Comments on: Arkansas Dem-Gaz a liberal rag? http://bloghawgs.com/2009/07/26/arkansas-dem-gaz-a-liberal-rag/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=arkansas-dem-gaz-a-liberal-rag Sports & Pop Culture for the Arkansas Man Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:25:16 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Brett Kincaid http://bloghawgs.com/2009/07/26/arkansas-dem-gaz-a-liberal-rag/comment-page-1/#comment-77 Brett Kincaid Sun, 26 Jul 2009 18:50:54 +0000 http://bloghawgs.com/?p=313#comment-77 I was given a lot of advice from friends and fellow-bloggers before launching this site. Most all of it was worthwhile, and I think we have managed to stick to the pearls of wisdom shared. One that I forgot, though, was to "Never start something with someone smarter than you that can write." Okay, Kinkade... It is not fair to use your newsroom background to critique fellow bloggers, but such is life. That said, yes, I do understand the basic mechanics at play. Emphasis on basic. I also understand that editors make odd decisions. As I recall a few weeks back, labor leaders from around the state (and a few from around the country) marched to the capitol in support of the Employee Free Choice Act. The story in the ADG the next day was "below-the-fold" news in Section B. That happened after a slow news day on which the same event got A-Block treatment in every 10:00 newscast on Saturday night. I say this just to say, everyone feels like they get the shaft. I don't know that any of these events (JJ Dinner, GOP Dinner, EFCA March) warrant lavish coverage, but I'm not in the newspaper biz. I do not agree that the two partisan dinners are parallel. The JJ Dinner (which I did not attend this year) has been an event that regularly draws more than 1,000 people. More important than its size, though, is the fact that all the statewide elected officials attend. Yes, it is absolutely a partisan event. That fact does not detract from the event's worth in the eyes of the news, though, in my opinion. That said, I usually am sitting with a glazed-over look at my table after several trips to the bar. The event with Gov. Pawlenty was newsworthy, too, and it was covered. I am curious about how its coverage matches up with visiting speakers at the Clinton School. Those seem more analagous to me than the JJ Dinner and the GOP event you mentioned. If former Gov. Huckabee (or another prominent Arkansas Republican) had been there, I feel certain the coverage would have been greater in scale. I don't know if this got us any closer to understanding the editorial decision-making at the ADG, but I am not certain I want to get any closer. I was given a lot of advice from friends and fellow-bloggers before launching this site. Most all of it was worthwhile, and I think we have managed to stick to the pearls of wisdom shared. One that I forgot, though, was to “Never start something with someone smarter than you that can write.”

Okay, Kinkade… It is not fair to use your newsroom background to critique fellow bloggers, but such is life.

That said, yes, I do understand the basic mechanics at play. Emphasis on basic. I also understand that editors make odd decisions. As I recall a few weeks back, labor leaders from around the state (and a few from around the country) marched to the capitol in support of the Employee Free Choice Act. The story in the ADG the next day was “below-the-fold” news in Section B. That happened after a slow news day on which the same event got A-Block treatment in every 10:00 newscast on Saturday night.

I say this just to say, everyone feels like they get the shaft. I don’t know that any of these events (JJ Dinner, GOP Dinner, EFCA March) warrant lavish coverage, but I’m not in the newspaper biz.

I do not agree that the two partisan dinners are parallel. The JJ Dinner (which I did not attend this year) has been an event that regularly draws more than 1,000 people. More important than its size, though, is the fact that all the statewide elected officials attend. Yes, it is absolutely a partisan event. That fact does not detract from the event’s worth in the eyes of the news, though, in my opinion. That said, I usually am sitting with a glazed-over look at my table after several trips to the bar.

The event with Gov. Pawlenty was newsworthy, too, and it was covered. I am curious about how its coverage matches up with visiting speakers at the Clinton School. Those seem more analagous to me than the JJ Dinner and the GOP event you mentioned. If former Gov. Huckabee (or another prominent Arkansas Republican) had been there, I feel certain the coverage would have been greater in scale.

I don’t know if this got us any closer to understanding the editorial decision-making at the ADG, but I am not certain I want to get any closer.

]]> By: davekinkade http://bloghawgs.com/2009/07/26/arkansas-dem-gaz-a-liberal-rag/comment-page-1/#comment-75 davekinkade Sun, 26 Jul 2009 16:49:49 +0000 http://bloghawgs.com/?p=313#comment-75 Upset, Brett? Heavens no, just offering an observation on the rather remarkable disparity in coverage between the two events. But two things in response to your note: 1) You're of course aware that the editorial and news divisions of the newspaper are largely independent, so the question of endorsements has nothing to do with what I was addressing in my post. But as far as that goes, while the ADG editorial page is decidedly center-right, they regularly endorse Democratic candidates, especially incumbents. In 2006, the ADG editorial board endorsed the entire slate of Democratic statewide candidates, for example. That's really neither here nor there, because the editorial department is separate from the news department. 2) Your second graf is fine as a subjective assessment of how you, as an individual, would prefer to spend an evening. I think both of them sound like miserable affairs. But those subjective preferences of two admittedly partisan individuals do not bring us any closer to understanding the editorial decision-making that leads one event to be covered lavishly and one to be more or less ignored by the newspaper. D. Upset, Brett? Heavens no, just offering an observation on the rather remarkable disparity in coverage between the two events. But two things in response to your note:

1) You’re of course aware that the editorial and news divisions of the newspaper are largely independent, so the question of endorsements has nothing to do with what I was addressing in my post. But as far as that goes, while the ADG editorial page is decidedly center-right, they regularly endorse Democratic candidates, especially incumbents. In 2006, the ADG editorial board endorsed the entire slate of Democratic statewide candidates, for example. That’s really neither here nor there, because the editorial department is separate from the news department.

2) Your second graf is fine as a subjective assessment of how you, as an individual, would prefer to spend an evening. I think both of them sound like miserable affairs. But those subjective preferences of two admittedly partisan individuals do not bring us any closer to understanding the editorial decision-making that leads one event to be covered lavishly and one to be more or less ignored by the newspaper.

D.

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