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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Bill White, Gatekeeper

Unlike many journalists, Morning Call columnist Bill White has been something of a blog fan over the years. Instead of cringing at us, he's called attention to a number of good local blogs, which actually has helped drive interest. But like Popeye, Bill has his limits. Popeye says, "That's all I can stands, I can't stands no more!" Being a journalist, Bill is a little more sophisticated in his warning about bottom-feeders like me. "[S]ome of these bloggers are so clearly motivated by their own biases, even obsessions, that their information is seriously tainted. Much as I admire a lot of the reporting I've seen, some of it is driven by such a complicated web of vendettas and bromances that any pretense of consistent standards or credibility, at least on certain topics, is out the window."

Looks like I'm guilty as charged. I'm biased, have no editors and the only people with whom I can discuss story ideas are even nuttier than me or worse, live in Allentown or the slate belt. Sometimes I do get my facts wrong, although I know few bloggers who deliberately mislead readers. I do write stories that never appear in a newspaper. But I try not to dictate their agenda.

According to White, people like me present "challenges" for people like you.

Because of our admitted deficiencies, we're not to be trusted. Fortunately, "gatekeepers" like Bill understand the "importance of accuracy and fairness."

Gatekeeper? I've always thought of Bill as a baseball lovin', taco muchin', animal lovin', pie muchin', Eagles-lovin', grammar enhancer. But gatekeeper? To what, an all-you-can-eat buffet, decorated with Christmas lights from everywhere except East Allentown?

Gatekeeper or not, he certainly has my number. But I don't think he has yours. His column basically presupposes that you're stupid enough to believe everything you read here. But most of my readers are newsies who closely read the papers and are more than willing to take me on, whether it is on the facts or because of my own admitted bias. You see, I believe that an yobjective reporter is an objective impossibility. Plus, This is an interactive venue, unlike newspapers. Here, what you say matters and is read. I often end up learning more from the comments than I do when I research a blog posting. There, a reporter or editor would rather go through root canal than respond to a comment from the unwashed masses.

Bill's column also makes the case that newspapers tend to be more trustworthy. Although we can all recite exceptions to that rule, I'll give him that point, too. Both local papers have excellent reporters who can learn in minutes what takes me days. I admire and respect most of them, including Bill. At our best, I think of us as mere complements to the MSM. At or worst, we can be impediments.

But one of his points is downright laughable. He hints "there may be a good reason why that story you're reading on someone's blog still hasn't appeared in your newspaper ... ." Of course, Bill is trying to tell you that some of our stories are garbage. Once again, I think you're smart enough to decide that for yourself, although I swear green-headed aliens really did stick an 80' antenna up my rectum. Honest!

More often than not, the "good reason" why that story has never appeared in a newspaper is because there's been no reporter there to cover it.

Let me provide an example. Last week, I attended a Hanover Township Supervisors' meeting. In a report from the Township Manager, I learned that Bethlehem had shortchanged its own library around $400,000 last year. Yes, this is the same City that missed its $2 million pension payment last year. It's the same City that finished the year $8.5 million in the red. After the meeting, the Manager showed me all the figures. Now that's a story, but there was no daily print reporter there to get it.

The following day, I called the library's executive director for comment, but she never returned my call. Do you think she would have done that to a daily reporter?

You can read a story about that $400,000 shortage here. If truth be told, it belongs in both papers, where the report would be more "fair and accurate" because, for one thing, the librarian would have answered a reporter's call.

I can name other examples of important stories completely missed by the dailies, most likely because of a shortage of manpower. I can also name several local newspaper stories that first appeared on local blogs, including Controller Steve Barron's threat to T-Mobile. Bill wrote a hilarious column, but that story originated at LVCI's blog.

Increasingly, there has been no gatekeeper and no local stories. That leaves us, with all our warts. It's true that we are unfiltered, but we also tend to be a little more real.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

"This is an interactive venue, unlike newspapers. Here, what you say matters and is read."

Except for when we disagree with you or Angle of course, then we get deleted and censored.

You will deny it, or say it was a personal attack of some sort, but fact is you delete what you don't like.

So don't sit there and act like he is off base on this, because it sounds to me he hit the nail on the head.

Anonymous said...

Right on 12:10. Interactive, really O'Hare? if people want to trash Pawlowski, Callahan or Mann it is open season.

Heaven forbid the "truth" about Angle, Stoffa or Dent comes out. You censor that real quick. You play your not proven, homophobic, inappropriate or the best yet, "3 am troll" card.

White is correct in laying the cards on the table. The media is not interactive while you give the appearance of being interactive.

Stoffa and Angle set-up Gracedale to fail and there are folks out there that can tell you how they did it but you will dismiss it as "union conspiracy" or "not John Stoffa the great Human Service guy". Bullshit on a stick!

Face it O'Hare you are an angry drunk funded by an elderly abusing ego-maniac to prop up your man-crushes and tear down whomever you are ordered to destroy.

You are disgusting.

King Rugila

michael molovinsky said...

bernie, although i believe some morning call articles, and even some thoughts which have been expressed in white's own column, have germinated from my lowly blog, my main problem with white's current piece is his ignoring of the call's skeleton staff. simply put, the call has a fraction of it's former reporters, and only writes a fraction of the news. not so many years ago the B section was all local news, that's been reduced to two pages in the front section. currently the call has as many columnists as reporters, and imports even more generic columns from other tribune sources in lieu of local news. White wrote that article sans the current call reality, as if it were 2003.

Chris Casey said...

What's wrong with the MCall?

Exhibit A: Lindsey LOhan tweeted about her failed drug test, and that is thr front page Story.

I rest my case.

The downfall of news media has been the economy, and the disappearance of ad revenue.

They only write what people will PAY TO READ. THey no longer prioritize what the people NEED TO READ.

Anonymous said...

sadly, the next 10 years of info on politics will include drivel about whom a state rep is dating and the following 60 comments, 1/2 of which are about her sexuality and whether or not the guys she is dating are really the type she should be dating.

No wonder city councilmen won't return your calls or answer questions during council meetings. the only people holding them accountable are peddling smut or in the bag for certain politicians. bloggers become a punch line about political agendas and adult content. not many respectable people will take the message when the messenger is so questionable.

I worry about the next 10 years of politics until bloggers get serious and respectable about credibility and newspapers figure out the power of real time blogging.

Anonymous said...

It's hard to take a gatekeeper seriously when his call to fame is eating his way through a county fair.

Anonymous said...

1/2 of which are about her sexuality...

Sexuality, heck, it's gonna be about witchcraft.

Bernie O'Hare said...

"Bernie, do you know if Washington Street a state or local street?"

Of course, that's not hat that article was about at all. As I state, the Jenn Mann relationship that really bothers me is the one she has with Vitetta, a very major player. You can't answer that, so you twist what was written. It's a spin game.

Bernie O'Hare said...

"my main problem with white's current piece is his ignoring of the call's skeleton staff. simply put, the call has a fraction of it's former reporters, and only writes a fraction of the news."

Bingo. Why the hell wouldn't there be a reporter at a Hanover Tp Supervisors' meeting? Why have they stopped covering most of the boroughs, or, when they do, why do they send a stringer?

That's how some real stories get missed. And I can think of some real stories that appeared on your blog that were later covered by the MC.

One case in particuliar was the MC's refusal to write a word about the minority businesses along Hamilton Street who were adversely affected by LANTA routing changes. The MC ignored that story as long as it could. When the Mayor refused to meet merchants, and he did refuse to meet them or return their calls, there was no MC coverage. That itself is a story.

A system of gentrification was occurring right under their noses and they ignored it. Was that not a real story, too?

The MC got involed only because Channel 69, for some reason, started doing stories.

So when a story appears here or at your blog or on some other blog, and it does not appear in the newspaper, sometimes that's bc the people there are dealing with their own biases. They're just not honest enough to admit it. The MC's refusal to cover the devastation cause to minority merchants on Hamilton Street was clearly the result of bias.

I call it incumbent bias. They get soworried about losing access, that they sweep things under the rug. They just don't admit their bias.

I'd also agree that White is writing as though it is still 2003. It's not. His paper is a shadow of what it was then.

We ae far from perfect, and every one of his criticisms of us, at least insofar as they apply to me, have some validity. I'll even concede that when reporters write about a specific topic, they generally do a better job. I'd never want anyone to abandon the newspapers.

But just as we are flawed, so are they. I also reject the notion that a news source must be "objective" to be "fair and accurate." First, nobody is ever truly objective. That's an impossible ideal. Second, sometimes there really is only one side to a story. Third, somebody can have a POV, yet still be "fair and accurate."

Anonymous said...

Bernie
Maybe something unrelated to these topics happened to upset you, but we don't think someone asking about Washington St being state or city owned is trying to change the topic. Isn't that one of today's
topics? We too have misposted our thoughts on the wrong topic when you've entered two or three or more in one day.

LVCI said...

People already get enough of the national news until their up to their ears in it. It's long overdue that local papers make a format change. LOCAL on the front page. People want to buy the paper to find out what's going on around here. That national crap is already free everywhere you look. It's not only redundant information, it's nothing more then copy/paste from wire services.

If the paper were to focus almost entirely on the local items, perhaps they'd begin to see a turn around. Especially if a big fat local story and picture were staring out at them from a paper vending machine or on the top of a pile of newspapers in a store.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Anon 11:24, I screwed up. I had meant to answer the person talking about my Jenn Mann posts, but copied and pasted your Washington Street comment from another post. Sorry about that.

Anonymous said...

Bernie,

The low staffing levels at the local papers is a big concern and Bill White didn't mention that issue. But that is not why Hanover Township is not getting coverage ... because they never have, other than when turkey barns were proposed for the Jandl property back in the mid-90s.

I get my real local news (ie. not the police blotter) from the Bethlehem Press weekly newspaper. They cover Bethlehem, Freemansburg, Beth. Township, Fountain Hill, Bethlehem, and the school district.And it costs me something like $40 per year.

Reading between the lines, I think Bill White was complaining about you making accusations without any real proof. Specifically, you claim that one person told you that he/she was handed off to a lobbyist who may or may not be dating Jenn Mann.

That type of "reporting" would never appear in a newspaper as there is no verification of the claim. Generally, a reporter needs outside verification by other sources. You have one person saying something that may or may not be true. That's not reporting, that's spreading rumors ... and that is irresponsible. In the eyes of many this destroys your credibility.

If you want to be taken seriously - and you do come up with some interesting things every now and again - you need to have a higher standard. At a newspaper it is the editors responsibility to read over a story like the one on Mann and question the validity of the claims made. Maybe you need an outside filter.

It is obvious that you put a lot of time into this blog and should be commended for your efforts and commitment. Regardless, you can do better and need to if you want any respect.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Of course he was talking about me, and I think he should say he was talking about me instead of beating around the bush.

So are you telling me that no journalist ever relies on anonymous sources? Ever hear of Deep Throat?

Anonymous sources are used all the time, and in this case, I actually have two unrelated anonymous sources telling me the same thing. I think it's enough for a story, especially when Mann's office refuses to answer questions. It may not be newsworthy, but is certainly blogworthy. And the connection to Vitetta is an even bigger story.

My work would be better if I did have an outside filter, i.e. an editor. I can see that with the stories I do write for an actual newspaper. But as things stand, it is very hard for me to get away with bullshit, even harder than it is for a reporter.

But I do have a filter. It is you. It is other bloggers. It is all the people who read and comment here. It is the interactivity that makes these blogs. In many ways, all of that makes us more fair and more accurate than the MSM, which shuts itself off from the world it writes about, adopting a top-down attitude.

I believe the MSM attitude presumes too much stupidity on the part of readers. I might be making the opposite mistake. I would never want anyone to rely on me as the sole source for anything. I'd want someone to read anything I write critically. But that should happen with the MSM and other sources, too.

Also, what is this suggestion that I need respect? Is this some way of saying that I have to be more respectful to the Jen Manns of this world? She is an elected official, and when her private life has an impact on what she is doing publicly, I will write about it.

Anonymous said...

"Ever hear of Deep Throat?"

Fantastic movie, one of the best all time!!!!

Anonymous said...

There goes that filter again!!

Anonymous said...

Bernie @ 1:49,

To your points:

1. Yes, anon sources are used but, a newspaper reporter will typically expect to have a source and two confirmations of the reliability of the information. You bring up Deep Throat. Do you think that The Washington Post didn't make damn sure that they had the real deal before they printed the story that led to Watergate? In your blog on September 15, 2010, you stated:

"But when one of State representative Jennifer Mann's constituents visited her Harrisburg office in March, the person sitting behind the desk was Richard Gawlick."

To me this you present an unverified story of one person with no verification. You clearly did not make it known that there were two anon sources. If there are in fact more than one source you should have stated this in your original story.

2. I am glad that you agree that you would be better with an editor. We all are.

3. I do not agree that the comments section puts a filter on you. As the Blogger you have the ability to steer the conversation where you want. Second, not all comments are constructive. And while I assume you don't comment on your blog as an anon, other bloggers do, which (unfortunately) makes comments that are too closely aligned with your thoughts suspect in the minds of some.


continue ...

Anonymous said...

Continued ...

You also have a tendency to, at times, either ignore very legitimate arguments made by anons, or you call us "cowards" for not posting our names. As someone who puts a little thought into his arguments, I have taken offence when you have called me a "coward" for (apparently) no reason other then I bring a point or facts to the table that you might not agree with.

4. Regarding the MSM and respect for our intelligence I don't know what to say. Traditional sources like local papers have been crushed financially and are just trying to survive. Fox News and MSNBC do a huge disservice to everyone by distorting the facts to meet an agenda. But a lot of bloggers do this as well.

5. Respect - if you don't think that you want it from those who come here you are only kidding yourself. You put too much time and effort into this for too long to not care what people think. My comment has nothing to do with Jenn Mann or Charlie Dent or anyone you may or may not write about.

My point is that you, BOH, care what those who read your words think about you ... that they respect what you are trying to achieve. And, in my opinion, each time you publish questionable story or grandstand for or against a local politician, you lose a little respect from those who read. Lose enough respect and, reader by reader you will lose your base and your sounding board.

ANON 1:18

Bernie O'Hare said...

"To me this you present an unverified story of one person with no verification. You clearly did not make it known that there were two anon sources. If there are in fact more than one source you should have stated this in your original story."

Actually, at the time I posted my first story, there was only one anonymous source, a person I happen to know and believe. Given all the other information about Gawlick, combined with his personal relationship with Mann, I am quite comfortable with what I posted. It is very clear to readers like you what the weakness is in that story, and it is for you to decide what to believe.

After my original story posted, I was made aware of another person who had an appointment to see Mann and who was passed off to Gawlick. I posted that in my second story, along with Mann's denial, and I'm vry comfortable with that, too.

Bernie O'Hare said...

"As someone who puts a little thought into his arguments, I have taken offence when you have called me a "coward" for (apparently) no reason other then I bring a point or facts to the table that you might not agree with"

I don't mind disagreement or being schooled by someone who won't identify himself, but the only anonymous commenters I call cowards are people who hide behind that anonymity to launch personal attacks. If you have done that, then you are a coward. Maybe that's what really bothers you. If so, too bad.

Bernie O'Hare said...

"Regarding the MSM and respect for our intelligence I don't know what to say."

And that's one reason why the MSM is in trouble. When you have a condescending - we know what's best - attitude, you drive people away.

Bernie O'Hare said...

"5. Respect - if you don't think that you want it from those who come here you are only kidding yourself. You put too much time and effort into this for too long to not care what people think"

Wrong. If you spend all your time worrying about what other do or do not think, you retty much have no respect from anyone. My idols are people like my father, who would just as soon give you the finger as smile at you. I like assholes like Angle, who doesn't give a rat's ass what people think of him. If I were concerned about respect, I would have stopped blogging long ago.

Blogging is not a respectable profession. We rank somewhere with tatoo artists and hookers.

The reason I blog is bc there is a gap between the information spoon fed by the MSM and the rest of the story. I try to fill that gap on a local level, and I don't do it so I can be your buddy.

Bernie O'Hare said...

" Lose enough respect and, reader by reader you will lose your base and your sounding board."

If I decide what to cover based on what will draw the most readers, I'd do something less controversial, like Kathy Frederick's humor blog. But it's not about the nembers. It's about telling the story.

But my numbers have steadily gone up over my 4 years of blogging so there goes your theory.

Anonymous said...

"Blogging is not a respectable profession. We rank somewhere with tatoo artists and hookers."

Come on now that was low. What if a hooker is getting a tattoo about a blogger?

Bernie O'Hare said...

Then she could probably be shot on sight.