I took first place in Investigative Reporting for my coverage of the Martin Tower story for the Bethlehem Press. This is the second time I took first place in the Investigative Reporting category. I also received an "Honorable Mention" for my beat reporting of Northampton County.
Over the three years in which I've participated in this contest, I've snagged journalism awards each year.
My secret?
I plagiarize.
While I crow and brag, I should point out these awards are in the smallest division. But in that field. The Bethlehem Press weekly had the highest number of awards, and for the third year in a row! This year there were over 20 individual awards, too many to spell out here. ... Except for me.
By contrast, The Morning Call, which is in the largest and presumably more competitive division, garnered four awards. Bill White took second place in column writing. Jennifer Sheehan got an "Honorable Mention" for a personality profile. Steve Esack and Emily Opilo took first and second place for news beat reporting. Top paper in the top category was The Patriot News.
The Express Times, which is in the second or third largest division, captured no awards.
59 comments:
Well done Bernie! Congratulations!
Congratulation, Bernie - you deserve the awards for all your diligent work.
That the ET won bumpkus comes as no surprise whatsoever. What a piece of trash that paper is.
Thanks very much.
My guess is that the ET did not enter, which I don't understand bc both the ET and Patriot News are owned by Advance. These contests are good for the writers. It feels good to get this modest recognition especially when you get dumped on the rest of the year. It is also an affirmation to anyone paying for a subscription. Brad Wilson's sports stories are excellent, and Jim Deegan can be absolutely hilarious or devastating, depending on his mood. The paper would certainly win an award for its school district coverage. Also, I think the paper's headlines are usually snappy. The corporate masters at Advance need to stop treating the people who work for the ET like shit. I don't even have the heart to rip them anymore when they don't cover important meetings.
I think you should get a Pultzer for online journalism for Allentown's pay to play coverage. I will just call it Midnight reporting, where the Press gets the News.
No surprise on no awards for the Express-Times. They are basically nothing more than a police blotter,
Congratulations, sir.
Well done, and THANK YOU!
Hearty congratulations from tom18017, roverfan73 and me. We anonymous troll brethren appreciate your excellent work. I'm certain my friend Sal will check in shortly with his own good wishes. He was up late raising a flag and posting on Facebook. Again, well done, Bernie.
Participatory Journalism (as you provide) will help save this nation and protect its citizens. Our local, large news media sources have moved on to other purposes. They have become propaganda arms for their multi-national corporate masters and syndicate bosses.
Although we all have preferences to promote, there is less opportunity to purposely mislead readers and deceive as instructed from higher up. Our traditional media sources have essentially destroyed themselves as underlings now serve just to maintain a paycheck.
I congratulate you, Bernie, for providing a place to learn from others less bound to "play the game." Good stuff emanates here and everyone knows it, even the professional check-cashers who have sold their souls, turning their backs to readers.
Fred Windish
Your comments about Brad Wilson are spot on. He's outstanding. Congratulations to you.
Congratulations Bernie!
Congrats and much thanx Bernie,
As I stated before you are the shit humorous at times and a truth sluth too¿ There should be a blog out there that covers the edited out police blotters that are never put to print¿ These particular acts of ommission by authorities are only obtainable by a supino from a judge or lawyer¿ This one would think is public information yet local police as well as officers of the courts hide these facts too¿ This must be some sort of circus shell trix game designed to keep the public uninformed for ticket sale or something¿
redd independant Republican
patent pending
Congratulations to a great writer - no matter the subject, it's always entertaining to read your blog.
Outstanding Achievement
Congrats!
Congratulations to a well deserving blogster.
So glad your reporting was recognized. Keep up the good work. I have noticed several instances when your reporting has seemingly prompted the MCall to follow up, but also when it doesn't report on a story that deserves wider distribution. Keep up the important work of investigative reporting.
Bernie congratulations! The Valley is very fortunate to have people like you, MM, Casey, LVCI and others who are now our primary sources for legitimate local news and information. Without you all, it would be even worse around here....
Again, congratulations and thank you.
The Banker
You should monetize your blog. I'd throw you a couple of AdSense clicks your way on a daily basis, in appreciation of the work you do.
Congratulations, Bernie!
I've often marveled at how you find the discipline and diligence to perform such a great journalistic public service to the Lehigh Valley on a Pro Bono basis.
I agree wholeheartedly with @9:53: I'd certainly click a number of times per day if I knew it brought some compensation to you for the fine work you've been doing for years -- and I'd certainly pay a subscription (even if it was optional) if there was a mechanism to do so.
Great work, sir. I look forward to reading you every day for years to come...
-Jeffrey Anthony
Congratulations, well deserved.
Congratulations Bernie! No small achievement for sure! Your reporting all too often exceeds that of the mainstream media in breaking stories and reporting them factually. Your blog has inspired many others to enter blogging as well. Nicely done!
Bernardo,
Congratulations.
Pepper
The Express Times focuses on publishing pictures of the same thing from 20 different angles, and inane "polls" like the one about what you think about a chocolate store owner's blowback for writing about a customer's children on social media. It's like a very very poor person's People magazine - a tragic joke if you are looking for news.
On the other hand, if you want investigative journalism, come here and see what Bernie's been working on. Always something from under the hood here. Congratulations Bernie on a job well done.
Does this mean you are now part of the "establishment". Or, are you still the Donald Trump of bottom feeding bloggers?
Congrats Bernie. You deserve accolades. Love your blog. Read every day.
"Participatory Journalism (as you provide) will help save this nation and protect its citizens. Our local, large news media sources have moved on to other purposes. They have become propaganda arms for their multi-national corporate masters and syndicate bosses. "
I would agree that participatory journalism is the trend. Stories written that way end up being better, not bc of me, but bc of the readers who will contribute. Newspapers are only catching on to this concept now. Some reporters understand and appreciate comments that correct them. Others seem to resent it.
The drawback is the trolls who will rip me, public officials or some of the other readers instead of discussing the topic. Then some people ultimately associate me with the negative things others say anonymously. Public officials tend to avoid me to begin with, and this just gives them another excuse. So I understand why some bloggers are moderating or forcing people to register. But I won't go that route bc you lose one of your strengths as a blog - interactivity.
"The Express Times focuses on publishing pictures of the same thing from 20 different angles, and inane "polls" like the one about what you think about a chocolate store owner's blowback for writing about a customer's children on social media."
I'd expect to see a story like that on Lehigh Valley With Love, or in a blog. That is something I don't consider newsworthy. But while the ET wrote two stories about that argument between a shopkeeper and her customer, it failed to send anyone to cover the ZHB Wilbur mansion and Masonic temple story, and published a story that created the impression it was there. It flat out misses many County Council meetings and has stopped covering committees. This is very bad news for democracy or those who believe in open and transparent government.
Rich Pepper, Goes to show how far plagiarism can get you.
"Congratulations Bernie! No small achievement for sure! Your reporting all too often exceeds that of the mainstream media in breaking stories and reporting them factually. Your blog has inspired many others to enter blogging as well. Nicely done! "
Marc Grammes, I wish you the best of luck with the Supreme Court. In my view, the law should be changed to give candidates an opportunity to cure defects like yours. Clearly, no one was misled. Your statement of Financial Interests was on file and could be inspected. It just was not online at two different locations. The challenge to your nomination petition exalts form over substance, and disenfranchises voters. I doubt I could vote for you,given our differences, but I believe i should make that decision, not some judge.
"I agree wholeheartedly with @9:53: I'd certainly click a number of times per day if I knew it brought some compensation to you for the fine work you've been doing for years -- and I'd certainly pay a subscription (even if it was optional) if there was a mechanism to do so."
Jeff and 9:53, I atone time had google ads here. I liked it bc the ads were local but I had nothing to do with their selection, other than to tell Google Adsense that I wanted no porn. The first time i had it, it was getting be about $50 per month for a few months, and then my account was suspended. Google claimed i was hitting my links too much, even though i did not click on any of them. I appealed, but the Google Court told me an algorithm trumped truth.
After about a year, it lifted its suspension and i started again. In the meantime, the blog had become more popular, so I was then earning about $120 per month. But after three months, I was fired again. Same reason. Since then, my adsense account has been permanently disabled.
There is no way i can monetize this blog without approaching businesses for ads. Once I do tht, I've lost my credibility. So I prefer to do this as a public service. I do make a little money from the stories i write for the Bethlehem Press.
I'm content, but someone who wanted to launch a real business would need to have a person to go out and solicit ads and then have nothing to do with writing. That person would have to get half the ad revenue.
I don't much care for subscriptions. The whole point is informing the public.
"Congratulations to a great writer - no matter the subject, it's always entertaining to read your blog. "
If that is so, it is mostly bc of readers like you, who often have your own entertaining observations.
"Your comments about Brad Wilson are spot on. He's outstanding. Congratulations to you. "
I love his stories.
"Hearty congratulations from tom18017, roverfan73 and me. We anonymous troll brethren appreciate your excellent work. I'm certain my friend Sal will check in shortly with his own good wishes. He was up late raising a flag and posting on Facebook. Again, well done, Bernie. "
Sal is under orders to stay off of social media sites except his own page, but has started sneaking back in again.
Point made Bernie, point made. If you think about it, very sad really! Shows how fragile a propped up ego can be, wouldn't you agree?
Agreed.
4:00 PM -
I am proud to be an exception to your charge. My opinions are frequently at odds with what Bernie believes. No matter, this is his playground and he can choose what appears. When I no longer feel welcome, I can find another place for my comments. There are no Life Memberships here.
Fred Windish
HAY BERNIE, Good for you ,the press that reports stuff after you should be ashamed of themselfs .
Congratulations!
-Alfonso Todd
Bernie,
Congrats! Thanks for keeping transparency in government. Chris J
Congratulations and well done :)
Well-deserved.
VOR
Thanks again to everyone.
Is there a word that combines heartfelt huzzahs and extreme jealousy? Happy Easter, Bernie
Losing AdSense isn't the end of the world. Try this one, Bernie:
http://www.revenuehits.com/#publishers
Thanks, Whethervain, It really was just an excuse for me to pat myself on the back, but most people have been very nice. I've only had to delete one troll.
9:38, Do you use it? I find most of them are scams.
I tried it, but it wasn't as good as AdSense. It earned me a few bucks but I was giving away valuable real estate to it.
A better one is infolinks.com. Didn't mention it before because I didn't think it was compatible with BlogSpot. I just checked and it says it is. If you want to try one, I'd suggest infolinks for better results. Not a scam and you will notice I'm not using any type of affiliate code to get you there.
No I don't think you are a scam. I meant these third party sites. Will check.
Congrats Bernie,
I really enjoy your blog and while I don't always agree with all of your blogs and reports, I do appreciate all of your hard work and in depth reporting on issues the main stream media won't touch!
Thanks very much.
Well done, Bernie!
Thank you, Mademoiselle. I wish you were writing more on your blog. I like reading you.
I would be surprised if the E-T didn't submit anything unless they align themselves more with the NJ Press Assoc since they are now under the umbrella of New Jersey Advance Media.
Either way they wouldn't deserve much. I mean I am not expecting "Spotlight"-style investigative journalism or long-term pieces, but I also don't want nothing but police blotters and slide shows either.
Buckle up, it's prom and graduation season. Let the photo galleries and "who wore it best" articles begin.
Well deserved award Bernie as your Martin Tower coverage was unequaled by any Lehigh Valley media source. You dig for the details & the underlying motives involved & expose bad government. Other reporters are merely administration cheerleaders. Great work!
Congratulations, Bernie! We appreciate your tireless efforts and service to the community. Keep up the good work. We need you!
Congratulations Bernie! You deserve this. Your work is appreciated by so many!
let me echo the congratulations on your awards for the Martin Tower story. You are definitely the furst thing I chevk in the morning, and I probably check for a new story at least thirty tomes a day so I don't miss anything. Thanks for your outstanding work.
Do you have a regular column in the Press? If so, what days do you appear?
I do not. I get in enough trouble without a regular column.
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