Anyone who believes that you can strip the government of power and let the market blossom into the best of all possible worlds has not learned the lessons of sin, self-love, and power. In his own day and age, Niebuhr called the pro-business organization, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), “sentimental.” It’s a perfectly apt description. And it easily applies to Grover Norquist and President Bush. These are not men who know sin and Christian humility. They are utopians enchanted with a naive sense of progress.In a world where governance has become a joke and ethics is now a punchline, a world where politicians get in-your-face grilling, but private lobbyists enjoy the sounds of silence on the right, progressives need to use religious concepts like sin and pride against some very dupable and values-compromising conservatives.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Outflanking Conservative Naiveté
Kevin Mattson at the American Prospect maintains that Christian realism (à la Reinhold Niebuhr) is a viable option for the left to engage religious faith against gullible conservatives who place blind faith in a utopic "free" market, while demonizing all government:
WKRNGMsuperman-dotCOM
With Channel 2 General Manager Mike Sechrist launching his own weblog, Channel 2 is almost fully submerged now in the blog end of the journalism pool after plunging in last year with the creation of Nashville Is Talking.
C'mon in ya'll; the water's fine!
C'mon in ya'll; the water's fine!
Monday, January 30, 2006
Anybody Else See Possible Gang Connections In This?
Police pull over an SUV today for a minor traffic violation near the Napier Housing Projects, after being tipped off by the ATF, and they find assault weaponry, bullet-proof vests, and an improvised explosive device. On their 6:00 report tonight News 2 mentioned a possible connection to the President's visit to Nashville, while WSMV identified the motive as black-marketeering in area housing units.
Given the availability of high-powered assault weapons on our streets, the News 2 theory of some kind of connection to the President's visit seems pretty farfetched to me. Now, in my opinion, it might be plausible that the ATF wanted to get these weapons off the street before the President's visit, so they tipped the police off. But that doesn't mean that the couple in the SUV were a part of some clandestine conspiracy beyond outfitting urban youth with weapons with which they can commit crimes in their own neighborhoods. Unless the media does some more digging, we'll never know why here and why now. In Salemtown, we've recently become acquainted first-hand with the availability of assault weapons and continuing gang activities. Until another motive for the reported offense is produced with clear evidence to support it, I'm inclined to see this as an arrest of people who prey on the anger of disaffected youth in transitional neighborhoods by selling them assault weapons.
I sure wish the mainstream media would do a little more investigative work into possible connections to gangs in neighborhoods proximate to public housing, rather than floating speculative balloons or simply parroting what law enforcement officials tell them before moving on to something else. I hope the local police are looking into the gang angle, too.
Given the availability of high-powered assault weapons on our streets, the News 2 theory of some kind of connection to the President's visit seems pretty farfetched to me. Now, in my opinion, it might be plausible that the ATF wanted to get these weapons off the street before the President's visit, so they tipped the police off. But that doesn't mean that the couple in the SUV were a part of some clandestine conspiracy beyond outfitting urban youth with weapons with which they can commit crimes in their own neighborhoods. Unless the media does some more digging, we'll never know why here and why now. In Salemtown, we've recently become acquainted first-hand with the availability of assault weapons and continuing gang activities. Until another motive for the reported offense is produced with clear evidence to support it, I'm inclined to see this as an arrest of people who prey on the anger of disaffected youth in transitional neighborhoods by selling them assault weapons.
I sure wish the mainstream media would do a little more investigative work into possible connections to gangs in neighborhoods proximate to public housing, rather than floating speculative balloons or simply parroting what law enforcement officials tell them before moving on to something else. I hope the local police are looking into the gang angle, too.
Catholic Charity Announces Poverty Poll Results And Awards Special Grants To Gulf Coast Neighborhood Groups
The week before last, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) held a press conference in New Orleans to publicize the results of the "sixth wave" of a Poverty Pulse Poll, (previous waves conducted each year since 2000). CCHD also announced that it is awarding half-a-million dollars in special grants to community-based groups to help fight poverty.
The Pulse Poll (with a MoE +/-3%) found that concerns about poverty in America remain overwhelmingly high (88%) and it found that fears among Americans at the prospect of finding themselves impoverished have increased (to 64%) since 2000. Other important results:
Unlike so many other initiatives in the Gulf region, the Catholics are keeping their eye on the ball: the "permanent elimination of poverty" and the provision of healthcare for all poor people, but especially for impoverished children, who are most vulnerable.
The Pulse Poll (with a MoE +/-3%) found that concerns about poverty in America remain overwhelmingly high (88%) and it found that fears among Americans at the prospect of finding themselves impoverished have increased (to 64%) since 2000. Other important results:
- When respondents were asked off the top of their heads to name "the single biggest social problem facing the U.S.," poverty ranked third on the list (chosen by 7%), just below health care and racism (each at 8%) which both ranked first, and above war-U.S. involvement in war (4%).
- 90% of the public said that it is important for the federal government to ensure that all poor people have health coverage (it also found no gender gap on the priority placed by the public on health care).
- 91% believe that health care should be guaranteed to all children.
- 65% fear that poverty will increase in the United States in 2006.
- Almost all Americans, 97%, think that it is important to decrease or eliminate poverty in the United States.
- 60% said that the responsibility for ending poverty lies either with the federal government (31%) or with "everyone-the general public" (29%). Only 17% assigned the task strictly to the poor themselves.
Unlike so many other initiatives in the Gulf region, the Catholics are keeping their eye on the ball: the "permanent elimination of poverty" and the provision of healthcare for all poor people, but especially for impoverished children, who are most vulnerable.
Metro Council May Restrict Public Feedback
First, the Metro Council entertained the idea of ensconcing themselves in Plexiglas in order to restrict public contact, now they are considering member-at-large Carolyn Baldwin Tucker's proposal for cutting back the time that citizens have to speak in public meetings from three minutes to two. Let's put aside the arguments that cutting people's speaking time will neither guarantee that they stay on the issue nor actually cut the cumulative time of all speakers on a single subject, since community groups may adapt to the change by doubling or tripling the number of speakers they enlist for public hearings.
The democratic process is neither neat nor stream-lined, but the current limits are entirely reasonable. As long as the Vice Mayor keeps speakers in order, there's no need to limit them further. Besides, there will be a lot less public baffoonery for me to lampoon if speaking time is reduced. But if Council members really want to help citizens use their speaking time more effectively, they should be taking the time to communicate and meet with the community leaders of these groups beforehand. That will give members the opportunity to encourage them to minimize the baffoonery and rabbit-chasing that causes recent meetings to drag on until the wee hours of the morning. Council members should be meeting regularly with neighborhood associations in order to provide them with ideas for the most effective presentation of their support and opposition to Council business.
When I read that Council members want to shave public speaking time at Council meetings my views of them become only more jaded. I have to wonder whether they give a sufficient balance of their own time to read letters and e-mails that they receive from constituents.
The democratic process is neither neat nor stream-lined, but the current limits are entirely reasonable. As long as the Vice Mayor keeps speakers in order, there's no need to limit them further. Besides, there will be a lot less public baffoonery for me to lampoon if speaking time is reduced. But if Council members really want to help citizens use their speaking time more effectively, they should be taking the time to communicate and meet with the community leaders of these groups beforehand. That will give members the opportunity to encourage them to minimize the baffoonery and rabbit-chasing that causes recent meetings to drag on until the wee hours of the morning. Council members should be meeting regularly with neighborhood associations in order to provide them with ideas for the most effective presentation of their support and opposition to Council business.
When I read that Council members want to shave public speaking time at Council meetings my views of them become only more jaded. I have to wonder whether they give a sufficient balance of their own time to read letters and e-mails that they receive from constituents.
Sunday, January 29, 2006
That Which Is Concretely Conceivable
Amy Gahran over at I, Reporter believes that it may be better to "start small" in citizen journalism rather than trying to take on a large exurban area as Bayosphere tried to for the San Francisco Bay Area, only to have to concede failure after a lack of interest. I wholeheartedly agree with her.
Some time ago I embedded a quote in the right-hand column underneath the green "About me" box from Robert Woods, who asserts that the neighborhood is "concretely conceivable" and the city is not, except as the latter is "organically integrated" through its neighborhoods. The same can be said about a region. Metro Nashville and Middle Tennessee would both be tough blogs. And I do not think that it would just be a problem solved with more time and energy. Neighborhoods provide definition and a sense of place that the cannot be captured by the inchoate boundaries set by broader scales.
Some time ago I embedded a quote in the right-hand column underneath the green "About me" box from Robert Woods, who asserts that the neighborhood is "concretely conceivable" and the city is not, except as the latter is "organically integrated" through its neighborhoods. The same can be said about a region. Metro Nashville and Middle Tennessee would both be tough blogs. And I do not think that it would just be a problem solved with more time and energy. Neighborhoods provide definition and a sense of place that the cannot be captured by the inchoate boundaries set by broader scales.
Chances For The Mississippi Gulf Coast: New Urbanism and Old Beach Postcards
It looks like the destruction of Hurricane Katrina opened the door for creating a network of walkable neighborhoods spread out across 11 towns. New Urbanists are making some ambitious proposals for the Gulf Coast, including replacing the coastal highway with a beachside boulevard, where cars share the road with bicyclists and pedestrians. Some of the sources they are relying on in their redesign effort include century-old postcards of the Gulf Coast.
As with New Urbanism elsewhere, the primary challenge is to provide affordable housing and amenities that do not strictly serve the well-to-do. A large number of working and lower class residents lived in places like Biloxi, Pass Christian, Waveland, and Bay St. Louis. While the New Urbanists should do what they can to plan for return of the residents from these groups, the real effort needs to come from the federal government. That possibility does not look too bright with George W. Bush & Co. occupying the White House.
If the Mississippi Gulf Coast is looking just to its west, it has to see an ominous future with hurricane season just a few months away. The White House is now offering the State of Louisiana a fraction of what it needs to help its residents:
So, New Urbanists can plan, look at postcards, and do what they can for Mississippi. Without federal help for the poor and the dispossessed along the flood plains, the communities will never be able to recover, and they will only become havens for the wealthy.
As with New Urbanism elsewhere, the primary challenge is to provide affordable housing and amenities that do not strictly serve the well-to-do. A large number of working and lower class residents lived in places like Biloxi, Pass Christian, Waveland, and Bay St. Louis. While the New Urbanists should do what they can to plan for return of the residents from these groups, the real effort needs to come from the federal government. That possibility does not look too bright with George W. Bush & Co. occupying the White House.
If the Mississippi Gulf Coast is looking just to its west, it has to see an ominous future with hurricane season just a few months away. The White House is now offering the State of Louisiana a fraction of what it needs to help its residents:
Instead of the $30 billion Louisiana says it needs to get its residents back on their feet, the White House is instead offering $6 billion, with the provision that only homeowners without insurance who live outside the flood plain would qualify.Watching an ABCNews report on Friday night, I heard Mr. Bush insinuate that the $85 billion earmarked for New Orleans is a large enough sum. He failed to mention that most of that sum is going to fortify the levees and to help small businesses, with little left over to help residents to get back up on their feet. It would seem that the Federal government owes people on the gulf some compensation for putting them through the terrible suffering they experienced because of the failures of the Bush Department of Homeland Security (the truth of those failures is now backed up with documents just released, including some that say that FEMA stopped search-and-rescue efforts a mere three days after the storm hit). Instead, the Bush White House is acting on its Jackson Square promises in the same incompetent manner that FEMA failed to come to the aid of the Gulf Coast.
That means most everyone who was either poor, black, lived on low ground, or in the city of New Orleans need not bother applying. No controversy there [Source].
So, New Urbanists can plan, look at postcards, and do what they can for Mississippi. Without federal help for the poor and the dispossessed along the flood plains, the communities will never be able to recover, and they will only become havens for the wealthy.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Reevaluating Priorities
At the last Salemtown Citizen Advisory Committee meeting, the top two vote-getters in the contest between numerous neighborhood-enhancing projects were distinctive "identifying signs" (7 votes) and "entrance signs" (6 votes) for Salemtown (a similar distinctive sign from the Hope Gardens neighborhood is pictured to the left for reference). I was among those originally voting for such signs, because I believed that they would give the neighborhood greater definition, an attractive aesthetic, and they seemed to be something on which many committee members could agree.With the recent rash of gang-related graffiti vandalism I have reconsidered my support for such signs. I am no longer willing to support the idea of putting any more landmarks up in Salemtown that would be vulnerable to such ugly vandalism. It is just not the right time to put signs up. Maybe at some future date when vandalism is the least of our worries, this would be a great idea.
For the time being, signs present more opportunities for crime and they do not provide any deterrent as far as I can see, unless they can be constructed with some kind of paint-proof surface. But constructing naked stone, brick, or concrete signage is an invitation to vandals, especially if it includes the word "Salemtown," which would be a source of pride for the local gang and a target for rival gangs. It is also not clear to me who would clean vandalized signs; if it would be a private matter, no one in Salemtown has a sandblaster, as far as I know. If we could not get Metro to remove graffiti, then a marred sign merely becomes a long-lived eyesore, undermining the very quality it was originally designed to enhance.
I welcome other residents' thoughts on the matter, but at the next meeting where we consider project priorities again, I am going to try to encourage other committee members to reconsider the sign project idea unless we can come up with something impervious to graffiti. This is too important a decision to get ruined by either our short-sightedness or the destructiveness of local hoodlums.
Friday, January 27, 2006
Lobbyists At The Gates
You ready? The lobbyists are striking back nationally against the push for ethics reform. Nary a disparaging word is said by conservative "reformers" against the private interests pushing and pulling their way to the pork barrel. So, lobbyists are set to organize to continue to waltz right up through the pecking line of privilege.
At the national level, special interest business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and others are mustering forces. Meanwhile, they are loading up their big guns with minimizing logic:
Does that show you how out-of-touch the lobbyists are? Well, how about this little pearl of denial:
At the national level, special interest business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and others are mustering forces. Meanwhile, they are loading up their big guns with minimizing logic:
Our big issue right now is that we're not sure you can say the system is broken.¿Qué dijiste? Excuse me? Not broken?
Does that show you how out-of-touch the lobbyists are? Well, how about this little pearl of denial:
Each lawmaker's personal integrity determines whether unethical lobbyists are able to corrupt government.I guess the idea of a "two-way-street" for lobbyists only counts with special favors. God forbid that these lobbyist groups take some sort of hard line with the unethical members of their community and use a little peer pressure to keep lobbyists ethical. But they're spending too much time and energy working over our elected officials to work on their own character flaws.
We Got To Get Us Some O'That Re-form
Junior O'Daniel: We could hire our own midget, even shorter than his.
Pappy O'Daniel: Wouldn't we look like a bunch of Johnny-come-latelies, bragging on our own midget, doesn't matter how stumpy.
- - O Brother Where Art Thou, 2000
It's getting unseemly around the State Legislature now as Republicans are competing with Democrats to extract as many teeth from the overbite of meaningful ethics reform as possible. It was easy for Republicans to mount a high horse when few of their numbers faced indictment and when they weren't the party caught with special election irregularities, but now that the Legislature is getting down to business and away from side shows, there are just too many constituencies in the corporate business community that need pleasin'. So, talk of reform has itself become a show, what with voting to "free up lobbyists"; what with "midget, broom, and all."Even perpetual Legislature foil, Tennessee Tax Revolt, which has lately attempted to "get some o'that reform," by calling for "full disclosure" by legislators, is not saying a word about "full disclosure" by lobbyists. Of course, lobbying is what TTR does, so "bragging on their own midget" in some Johnny-come-lately re-form campaign may not be a smart course for them. When it does become a smart course for them, I'm sure we'll be hearing from them.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Let The Watering-Down Begin
Much like the Metro Council months before, the State Legislature is under pressure to dilute meaningful ethics reform. We've seen in China how corporate enterprise can be easily uncoupled from democracy (via Yahoo!, Microsoft, and Google search engines) and now we're seeing in Tennessee how corporate enterprise can be easily uncoupled from ethics (via the private lobbyists' lobby).
I am interested in how the conservative bloggers break on this one. How they do so might just determine whether they are serious about ethics reform or they use ethics reform only when it serves strategic partisan purposes. One conservative blogger has sided with business today saying that the ethics reform bill "insulates" the legislature from "ordinary citizens." As if. Most notably, Bob Krumm, who has posted regularly on ethics reform--especially on reform stories coming through the Tennessean--is silent on this one. That fact would not be remarkable for just any blogger, because we all pick and choose our battles, but Mr. Krumm is not just any blogger, he is a blogger seriously considering a run for the very same Tennessee legislature that is considering ethics reform. In that light, he owes the public some comment on the issue, in my opinion.
In the meantime, I was struck by the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce President's comment to the Tennessean:
01/26/2006, 9:05 p.m. Update: H. Monroe (the first conservative blogger above) has responded in the comments section below. Bob Krumm responded to the Tennessean piece this evening here. Prospective candidate Krumm concludes:
I am interested in how the conservative bloggers break on this one. How they do so might just determine whether they are serious about ethics reform or they use ethics reform only when it serves strategic partisan purposes. One conservative blogger has sided with business today saying that the ethics reform bill "insulates" the legislature from "ordinary citizens." As if. Most notably, Bob Krumm, who has posted regularly on ethics reform--especially on reform stories coming through the Tennessean--is silent on this one. That fact would not be remarkable for just any blogger, because we all pick and choose our battles, but Mr. Krumm is not just any blogger, he is a blogger seriously considering a run for the very same Tennessee legislature that is considering ethics reform. In that light, he owes the public some comment on the issue, in my opinion.
In the meantime, I was struck by the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce President's comment to the Tennessean:
Even members of a 4-H Club on a field trip to visit the state Capitol could find themselves classified as lobbyists.That prospect frankly would not be a problem for anybody if lobbying were a more honorable profession that didn't now require registration because lobbyists have abused the system. Why should pro-business lobbyists have more influence over the direction of ethics reform when they are just as responsible for abuses as elected officials in the first place? Shouldn't the business community have to accept some negative consequence for the misbehavior of their lobbyists? Or do we now live in a world where personal responsibility doesn't matter?
01/26/2006, 9:05 p.m. Update: H. Monroe (the first conservative blogger above) has responded in the comments section below. Bob Krumm responded to the Tennessean piece this evening here. Prospective candidate Krumm concludes:
[M]aybe the answer to reform is not to place further special restrictions upon lobbyists, but to remove from lobbyists both restrictions and privileges. Thus, granting to lobbyists the same rights as are already guaranteed to each of Tennessee's citizens.Sounds to me like he's coming down on the side of business interests. The comment about "same rights" is confusing. Lobbyists already have the same rights as other citizens; surely Krumm is not suggesting that more money translates to more rights. The trouble is that lobbyists are paid by corporate funders to peddle their influence to legislators. Your average Tennessee citizen cannot afford to pay lobbyists, and hence, has less influence. If lobbying is itself a business and as long as lobbyists are paid for their services, they should be regulated by some ethical arm of the government. Otherwise, the abuse will continue.
Enclave Nominated For Progressive Blog Award
Enclave has been nominated for a "Koufax Award 2005: Best state and local blogs." Thanks to M.B. Williams at the award host blog, Wampum, for the honor. Muchas gracias to classic conservative blogger, A.C. Kleinheider, over at Hard Right for making the original nomination of Enclave to Wampum.
Advance thanks, Enclave readers, for those of you who might head over to Wampum to vote for my little hyper-local blog. Voting has not opened, yet, but when it does, thanks.
Advance thanks, Enclave readers, for those of you who might head over to Wampum to vote for my little hyper-local blog. Voting has not opened, yet, but when it does, thanks.
Quote Of The Day: He's Talkin' 'Bout My Generation
My parents' generation ... was young during the Depression .... My generation, the end of the baby boomers, we can be anything we want to be .... Since we can be what we want to be, we want to be everything.
- - Bob "Bongo Bob" Bernstein, quoted in today's Tennessean
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Just A Neighborhood Nuisance Or A Potential Basis For Metrowide Insurgency?
In the preceding post I mentioned the possible peril to the broader community when local journalists ignore developing neighborhood problems. There are some glaring examples of the broader threat of gangs beyond the neighborhoods that they call "home" at this "gang intelligence" site.
While I referred to the press's pre-9/11 inattention to al Qaeda as an analogue for the local news stations' inattention to neighborhood gang activities, Anthony documents past gang members' literal connections with al Qaeda and their plans to use battlefield explosives on a scale much larger than a single neighborhood. Alleged al Qaeda conspirator and gang member, Jose Padilla, is perhaps the most prominent example. Anthony also refers to the spread of recruitment of teenagers by gangs beyond inner cities to suburbs and small townships and across class lines to middle and upperclass youth, such that no place and no teen is truly safe. Accordingly, the whole stereotype of gang as an exclusively urban and impoverished threat is misguided. Gangs present potentially what Anthony calls "domestic insurgency" that presents a society-wide problem.
And yet, the local news media does not seem concerned enough to look into these possibilities. They don't seem interested in probing underneath the stereotypes. Gangs seem to be somebody else's problem. However, as Anthony points out, gangs are a "power outage away" from becoming armed guerrillas as many did in New Orleans after Katrina, with little police response (because the crisis pinned them down elsewhere) and late National Guard response (because our domestic forces are stretched thin by the Iraq War). If the local news media waits until a sensational crisis to delve into gang dynamics, it may just be too late for many Nashvillians.
While I referred to the press's pre-9/11 inattention to al Qaeda as an analogue for the local news stations' inattention to neighborhood gang activities, Anthony documents past gang members' literal connections with al Qaeda and their plans to use battlefield explosives on a scale much larger than a single neighborhood. Alleged al Qaeda conspirator and gang member, Jose Padilla, is perhaps the most prominent example. Anthony also refers to the spread of recruitment of teenagers by gangs beyond inner cities to suburbs and small townships and across class lines to middle and upperclass youth, such that no place and no teen is truly safe. Accordingly, the whole stereotype of gang as an exclusively urban and impoverished threat is misguided. Gangs present potentially what Anthony calls "domestic insurgency" that presents a society-wide problem.
And yet, the local news media does not seem concerned enough to look into these possibilities. They don't seem interested in probing underneath the stereotypes. Gangs seem to be somebody else's problem. However, as Anthony points out, gangs are a "power outage away" from becoming armed guerrillas as many did in New Orleans after Katrina, with little police response (because the crisis pinned them down elsewhere) and late National Guard response (because our domestic forces are stretched thin by the Iraq War). If the local news media waits until a sensational crisis to delve into gang dynamics, it may just be too late for many Nashvillians.
Are Consultants To Local News As Lobbyists Are To Government?
I am currently reading Tom Fenton's recent book on the media, Bad News, which my mother-in-law gave me as a Christmas present.
Among the several reasons that Fenton gives for the bad condition of news reporting, one stood out to me as most relevant from a hyper-local perspective. According to Fenton:
It actually takes sensationalism to get media attention perhaps because it will only lead if it bleeds. What comes afterwards does not seem to be any in-depth study and reportage, beyond mere fluff. The air time left over seems to be devoted to retreads of national news. Just as the ethics of governance have been eroded by legislators' ties to lobbyists, so the standards of journalism have been chipped away by consultants focused on issues peripheral to reporting the news.
The consequences can be dire. Al Qaeda was ignored, despite some reporters' best efforts, until 9/11. And, according to Fenton, news outlets in the months after 9/11 did not change, but simply went back to their pursuit of ratings above information. Local news sources also ignore hyper-local events at the peril of local neighborhoods and eventually the larger local community. I cannot help but think that the whole Sylvan Park mess over conservation zoning could have been mitigated by the television and print media doing some research into the problem months beforehand and by their tipping people off about the dynamics as well as the reality of the strife, rather than simply reacting as it blew up in the Planning Commission and in Council chambers.
We have had an on-going gang problem in Salemtown, but has any serious research or in-depth coverage of the problem been pursued by the local news media? None that I'm aware of. One of these days if things blow up, the local media will react just as it has with recent knowledge of inappropriate student-teacher relationships: figuratively scratching its head and wondering how so many reports of possible criminal behavior are coming in from no where. The stories didn't come from no where, it's just that the local news media was no where to be found as the stories were developing before they emerged.
Fenton's argument that news outlets have stopped being the early detection and warning systems they used to be holds here in Nashville. I detect little indepth investigation into latent community problems before they start festering into full-blown crises. Our local news seems prone to the same sensationalism that creates complacency among journalists when it comes to making potential, but ostensibly uninteresting local problems interesting by showing the audience why they are relevant. According to Fenton, we can thank the consultants for that.
Among the several reasons that Fenton gives for the bad condition of news reporting, one stood out to me as most relevant from a hyper-local perspective. According to Fenton:
Nowadays, instead of using their best news judgment, television executives hire consultants who go from station to station peddling their version of what they think the public wants. Sanford Socolow ... describes how it all started under a "news consultant" named Frank Magid. Magid, he says, "gave advice to local news station--on the acceptability of on-air person, on what kinds of stories to air. He used to tell them not to bother covering city hall because it was boring." Out of that philosophy, Socolow observes, came a new maxim: "If it bleeds, it leads."Perhaps the influence of consultants explains why so much of what we see and read in the local media has little to do with what actually happens in the neighborhoods and the halls of local governance. Like the abuses associated with lobbying the legislature, maybe the shortcomings of news reporting are due to short-cuts to higher ratings associated with outside consultants.
It actually takes sensationalism to get media attention perhaps because it will only lead if it bleeds. What comes afterwards does not seem to be any in-depth study and reportage, beyond mere fluff. The air time left over seems to be devoted to retreads of national news. Just as the ethics of governance have been eroded by legislators' ties to lobbyists, so the standards of journalism have been chipped away by consultants focused on issues peripheral to reporting the news.
The consequences can be dire. Al Qaeda was ignored, despite some reporters' best efforts, until 9/11. And, according to Fenton, news outlets in the months after 9/11 did not change, but simply went back to their pursuit of ratings above information. Local news sources also ignore hyper-local events at the peril of local neighborhoods and eventually the larger local community. I cannot help but think that the whole Sylvan Park mess over conservation zoning could have been mitigated by the television and print media doing some research into the problem months beforehand and by their tipping people off about the dynamics as well as the reality of the strife, rather than simply reacting as it blew up in the Planning Commission and in Council chambers.
We have had an on-going gang problem in Salemtown, but has any serious research or in-depth coverage of the problem been pursued by the local news media? None that I'm aware of. One of these days if things blow up, the local media will react just as it has with recent knowledge of inappropriate student-teacher relationships: figuratively scratching its head and wondering how so many reports of possible criminal behavior are coming in from no where. The stories didn't come from no where, it's just that the local news media was no where to be found as the stories were developing before they emerged.
Fenton's argument that news outlets have stopped being the early detection and warning systems they used to be holds here in Nashville. I detect little indepth investigation into latent community problems before they start festering into full-blown crises. Our local news seems prone to the same sensationalism that creates complacency among journalists when it comes to making potential, but ostensibly uninteresting local problems interesting by showing the audience why they are relevant. According to Fenton, we can thank the consultants for that.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Lighting The Hot Stove: Prince Is Gone For Good
Pitchers and catchers are due to report to Major League Baseball's Spring Training in about 3 weeks and I've got XM Satellite Radio and its coverage of MLB to keep me going sportswise until then.
On tonight's broadcast of MLB Live, Milwaukee Brewers GM Gord Ash talked up Prince Fielder. Milwaukee is the parent club of the Nashville Sounds. Ash said that last year's Brewers 1B Lyle Overbay was traded in order to make room for Prince to be their everyday 1B in 2006.
I feel very fortunate that I saw some mammoth homeruns hit at Greer last year by Prince, including one that almost smacked my vehicle, but it looks like we will not ever see him again banging pitches out of the yard in Nashville.
On tonight's broadcast of MLB Live, Milwaukee Brewers GM Gord Ash talked up Prince Fielder. Milwaukee is the parent club of the Nashville Sounds. Ash said that last year's Brewers 1B Lyle Overbay was traded in order to make room for Prince to be their everyday 1B in 2006.
I feel very fortunate that I saw some mammoth homeruns hit at Greer last year by Prince, including one that almost smacked my vehicle, but it looks like we will not ever see him again banging pitches out of the yard in Nashville.
Multiracial Churches Most Likely To Be Located In Urban Areas
According to sociologist George Yancey:
The vast majority of multiracial churches are located in the inner city or in racially diverse areas .... Suburban churches (often) are seen as rejection of minorities.Location is just one of Yancey's "principles" of multiracial congregations. The other six can be found here.
What Our $25 Billion Paid For
A hobbled spoils system of contractors' turf-wars. Might taxpayers get a refund?
Association Meeting Recap
Among the more noteworthy items covered during last night's Salemtown Neighbors' meeting: Core Development presented on its plans to build new developments at the 8th Ave. & Hume intersection and on its intentions to attract a client to put a restaurant in the Werthan complex's old factory boiler room, which is large and vaulted and sits near Taylor St. We also found out from the police that suspects were arrested over the weekend on Garfield St. for shooting at one another while driving down the street.
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