News-Record.com

The Mayor didn't know that Lorraine wrote fiction??
He must not have read her series on Chief Wray and "The Secret Police"...

Apparently you don't know the difference between fiction and non-fiction, either, jaycee.

(I'm smiling as I write this. Please let's not go down this well-beaten path once again.

I've always thought that JBO's reports gave an accurate report of the perception of what happens at these meetings. If the offended public officials don't agree with how they are perceived, they should fix it - not the paper.

There are times that I would rather read JBO than Lorraine. Like to good old days of Jenkins, Bledsoe and that red-sneaker guy.

*In my best ForrestGump voice*

"That's all I have to say about that."

If they skip school, lock 'em up. I guarantee, your graduation rate will skyrocket.* Joey Law and Order Fred Thompson other Republican persona

Joey! When can we expect you to tell us about the Prison Industrial Corporate Fascist Complex that you appear to support? After all we lead the world in locking up people with over 3 million Americans. Is it possible that you are dentention guard with your superior Republican journalist skills?

Hey John,

You are an idiot. (I'm smiling as I write this. Please let's not go down this well-beaten path once again.)

I would love to see more of Joey. Hopefully Lorraine..I mean Joey..(Sorry Lorraine. Now you know how Bellamy-Small feels) can produce a 50 part series about you being being ordered by Mitch to go investigate cock fighiting in Bangkok. Then you would quit working at the paper to make it seem real. That would be way cool.

I bet it is hard for your staff to comment on your blog.

Ben Holder, ladies and gentlemen, at his cleverest. Catch him tonight at the Comedy Club.

John- There's a story online today about "some" Guilford taxes can be paid by phone or online. Can you explain the "some"? As far as I'm aware, all Guilford County taxes can be paid online or by phone using www.officialpayments.com.

Thanks,
R.L. Williams

Roy, you're correct. All taxes levied by Guilford County can be paid by phone or online. We've fixed the headline. Thanks.

I think the Mayor has a point. Spread enough crap and then people will begin to believe it's true. And there are many ways to do it, parody apparantly is one.

By the way, John, you never did do an article on what I disclosed about the problems with racism and the Mayo River. Why is that?

Also, no mention of the latest incident up there on which charges are pending.

Your readers need to know the truth. You ought to print it for a change. Did you not get a release about this incident? Or did you consider it not 'newsworthy'?

So how about a parody of that Lorraine? At least it's true. That would be a step in the right direction.

Here's the parody:

News Release:

At a secret meeting, News and Record editor John Robinson instructs staff to ignore the racism rampant in Rockingham County, in the Mayo River area. Says publically no one would believe what Ginger Bush says. Does his best to downplay what has been disclosed by her, in another public attempt to discredit her.

Robinson never follows through with a story, nor sends anyone to take pictures of the racist grafetti sprayed across the rocks, which she reported to authorities, nor follow up on racist remarks made to her by two boys who were trespassing on her land, which she also reported to authorities, to determine if they are truth or fictional. Publically makes excuses for the same.

Previously, a car had been attacked by people on ATV's in the same area, who rammed it and slashed tires for racial reasons. Records of this cannot be found by the Sherrif's department, though a deputy was called to the scene and reported the incident. Not a word about this was reported, though it was brought to Robinson's attention.

Doesn't consider newsworthy the fact that a car driven by an interacial couple was set on fire in the area and that sentencing for that is pending. Nothing on this can be found in the Rockingham or Greensboro editions of the News and Record. Doesn't respond when this is noted here.

Oh wait- this isn't a parody. It's John Robinson journalism, media manipulator.

Here's the parody:

News Release:

At a secret meeting, News and Record editor John Robinson instructs staff to ignore the racism rampant in Rockingham County, in the Mayo River area. Says publically no one would believe what Ginger Bush says. Does his best to downplay what has been disclosed by her, in another public attempt to discredit her.

Robinson never follows through with a story, nor sends anyone to take pictures of the racist grafetti sprayed across the rocks, which she reported to authorities, nor follow up on racist remarks made to her by two boys who were trespassing on her land, which she also reported to authorities, to determine if they are truth or fictional. Publically makes excuses for the same.

Previously, a car had been attacked by people on ATV's in the same area, who rammed it and slashed tires for racial reasons. Records of this cannot be found by the Sherrif's department, though a deputy was called to the scene and reported the incident. Not a word about this was reported, though it was brought to Robinson's attention.

Doesn't consider newsworthy the fact that a car driven by an interacial couple was set on fire in the area and that sentencing for that is pending. Nothing on this can be found in the Rockingham or Greensboro editions of the News and Record. Doesn't respond when this is noted here.

Oh wait- this isn't a parody. It's John Robinson journalism, media manipulator.

So the question I have for you John is why? Why are you manipulating the news?

Here's the parody:

News Release:

At a secret meeting, News and Record editor John Robinson instructs staff to ignore the racism rampant in Rockingham County, in the Mayo River area. Says publically no one would believe what Ginger Bush says. Does his best to downplay what has been disclosed by her, in another public attempt to discredit her.

Robinson never follows through with a story, nor sends anyone to take pictures of the racist grafetti sprayed across the rocks, which she reported to authorities, nor follow up on racist remarks made to her by two boys who were trespassing on her land, which she also reported to authorities, to determine if they are truth or fictional. Publically makes excuses for the same.

Previously, a car had been attacked by people on ATV's in the same area, who rammed it and slashed tires for racial reasons. Records of this cannot be found by the Sherrif's department, though a deputy was called to the scene and reported the incident. Not a word about this was reported, though it was brought to Robinson's attention.

Doesn't consider newsworthy the fact that a car driven by an interacial couple was set on fire in the area and that sentencing for that is pending. Nothing on this can be found in the Rockingham or Greensboro editions of the News and Record. Doesn't respond when this is noted here.

Oh wait- this isn't a parody. It's John Robinson journalism, media manipulator.

So the question I have for you John is why? Why are you manipulating news? Why have you ignored what obviously needs to be reported?

The repeat posts above were errors, John. As I was trying to edit, I was transmitting instead.

I would like an answer to the post above.

John,

You have staff that monitor blogs. You read and monitor your own blog. Why aren't you, or they, addressing this issue?

I'm giving up trying to bring attention to the problems I, and others, have encountered up there. All I receive for my effort is silence. They can have their state park in the middle of racism central. You can have your newspaper that lacks coverage, objectivity.

John,

You have staff that monitor blogs. You read and monitor your own blog. Why aren't you, or they, addressing this issue?

I'm giving up trying to bring attention to the problems I, and others, have encountered up there. All I receive for my effort is silence. They can have their state park in the middle of racism central. You can have your newspaper that lacks coverage and any objectivity- external or material reality, the state or quality of being objective.

I'm always amazed that commenters who want us to do something make the request in such an offensive insulting way. Does that approach often work for you?

Racist graffiti isn't necessarily news. Offensive graffiti pops up everywhere. Someone says something nasty to someone else also happens pretty often. An offense that the Sheriff's office has no record of is tough to verify, too.

I don't mean to minimize your concerns, but I can't say that what you've produced as evidence of a big story rises very high on our list of things we need to cover, particularly when we're covering an entire county with two people.

I'm sure the Mayor appreciated the comedy, John. So as long as it's comedic or a farce, it's OK?
I haven't read the parody, but to parody your own words, does that approach work often for you? Given what I've read, I don't think it was appreciated by him, any more than I appreciated being asked if I was a skinhead, which should have been comedic if it wasn't so insulting, when I reported what was said to me by the boys who were trespassing.

Racist graffiti of the nature that was scrawled across the rocks, 'kill niggers and kill white whores who sleep with niggers' is news, or should be. The things these kids claimed one of their cousins did, hung and set on fire black people may have been no more than a story told to get attention, but it was said. And to verify the ATV attack, all you would need to do is talk with the deputy who was called to the scene when it happened, who related the story to me when I reported the graffiti. The latest incident when the car was set fire happened on May 25 of this year. Did you or your staff receive a news release regarding the same? There should be no problem verifying that or the details of the same.

And the last time I was in the area I was told that a black man was up at the river all day and asked what I thought he was doing? Having no idea I asked what and the answer was 'dealing drugs'. This answer came from someone who stereotypically cast someone black being in an area all day as a drug dealer.

Maybe it isn't a big story, part of it may be all talk or bravado, but the public needs to be aware of problems in an area that is becoming more and more frequented by the public. To do less is to fail them.