07.31.07
Posted in Personal, qkslvrwolf.com at 2:31 pm by qkslvrwolf
Sorry about the hiatus. I keep having things I want to write about, but honestly, I’m usually tired of typing when I get home. I’ve been in a dvd watching mode rather than a productive mode. Oops.
I’ve missed scathing blogging about Harry Reid’s abortive attempt to do something stupid with IP (which be backed off of, but I was going to write about how that old school mentality hurts the liberal cause in general), I’ve a draft of a rundown of the current candidates and my takes that I was going to update every now and again, a couple of personal thoughts about trying to lose weight that i haven’t posted.
Oh well. It comes and goes. :-)
Keep leaving me comments, though. I love the comments.
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Posted in Politics at 2:26 pm by qkslvrwolf
I have used this space to yell at NPR on several occasions. I think that it irritates me when NPR does a crappy job with their news more than other people because I am closer to NPR than I am to other MSM outlets. So I’m happy to be able to give them kudos for a job well done.
Also, kudos to them because I was able to find the relevant link on their website in one search, as opposed to my normal 20 minute dig with an inability to find anything. (Although I still think they need to incorporate trackbacks on their website.)
Anyway.
The piece was on a gang-related murder in the 1950’s, one that apparently raised New York’s awareness of their violence. You have to listen to the piece to understand why I appreciated it so much; it had balance, context, references, and it wasn’t rushed. The piece did not try and hit you with its purpose and give your news like an advertisement - 30 seconds to the point. Instead, it set the stage carefully, introduced perspectives, brought things together, and concluded by making some connections to the modern times. It was a whole story, rather than just a part. The point of the story was the story itself, and if there are lessons to be learned than they are inherent to the story, rather than the explicit purpose of the story.
I think that it is the attitude of preaching the lessons and purpose of stories that is part of the reason modern media sits so poorly with me. I think that there is a place for the opinion pieces that try and tell a story for a purpose, but I think more often news should just tell the story and let the viewers draw their own conclusions. Enough with the personalities of the newscasters, adding their own little comments. You are the story teller, but what I want from you is not YOU, its the story.
I was also impressed with the pieces of 1950’s journalism that they played inclusive to this story. It felt so much more…well, journalistic..than anything I have ever really experienced.
On the heels of that story, yesterday, which kept me in my car for about 5 minutes after arriving home, I saw this popping up across the liberal blogosphere. Now, that report was put out by a union with an ax to grind, but there are a lot of good points in it. Things that we all know, but have yet to cross out into the collective conscious. How news organizations are cutting their staff so much that there is no time to fact check, to do independent investigative reporting. How news organizations are just using what amount to advertisements without attributing it as news. How fluff pieces are trumping real news that affects real people. (That is one of my favorite little conundrums for the mainstream media: they’re constantly losing viewership, which they then attempt to solve by pushing more infotainment. Haven’t they ever considered that they’re losing viewership BECAUSE of the infotainment, rather than in spite of it?)
Then I saw this bit, with yet another instance of fox news being quietly honest about their dishonesty.
Long story short: I really enjoyed NPR’s piece. It was a bright spot in the dark hole that is modern “journalism”.
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07.02.07
Posted in LINKSPAM, Personal at 9:58 pm by qkslvrwolf
I’ve been reading a lot of pandagon recently. She’s got some freakin’ awesome posts, and given several recent and current viewpoints that I interact with, its a breath of fresh air. I want a girl who thinks about like this about overbearing fathers.
:-P
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