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Thursday, March 25, 2010
CACLV's Alan Jennings Laments Decline in Investigative Journalism
CACLV's Alan Jennings is an advocate for the poor. He is a powerful voice for those who would otherwise be swept under the rug. His most important partner is the newspaper.
10 comments:
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Advocate for the poor?
ReplyDeleteHow about advocate for his own ego? Jennings has never met a press opportunity he didn't like.
If he wants to be important, he should be asking questions to the Allentown superintendent candidates, since they play a pivotal role in getting kids out from under the spectre of being poor.
Sounds a bit like Ellsworth Toohey in that soundbite.
ReplyDeleteHe gave nice kudos to you, however....and to expand, you do cover the county politics much more thoroughly than the newspapers usually do, which I find of interest.
ReplyDeleteHow about complaining about Pawlowski’s refusal to release city e-mails that have been requested by the Moring Call? Why didn’t he complain about that if he is worried about the 4th estate?
ReplyDeleteAllen is a disappointment.
Scott Armstrong
"How about advocate for his own ego? Jennings has never met a press opportunity he didn't like."
ReplyDeleteYes, he's good at it, but he's not doing it to advance apolitical career. he's doing it for people who otherwise would have no voice at all.
Alan has a strong personality, and I'm sure it rubs some people the wrong way. He's passionate about what he believes in, and he and I have tangled a few times over the years over different issues.
He's also been caricatured over the years, presented as some rich guy driving a Porsche. In reality, he lives in a row home in a working class neighborhood, his car has 150k plus miles, and his salary is much lower than it should be for someone who employs so many people.
I don't know that he should be speaking to supervisor candidates or making right to know requests. Those are things we can do. his mission is tohelp people who are wondering where they'll be sleeping the next night, or a mother who's worried she may not be able to feed her children.
Lighthouse, yes, he did note what I do, but he also noted it's not enough.
I do like to cover local politics, and can devoted more space to it here than is available to hard copy newspapers, but imagine all the stories out there that are going untold. What is going on in different townships? I really have no idea. I have a good handle on NC, but that's really about it.
It's nice to see bloggers like Neighbors of Easton, who focus on Shadtown. Molovinsky does a good job watching A-town, although that bastard hates being called a journalist and thinks of himself as something else. LVPoliblog gets into the Macungies and Dem politics from time to time.
But as Jim Deegan noted, a lot of us simply react to news stories without doing anything original. Without the news industry, most blogs would wither and die.
Alan Jennings is a real human who truly cares for the less priveleged members of the Valley. His record speaks for itself. He has constantly fought and ultimately wins large contributons from large corporations to give to the less fortunate. The Valley is a better place for Alan's work
ReplyDeleteI miss the local stories in the Mcall.
ReplyDeleteHowever, we get our weekly front page story about the Sands.
Alan, I know you will read this. Kudos to the good work you do. Remember it is turds like Ron Angle that make up the stories Bernie mentioned.
ReplyDeleteAlso remember Alan, this blog does not cover local politics. It merely gives Ohares spin on local politics. In Northampton County we have seen it for years. In Ohares world it is much like the World Wrestling Federation. There are the perennial bad guys, Deringer, McClure and the perpetual good guys, Angle, Stoffa. It doesn't matter what happens or who does it that is the script.
Please, don't inflate Ohares already inflated head by suggesting he is anything but the badly written National Enquire of local politics.
Watching his nauseating handling of Charlie Dent and President Obama, the rest of the Valley is seeing what those of us in Northampton County have known for years. This blog is fun to read but not for factual news.
jennings and ohare - legends in their own minds
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't Jennings fight for the rights of those ASD 6-year-olds raped by that student!
ReplyDeleteAdvocate for the Poor. Really?