News-Record.com

Over the past few days, some Web sites have linked to this post from January.

It's about vetting job candidates based on whether they blog.

Today, I would write about vetting job candidates based on their digital savvy.

What social networks are they active participants in? Do they Twitter? Who are their friends and who do they follow?

And how are you developing your personal brand?

The world of news and information is ever moving. Must keep up, just in case some employer has.

Early returns are in: More people have written in about dropping "For Better or For Worse" than about the elimination of three Op-Ed pages per week.

Draw your own conclusions.

Wednesday update: The ever-competitive Allen Johnson now reports he is getting a steady flow about the Op-Ed page and has caught up. I hope he's right.

Voluntary buyouts offered in Charlotte and Raleigh that include the entire newsrooms at both places. The economy in both Raleigh and Charlotte is stronger than other places -- Greensboro -- so this move is telling.

I hate it for the damage the impending cuts could do to coverage of state government where both papers are strong. While we have the extraordinary Mark Binker, he's only one man. We supplement Mark's reports with wire feeds from Raleigh and Charlotte.

I have friends and former co-workers in both places -- I used to work in Raleigh. Wishing them all well in these tough times.

In writing. And on audio.

No surprises, but interesting answers.

As a member of something referred to as "the media," I'm used to being used as a tool in political campaigns. The term "media" has joined "liberal," "trial lawyer" and, lately, "Muslim" as weapons, not words with meaning.

So, this strategy to plant the idea that we the media are on "a mission to destroy" Gov. Palin isn't unexpected. Nor is Palin's comment last night much more than evidence that she understands the playbook of American politics...Republican politics, according to Post media writer Howard Kurtz.

From what I read from mainstream coverage -- not counting the recently celebrated National Enquirer -- Kurtz nails it: But most journalists weren't so much biased against Palin as skeptical that she had the experience to step in as commander-in-chief, the standard that McCain himself had repeatedly touted.

Actually, much of what I've read and seen has been positive overall, attempting to explain how an unknown governor got to this position, reviewing her past and outlining her status as an outsider. The reviews on morning news shows give her top marks for her speech last night. Because she is such an unknown, her record, her positions, her votes, her statements, and, yes, her missteps will be news for awhile because most of the country knows so little about her.

That will put the media in the position we are in right now.

Steve Yelvington has a nice piece on the rock-solid American right of freedom of speech and of the press. Consequently, I won't spend time writing about American values here.

I wonder, though, how long the strategy of attacking the media will be effective when everyone is the media? With YouTube and blogs, it's not far off.

The true story.

Via Will Sullivan.

Seems as if the NCAA is cracking down on blogging at football games. Again. Goofy.

We have blogged during games, but don't have any immediate plans to do it this week. Given how many games are on television, I'm not convinced it is worth the effort.

Still, I don't see the point of the NCAA's rules. I can go to a game as a spectator, sit in the stands, and blog about it from my Blackberry (if I had one) as many times as I like. But if I'm in the press box someone is going to stand over my shoulder and count? Makes no sense. But then again, this is the same group that enforces recruiting violations.

Lots of buzz on media sites about when and whether Gov. Palin is going to meet with reporters and answer questions.

Even though you may not like the media elite and think we/they are biased and nasty, shouldn't a candidate stumping to be "a heart beat away from the presidency" answer questions in public? Maybe today in Wisconsin?

Jay Rosen has an interesting scenario.

Strategy: double down on defiance by never letting her answer questions, except from friendly media figures who have joined your narrative; like Cheney with Fox. No meet the press at all. No interviews of Palin with the DC media elite— at all. De-legitimate the ask. Break with all "access" expectations. Use surrogates and spokesmen, let them get mauled, then whip up resentment at their mistreatment. Answer questions at town halls and call that adequate enough.

Update: Yesterday, Debatables asked for reaction to Palin's speech: 32 comments to date. This morning asked for reaction to McCain's: Nada, (to quote Rudy G.) Maybe it's too early.

Update II: Uh, nah, no interviews anytime soon.

For everyone who thinks that everyone thinks just as they do, here's evidence that they don't.

First letter this a.m.

Could this paper bury its "coverage" of the protests in St. Paul any deeper? The fact that nearly as many people came to the Twin Cities to protest as came to attend the Republican convention would seem to merit some attention. 10,000 marched on Monday. Nearly 400 were arrested on the final day, when police barred their path to the convention site.

One would think, given the coverage, that the only storm the Republican's had to worry about was Gustav.

Next letter in:

Perhaps your paper's masthead should read "Democrat Party News Only."

The News-Record continues to disparage the Republican Party. Just look at your coverage of the Republican National Convention the past two days. First, you ignore Senator McCain's Vice-Presidential candidate and her wonderful speech. Then today, you publish the NYTimes report on the convention which is negative and uncomplimentary. By the way, the AP report is upbeat and congratulatory of McCain and the Republican party.

Me, I just want to move beyond partisan rancor.

After just a couple weeks, I've become an unabashed user of Twitter. I have met interesting people there, and they have tipped me to interesting stories and given me good ideas and advice. Better yet, it trains me to think and write in short bursts, which is always important for a journalist.

Much has been written about how quickly Twitter delivers the news, and it is true. I learn of news stories and blog posts before my RSS feed delivers them. Faster than Google alerts, too. I have followed Hanna through the tweets of Robyn Tomlin, executive editor of the Wilmington Star-News. We have a general news feed and a political news feed. Follow them.

And follow me.

Sunday update: The NY Times explains some of the Twitter phenomena.

My newspaper column

Now that the Republican and Democratic national conventions are over, the political campaign has officially started.

Oh, you thought it started a year ago? You ain’t seen nothin' yet.

There's no question this is a historic election; every presidential election is. But this one is stacking up to be as exciting as any in recent memory.

We plan to treat it that way, too.

Two weeks ago, I asked members of our reader advisory network what they wanted to know about Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama. The answers from 100-plus people who responded were direct.

"Their stands on specific issues," one wrote. "Economy, health care, education, natural resources and Social Security."

Almost three years ago, I met with School Superintendent Terry Grier about starting a blog. We offered to host it and to help him. He was reluctant for several reasons: he didn't think he had the time, and he didn't care for the sort of uncivil discussion that occurred around school issues. Of course, he never blogged.

Now comes new Superintendent Mo Green who announced this morning at his swearing in that he is going to start a blog to interact with the public.

Good.

Several public officials have talked about blogs and some have even created them, but very few have followed through. My advice here still stands.

And maybe this would help.

Update: Good to his word, Green started blogging before the day is even out. Although, um, it doesn't appear to allow comments, which makes it more of a one-way Web site than a blog. (Thanks to Brian Ewing, our schools reporter, for the tip in the comments.)

Some East Carolina football fans, justifiably proud of their school for winning back-to-back games against ranked opponents, squawked that the Sunday Sports section didn't herald the team's achievement loudly enough. A quick e-mail sample:

You would think when a college football team in your state pulls off one of the biggest back-to-back upsets in the history of this state (North Carolina) that a newspaper for a city of 250,000 would plaster the headlines with the story. Not the Greensboro News & Record.

Last week's sports headline after the Va. Tech win was a front page story on N.C. A&T beating a nobody. Then you would figure when it happens again, surely ECU would be plastered all over the front page. NO NO! ECU had a small caption in the top left side of the front page. What gives?

True. ECU is big football news and the team is now ranked #14. No slight was intended.

But the school is 160 miles away from Greensboro, and the two stories on each Sunday that got greater play had much more interest locally. A&T's victory snapped a 27-game losing streak. And on Sunday, the front-page package was about the NFL season kickoff and the Panthers' prospects.

Passionate sports fans make political junkies look like pink-cheeked freshmen when it comes to scrutinizing newspaper coverage. When they feel passionate about a school, they let us know about any slights they see in our coverage. That's good. We like passionate people reading the paper.

As ECU continues to win through the season, we'll pay more attention to them. But Vince Lombardi to the contrary, winning isn't the only thing. Proximity to the bulk of the newspaper's readers helps.

Carla Bagley, who was a reporter and editor here for many years, died this morning in Durham. She was a dear friend and we mourn her.

Update: Her obituary.

Do you believe that the candidates in this presidential campaign will deepen the divide between Democrats and Republicans or will they bridge the great rifts between the political parties?

The first question answered by our Voterspeak panel.

Please join the discussion.

We knew we wanted to centerpiece something about the 9.11 anniversary on the front page today. We just weren't positive what. After all, many of the stories have been told; we didn't want -- we didn't think readers wanted -- another rehash of the day seven years ago or how "the world has changed."

National editor Janet Brindle Reddick found what we thought were good stories, including one featuring a student at Wake Forest University, giving us a local connection. But the photography available was, shall we say, less than compelling.

In steps designer Melissa Umbarger, who worked with Reddick to create something good out of not a lot.

Sometimes, we're making some fine lemonade.

Update: And I provide the lemons. I forgot to recognize artist Tim Rickard for the shadows.

... Conservatism is a partially heritable personality trait that predisposes some people to be cognitively inflexible, fond of hierarchy, and inordinately afraid of uncertainty, change, and death. People vote Republican because Republicans offer "moral clarity" -- a simple vision of good and evil that activates deep seated fears in much of the electorate. Democrats, in contrast, appeal to reason with their long-winded explorations of policy options for a complex world.

That comes from an article by Jonathan Haidt, associate professor of psychology at the University of Virginia.

I know the question that I use as the headline of this post is relevant because people have asked it of me, thinking, presumably, that I have some insight because of my position. (I have also gotten a similar question from Republicans about voting Democratic.) But before you leap to the conclusion that this is an essay from a pointy-headed liberal academic, read on:

Our diagnosis tells us that we have nothing to learn from other ideologies, and it blinds us to what I think is one of the main reasons that so many Americans voted Republican over the last 30 years: they honestly prefer the Republican vision of a moral order to the one offered by Democrats.

... Democrats often seem to think of voters as consumers; they rely on polls to choose a set of policy positions that will convince 51% of the electorate to buy. Most Democrats don't understand that politics is more like religion than it is like shopping.

The whole thing is worth a read. It's longer than the typical blog post, but reads shorter. And it does offer a believable answer to the question.

Sen. Obama placed a pink rose in the reflecting pool at ground zero in New York. Sen. McCain, a yellow rose. Is there significance in the color selections?

According to Florapedia:

Yellow -- The bright, sunny color of yellow roses evokes a feeling of warmth and happiness. The warm feelings associated with the yellow rose are often akin to those shared with a true friend. As such, the yellow rose is an ideal symbol for joy and friendship.

Pink -- As a symbol of grace and elegance, the pink rose is often given as an expression of admiration. Pink roses can also convey appreciation as well as joyfulness. Pink rose bouquets often impart a gentler meaning than their red counterparts.

Just in case you wanted to know. (It's about as relevant as lipstick on a pig.)

Gotta love how government serves the people.

The news release announcing this change went out at 4:56 p.m. on Friday. Promptly followed, I'm sure, by DOT officials leaving their offices, calling it a week.

Have questions? Need clarification? Need detail? Call us Monday. Otherwise, good luck!

My newspaper column

I was at the doctor's office last week, and we were talking about the newspaper.

He said he liked the newspaper, but -- almost everyone has a "but" when talking about the paper -- he had a suggestion: Do a better job with subject-verb agreement.

"None takes a singular verb," he said. "Too often I read: 'None are.'"

The hearts of retired English teachers everywhere soar. But this isn't a column about grammar. I am definitely the wrong person to write that one.

Many newspapers across the country distributed a controversial DVD today about Islam, titled "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West."

The documentary showcases scenes of Muslim children being encouraged to become suicide bombers, interspersed with shots of Nazi rallies, says the Editor & Publisher article linked above.

It was shown on Fox News just before the 2006 mid-term elections, and conservative activist David Horowitz screened the film on college campuses during 2007. An article at the group's site, www.radicalislam.org, endorsed John McCain as the strongest candidate this past week, then was pulled down. The DVD carries on-screen text near the outset that it is not indicting most Muslims.

We did not distribute it. I was not involved in the decision; it was an advertising call, in keeping with advertising policies.

I asked our publisher about it. He said it was divisive and plays on people's fears and served no educational purpose. The revenue it would have brought in was not a motivator.

As I've said on other occasions about news decisions, just because you can publish doesn't mean you should.

Henry Black Ingram, retired professor of music at Greensboro College, father of Music for a Great Space and a reviewer for the News & Record, died on Saturday.

It has been a while since Henry reviewed musical performances for us -- he retired from that role about the time he retired at Greensboro College in 1995 -- but that doesn't lessen the importance he played here. His understanding of music and his fine writing brought credibility to his reviews and to the paper.

I had a personal connection with Henry, too. His granddaughter and my daughter grew up together, and his family and mine attend the same church.

Through his musical leadership, he leaves his mark on Greensboro. He was a good man.

Leave comments and memories about Henry here.

As word of this decision gets around, my e-mail and phone have been busy. We've been called true Americans. We've been called politically correct. We've been called a lot of things.

One man from Miami called to ask why I was sheltering readers from the evils of Radical Islam. I told him I didn't think anyone was unaware of the events of the past seven years.

A blogger called us gutless. Jihad Watch wanted me to "explain what exactly we should do with those jihadist preachers preaching death and destruction in the video."

Hmmm. A better question for Obama and McCain.

Another Miami man wrote: Your publisher and your editor John Robinson should be commended for refusing to distribute a fear mongering DVD about Islam. I am ashamed that the Miami Herald chose to distribute this right-wing trash.

As I said, I wasn't in on the decision so I can't take the credit for it, although I believe it was the right one. As one editor told me on Twitter, the News & Record probably wasn't the only newspaper that turned down the distribution of the DVD; we were just the only one to write about it.

..."Fed OKs $85 million loan to rescue AIG" makes me want to go back to bed.

Sorry about that.

Editor & Publisher's blog says that a photo of Christopher Crotty on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange rubbing his eyes in distress was much published in newspapers across the country.

With respect to Crotty, his image of distress can't be more widely circulated that Elizabeth Rose's. She is a specialist with Lehman and was captured by an AP photographer here:

and a New York Times photographer here:

And then, during happier days -- Sept. 5 -- and a different AP photographer:

Are there only two traders left on Wall Street?

The N&O has a nice story about reporter Pat Stith taking a voluntary buyout and retiring.

Stith has long been known among print journalists as our version of Mike Wallace, as in when a government official gets a message that Pat is on the line, uh-oh.

I had the privilege of working with Pat several times when I was at the N&O, including one story that resulted in the departure of the school superintendent. He is a master at investigative reporting, nailing down every detail, keeping his cool, and writing with such precision that there is no question that he knows what he was talking about. We once spent the night at the newspaper, working to get the reporting and writing exactly right.

Most people talk about the stories he's written. I talk about the number of journalists he's mentored. After 40 years in the business, they must number well into the hundreds. I'm proud to be one of them.

Ed Williams, our brand development manager and wine columnist, is going to become director of public information and marketing with Alamance Community College.

We're negotiating with him to keep his wine column.

Ed has been here for more than 20 years as a reporter, an editor, a human resources staffer, marketing director and probably a few things I left out. He has won a bunch of press awards and taught many a journalist. When he went to the brand development position, I wrote this about him. It still applies.

I've known Ed when he was a reporter for The Raleigh Times and I was the same for the News & Observer. We've seen a lot of changes in our business. I hate to lose him at my side fighting the good fight.

My newspaper column
Related posts.

Ted Vaden of the N&O presents another view.

Last weekend, dozens of newspapers across the country distributed a controversial DVD called "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West" with their advertising circulars.

We weren't one of them, and I want to tell you why.

First, some background: The documentary raised the hackles of religious and political groups. Among other things, it shows Muslim children being encouraged to become suicide bombers and draws numerous parallels between radical Islamists and Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.

It has been called inflammatory and hateful. It’s also been called "one of the most important films of our time" by a CNN commentator.

The DVD has been distributed as a paid advertisement in The New York Times, The Miami Herald, The Wall Street Journal and the St. Petersburg Times, among others. In North Carolina, The Charlotte Observer and the News & Observer in Raleigh delivered it to readers.

One thing has bothered me about the discussion of the distribution of the "Radical Islam" DVD. Some of those papers explaining their decisions to distribute the DVD to readers suggest that not doing so is censorship. And that they are erring on the side of free speech.

Of course, it's not free speech. It's a paid advertisement making the case for one side of a complicated, controversial issue. The papers will distribute the other sides, presumably, if they can come up with the money to pay for it. But most likely, the papers will not publish their information because the other sides won't take out ads.

As for censorship, not distributing a paid advertisement is not censorship. Newspapers decide not to publish information every day. Most of the time we call it news judgment. Other times we call it lack of space. We never call it censorship...particularly when the information is readily available elsewhere, as it is in this case (on YouTube).

Just saying.

The news media is pushing back on the McCain-Palin efforts to shelter Gov. Palin's from questions from the press. (In case this post paints me as a left-wing nut, I will note that Fox News is reporting it, too.)

Seriously, isn't it important to watch and listen to how she responds to questions about her qualifications and her views? Isn't that part of the vetting process that every candidate goes through? Don't you want to hear her talk about the economy, about the war, about jobs, about taxes when it is not scripted? Isn't there a question of her accountability if she won't answer questions?

You don't need to be part of the Obama Nation to be interested in hearing what she really thinks about the issues voters care about.

Not that they asked me, but I think this strategy is going to backfire before election day. I know there are McCain-Palin supporters who read this blog. Help me understand how it is good for the electorate when any major candidate declines to meet the press.

Update: Boy, for a bunch of commenters who demand answers from this inconsequential newspaper editor to every obscure question about, say, former Chief Wray, y'all sure don't seem interested in answers from someone who could be president.

Thursday update: My colleague Mark Binker refers me to this rant by Campbell Brown at CNN.

We intend to Twitter the Obama rally Saturday. We'll have the usual online updates on Saturday, the Sunday newspaper stories, the photo slideshows and all, but Twittering the thing will be a new one for us.

Try it. Right now, the plan is for the feed to be here. That, of course, could change as smarter people get involved with it Thursday and Friday.

"Is it OK for me to attend the Obama speech?" one of our newsroom folks asked me last week. "Not to cover it as a journalist or anything, but just to watch it?"

It's a common question whenever politics is involved. Journalists' answers to this question run from "Absolutely not' to "Sure. What's the big deal?" (Disagreement in a newsroom? Who'd a thunk?)

My answer: Yes, if you want to go listen to someone who could be the next president of the United States, go. Don't carry an Obama sign or where a pin or indicate support (or protest, for that matter). But you are welcome to educate yourself and to see the candidate in the flesh and listen to his words. Attending will certainly help you understand better what people see in him and how they respond.

I would give the same response to those in the newsroom who want to watch McCain and/or Palin when they come. If either comes.

Some in the traditional media think that attending rallies feeds the perception of political bias. And I suspect that for some, it does. Others think we should go in the other direction and state our biases at the top so that readers will know how to interpret our reporting. I'm at neither place, obviously.

Economy getting you down? Can't get a loan? Is your 401K disappearing faster than the latest Kevin Costner movie?

Put it all into perspective here.

A subscriber writes that the KKK is back, dropping its one-page garbage with an advertising flier on driveways. Some people think it is delivered by us. It's not.

The fliers are anonymous, of course, in keeping with the organization's cowardice.

We suggest the people who object to them contact the city, given that this is considered littering under city ordinance.

The season premiere of The Office may have featured a piece of the News & Record.

In an episode in which the characters try to lose weight as part of a company contest, Michael Scott (Steve Carell) enters the office conference room in a fat suit. As a motivational tool, he pins five photos of overweight people/things: the fat Elvis, the Sta-Puff Marshmallow Man, Jabba the Hut, Big Momma and a photo of two huge guys on mini-motorcycles like the Shriners ride in parades.

Some of us think that John Page took that photo of the McCrary/McGuire twins in 1970. (It ran in the N&R and Life magazine.)

Almost immediate update: That's not Page's photo. It was a copy of the style of the above.