The whole point of a newspaper is to "selectively" print. God I love all of this self righteous blogger stuff. Please, Tim, learn the difference between an editorial and a column and between those opinion pieces and a true news story. That is journalism 101.
And as I explained to Bernie, I agree that the campaign finance reports were a story. What they are not is hard hitting news coverage. Bernie did a nice job finding it.
I wasn't going to post on here again, but since Timmy called me out of retirement, I will say that Bernie, I think you and I agree on a lot of this stuff. My defense of newspapers was based on criticisms of conspiracy and collusion, which just aren't true. We're not infallible and believe me, few if any of us believe we are.
We bitch and complain as much as anyone, but what we DON"T do is take marching orders from anyone. Trust me when I tell you, there is NOBODY better at expressing self righteous indignation than a reporter.
P.S.
I just re-read the 2nd post on the mayor's reports. Actually Bernie, finding the donors was a good piece of reporting.
That's it for me. I have to get back to work.
MSM,
I would not want to be the editor who tells you to shelve a story. I do not believe the paper is overtly or politically biased, but that it does have an incumbent bias to some extent. I do think you do much, much better when you have competition.
You are a human institution that makes human mistakes. Lord knows you're far better than bloggers. I concede that.
Ideally, we are a complement to the MSM. We can provide details for which you lack space to those who are really interested in a topic. We are a little bit more free to report rumors or little pieces of informatikon that make the big picture easier to understand. I'm going to be doing that tomorrow w/ the Northampton County solicitor. I have a story that probably is not newswortrhy, but will be very blogworthy and of great interest to those who follow NC politics.
Neither of us is perfect. If truth be told, blogs would probably be shouted down were it not for the MSM. Just last week, Bill White defended a hyper local blog that covers Lower Nazareth Tp that is being assailed by the township manager.
If our goal is learning the truth, we work pretty well together. When either of us hass an agenda, we tend to drift apart.
I don't tell the MSM what to cover as a rule and only pointed some of these things out bc I was point blank asked. Like you, I hate like hell when someone instructs me to cover or not cover a topic. That's my call. I would not like you telling me what to write and understand your sentiments.
Thanks for your insight. it would mean more if you identified yourself, but I respect your anonymity and agree completely that it MUST remain that way.
MSM,
Curious what your thought is regarding my earlier question - has the MC budget / staff been gutted to the point that it's not capable of covering things as effectively as it should?
The Banker
Hey MSM, how about just reporting on Northampton County. Contracts just under the threshold to Executive friends, campaign contributions sought by Stoffa with offers of work in the same letter.
That information was sent to the MSM and promptly ignored.
Good Job, Journalism 101, or better yet Journalism 1984.
The MSM would not be reporting on that because all of your allegations are lies.
Everything annon 5:36 posted is true and can be proven. You will never do anything about it because of your man crush. No one cares about te trash you write. It is a shame the MSM has not followed through. One of the many resons, people give them no credibility.
"No one cares about te trash you write."
Yet here you are, at 8 PM on New Year's Day, braying away. The MSM must write trash, too.
Banker-
I think the entire industry has been gutted to a dangerous level. I think we can cover the necessities and still have some good hard investigative stories in the paper, but I think the days of covering every meeting and event are over. I agree it's a shame.
The thing I think the grave dancers fail to see is what happens when we are gone. Unpaid blogs just can't take up the slack when there is no daily to keep an eye on things. News aggregating sites like Google, Yahoo and even Drudge will have nowhere to turn for their content.
Without us, governments will operate in a vacuum. I think anyone in the industry would agree with your assessment that staff cuts are a bad thing.
Bernie's assessment about the benefits of competition is dead on and with the number of papers teetering on the brink of oblivion, it can only get worse.
Thanks guys for sparring with me.
Biased reporters with personnal agendas brought about their own demise. Small local papers will take their place. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
The Bethlehem Press and Channel 69 do a better job of straight up reporting now and they have the potential of getting much better without the corruption of the Morning Call and the Easton Express.
Anonymous said...
Isn't it all clear to everyone? Bern Ohare just loves to hate Mayor ED. That fact will never change and that is the only reason bern posts about him all the time. Like hey.... how many other mayors does he whine about???
1:52 PM
Anonymous: How many other local Mayors spent unprecedented hundreds of thousands of dollars on their campaigns, of which roughly 90% came from non-Allentown residents and more than 75% which came from outside the Lehigh Valley? Let's not attack the messanger.
Anon Reporter -
I could name two instances of stories being "killed" by editors at the MC because the story would have portrayed the city in a negative light (although the facts of the story were true). I was told this by two different MC reporters that I dealt with regularly and knew fairly well.
I will not sign my name or give details about the stories since I do not want any retaliation taken against the reporters who told me what happened.
However if you do not think that this is going on at the Call, you are either: 1) not who you say you are, 2) purposely ignorant of what is going on, or 3) deliberately lying.
So, you have two "facts" but you won't share them with anyone? OK.
You're right, I must be ignorant.
Again, anonymous MSM reporter, your participation on this blog is appreciated. Persons who express opinions here seem to reflect a higher intellect (and without the racsism) than the majority who post on The Morning Call Forum.
Despite your own Forum's shortcomings, it probably DOES represent public opinion of a substantial amount of Allentown Area residents. Folks you profess to serve.
There are some GLARING trends of thought found on your Forum. Problems that visitors to your site are crying out for help in solving. I believe the help they seek is expected to come FIRST from their elected officials. Officials encouraged to provide tangible leadership and action.
If necessary, leadership and action DEMANDED by the posters' traditional watchdog institution, their own local newspaper.
Lately, the local paper here (Morning Call) seems oblivious to the problems its readers see. There seems to be NO challenge from your organization, NO analysis, NO call for action.
Here are the significant trends that most concern your citizenry:
1. Out of control crime.
2. Too great an influx of public assistance recipients.
3. Too mnay rental units.
4. Dirty city.
5. Arrogant, innactive mayor.
6. Families afraid to send their kids to the Allentown School District.
I don't know. I just believe a strong, involved local paper USED TO BE effective in demanding better from its community leadership. For the past few years, I just don't see this from the Morning Call. The question is, why not?
Perhaps posters here, and on The Morning Call Forum, have become too concerned over NON-ISSUES.
At least address those issues and describe why Allentown Area citizens should be pleased with where their major city finds itself today.
If you are indeed a reporter, I'm sorry to say, your company's management and editorial decisions are failing you.
Aren't "Too great an influx of public assistance recipients" and "Too many Rental Units" just different ways to say "Too many minorities?"
You sure this isn't the Morning Call forum?
Just asking.
Hello, reporter.
Why did you bring race into those comments of mine?
There is NO question, the growing number of rental units in the Allentown community is creating a problem. The schools are VERY overcrowded, and the contributing tax base is shrinking due to high density living arrangements, both recorded and not recorded.
Public assistance recipients are in large part "takers" rather than "givers" in society. Funded, rather than funding citizens. That can't continue. The math doesn't work.
It has nothing to do with race.
To follow-up on my post, I simply no longer encounter people who believe in their local newspaper.
The value of their local newspaper has been diminished as it no longer seems a watchdog, a voice of the people, an effective tool that helps ensure accountability from elected officials AND their populace.
Maybe I'm just from an earlier generation.
"""Anonymous: How many other local Mayors spent unprecedented hundreds of thousands of dollars on their campaigns, of which roughly 90% came from non-Allentown residents and more than 75% which came from outside the Lehigh Valley? Let's not attack the messanger.
8:41 AM""" First of all Prove it. Second... who cares, Pawlowski is the Mayor. If you want to cry about what happened go back to Mayor Roy who created the mess.
1) It has been proved. There are links to the contributions and where they come from.
2) Any citizen interested in honest and ethical government cares. Angy citizen who does not believe government should be for sale cares. I care. Many others care.
3) Afflerbach, with all his flaws, was aided and abetted by his #2 employee. That person's name was Ed Pawlowski. He created a far worse mess than Afflerbach, in which legal bribery is now a way of life in Allentown.
""He created a far worse mess than Afflerbach, in which legal bribery is now a way of life in Allentown.
9:05 PM""" Then put him in jail or get over it.
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