If you follow Queen City Daily, you're familiar with Morning Call reporter Jarrett Renshaw.Reporters, unlike bloggers, are bound by a code of ethics requiring impartiality. I've noticed it's tough for many reporters to transition themselves into the wild and crazy blogosphere, where anything goes. Opinion writers like Bill White and Joe Owens have no trouble, but many reporters seem uncomfortable here in Blogistan.
Instead of relaxing his journalistic standards in the blogosphere, Renshaw has instead used QCD to complement or supplement stories appearing elsewhere. His video blog of a recent Allentown city council meeting is, as far as I'm concerned, one of the most informative and innovative local news blogs I've seen. He has also fact checked campaign claims made by Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski and challenger Tony Phillips. Instead of the usual two or three stories to cover a political campaign, Renshaw has provided a candy store of stories about Allentown politics, including former council member Lou Hershman.
Renshaw is even using Twitter, a free service for short messages, so that he can "talk directly with readers, provide instant news from council meetings and other events and alert people when something new is posted on the blog." His feed can be accessed here in about a minute. If you are technologically challenged like me, it will take two.
It's worth it, a two way street in which reporter and reader can communicate. Everyone wins, except the politicians.
If you are remotely interested in Allentown government and politics, it will only take a moment to subscribe.
9 comments:
Thanks for the heads up.
Wow enlightening to see the LC political machine at work.
They major had no part in it? Really?
JE +10 = She has it right. PS -100 = Whose he in it for anyway?
JS = Eichenwald.
PS = Schweyer.
Unfortunately, this puts Jarrette Renshaw in the difficult position of 'Fair & Balanced' when he has limited video time available for uploading. Full compliance under Pa.'s new 'Right To Know', would be far better served if the city provided full video of each and every public meeting. There certainly are many resources available to do this. Resources that would not require city servers to stream, either. Costs are no excuse. And it's great documentation too! Stenography only records words, not the personal inflections.
Yahoo, Google, Livevideo, MSN, 'public access' on RCN/Service Electric cable channels, etc. (to name only a few) are all made at no costs. There is little monetary excuse not to simply set a camera up, point, upload. We can watch what goes on in Harrisburg via PCN. The U.S. Senate & House via C-Span1&2. Yet local municipalities seem unwilling or regressive in the old ways of doing the public's business. Seems a shame to me we have to rely on 2nd hand information from a handful of the media or bloggers possibility biased reporting.
You would think it would be in the best interests of local governments to post up the raw unedited videos of their meetings in order to keep things honest, first hand accounting and not rely on a few in attendance to 'whisper down the alley'.
* Great for voters.
* Great for documentation/archival
* Fully complies with the intent of Pa.'s 'Right To know'
* Costs little to nothing
Of course the city would want to have committee feasibility studies and bid out a firm. FORGET THAT. Get some 13 year old with a flip camera on a tripod. This doesn't have to be a Spielberg production! And it's loooong overdue!
Hey Guys, Kudos to Emmaus Borough !
They've been live for months.
maybe even a year by now.
people who vote dont twitter
Considering the Cable companies use public right of way, to deliver their "service".
They should have to carry the local City or borough council meetings in the regions they cover as a public service.
Not just video real estate and used car classifieds.
"Hey Guys, Kudos to Emmaus Borough ! They've been live for months."
Emmaus is the most open tech aware municipality in the Lehigh Valley.
I wholeheartedly second this assessment of the work being done by my Morning Call colleague.
And if you’re interested in things here in the eastern end of the Valley, please also check out Two Rivers Daily, the Easton, Pa., Blog. As The Morning Call’s Easton reporter, I’ve been blogging my analysis of what I see going on; I’ve also been posting city data, the full versions of legislative bills and handouts we get from officials. My hope is that readers will start going through these and help me find any news I might miss.
We’re also using it as a clearinghouse for information about the candidates in this year’s City Council and school board elections.
We haven’t started posting video from council meetings (not yet, anyway), but I’ve just begun Twittering as well. Starting this week, I hope to start Twittering live from City Council meetings.
Please check it out and let me know what you think!
Thanks, Michael. I will certsinly check you out.
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