The Bully Pulpit

The newsroom is in a state of shock over the loss of our Managing Editor Rich Somerville. He was a lifelong newspaperman, and one whose experience I respected.

On a personal note, Somerville took the initiative when arriving at the Times-Standard to create the position of Web editor, so that the online content objectives of this newspaper would not get lost in the shuffle and hubbub of other priorities. Because of this move, and the attention Somerville paid to online endeavors, our Web site has grown exponentially in terms of content over the past two years.

He was billed as a forward-thinker, and in this regard he truly lived up to that label. I thank Rich for the opportunity.

As the search begins for a new managing editor, I and others here at the Times-Standard know that until then we will be ably led by City Editor/Interim Managing Editor Kimberly Wear, who to my mind is one of the finest journalists on the North Coast. The future of The Times-Standard remains bright.

Posted by James Faulk at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

When I think of the journalistic ideal, I think of Tim Russert. "Meet the Press" was the one news show on network television that could always be counted on to take its interviewees to task for hypocrisy.

Russert's style was to make the guests face up to their past statements and expose inconsistencies. He never played favorites, and he never played soft. He was bold in his search for the truth and unflappable when meeting resistance. He was the reason I first wanted to become a journalist. Such a loss will be sorely felt at NBC, and in the rest of world of journalism.

Posted by James Faulk at 03:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just had to say something about the new commenting system at the ER ... no anonymous comments.

I used to agree. As a reporter, obviously I grew sick of savage bastards calling my mother a whore and other things when I wrote a story about some meth head getting arrested. Now I welcome it.

Just kidding. But seriously, a newspaper Web site can drive itself nuts policing all the comments that come in, or they can clamp down entirely and ruin what has become one of the most prolific forums for free speech in the modern age. But there is a third path: I prefer the Topix system, predictably, in that it allows the commenters to police themselves. If someone posts something offensive, and three people report it as such, we take it down. If a particular forum gets so out of hand that it can't be so easily controlled, then we shut down that particular forum.

But anonymity, while painful at times, allows a level of honesty that isn't available otherwise. Therefore, we'll be keeping our comment system as is. Comment away, but know that if you piss of too many of your peers, you're likely to be taken down.

Posted by James Faulk at 01:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Truthfully, I switched to Mac because all the computers at The Times-Standard except one are Apples. The lone exception was built in 1985 and runs on "flex capacitor" processing technology. Where's a newsroom supposed to get 10 gallons of plutonium for every hour spent on the Internet? The Lybians went out of business a long time ago.

Also, one of the perks of being online content editor is a company-issued Mac Book Pro laptop. Such a laptop makes me a lapdog in a pinch. I sit. I rollover. I'll do whatever my bosses want for a Scooby snack and my pretty silver computer.

Ethics Schmethics.

But even if work hadn't pushed me toward Apple, I know I would've gravitated in that direction anyway.
On my PC, there was just one too many error messages like the following:

And since I changed over, I've had no problems at all with my computer — no adware, no spyware, and no malware. When was the last time I was able to say that? Windows sucks. Don't be a sucker.

Posted by James Faulk at 02:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

This just came in from Editor Glenn Franco Simmons of the Eureka Reporter, in response to my last entry. It should be pointed out that the Times-Standard has had several articles and columns that mention Economic Fuel over the past several years.

It's a mouthful, certainly, but a name is a name is a name.

James,

I haven’t read your blog because I don’t read blogs, but someone mentioned it to me. You may print this on your blog if you like, but please include it all.

You might, for accuracy’s sake, say that in my e-mails to John Driscoll and your publisher, I gave credit to the Times-Standard for its efforts and apologized for the fact that we left out the fact that the T-S got the transcripts released. We should give credit where credit is deserved, I agree. It was not an intentional omission. It was simply a mistake and we will credit the T-S as appropriate in all other stories as it relates to this subject. To do otherwise would be unethical and unprofessional.

I wasn’t on duty last night nor did I see the story prior to publication, but all the T-S had to do was to e-mail me or phone me this morning to tell me of the omission and I would have taken care of it. Instead, John Driscoll sent off another one of his insulting and arrogant e-mails to me and the reporter without knowing the facts.

In my subsequent e-mails to John Driscoll and your publisher, I stand by what I wrote — which was strongly worded, I admit. In those e-mails, I asked your publisher why the Times-Standard doesn’t cover The Eureka Reporter’s Economic Fuel, but your publisher refused to comment on this subject despite me asking him twice to comment on it.

It’s interesting that you expect recognition for something you did that was good and that you want it so stated in our paper, which it surely will be, but when we have an endeavor that is also good and communitywide, you ignore it and your publisher refuses to comment on it. That seems to be a bit hypocritical to me.

At least our omission was a mistake. Your omission is deliberate despite the fact the Economic Fuel helps the entire community.

Sincerely,

Glenn

Posted by James Faulk at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

In case you weren't aware, the Times-Standard over the past several weeks has been fighting a legal battle for your right to know.

Remember the Grand Jury that voted to indict former Eureka Police Chief Dave Douglas and Lt. Tony Zanotti? Those proceedings generated transcripts, and officials within the court system here in Humboldt County were doing their darndest to keep those documents under wraps.

But the old T-S wouldn't stand by for the fleecing of the masses. Under the direction of Kimberly Wear, city editor, as well as senior reporter John Driscoll and staff writer Thad Greenson, the T-S and its lawyers conducted a low-profile legal battle that ended Tuesday with the transcripts being released.

Enter the Eureka Reporter.

They conducted no battle for the transcripts or for your need to know what went on behind the Grand Jury's veil of secrecy. But conveniently they still managed, somehow, to get a hold of the documents roughly at the same time we did. Fine. As they say in the newspaper war, that's fair game.

But then they write a story quoting from the legal arguments used against us, and seem to go to great pains never to mention our attorneys, and who hired them, presumably because it would credit us with doing something they failed to do.

The ER was in the courtroom, heard the arguments from our side and the opposition, and somehow managed to write a story that completely omitted our involvement.

Then old GF Simmons, editor and chief of the five-day paper, lambasted one of our reporters by e-mail, criticizing his journalism skills, and said it was all an oversight. Wow ... that's some oversight. How do you forget to name the case from which you're quoting? How do you forget to name the parties involved? And you are criticizing our reporters?

That's pure comedy.

Such criticism is in fact the highest praise. We here in the Times-Standard's newsroom — the heart of the North Coast only DAILY newspaper — should thank you and yours for clinging to the sinking ship that is the Eureka Reporter.

It is next to you and your newspaper than we shine brightest by comparison.

Update: The string of vitriolic e-mails continue ... GFS now says the omission of our involvement is no worse than the T-S not covering the Economic Fuel contest sponsored by the Eureka Reporter, or the T-S willfully covering up events at the Arkley Center. Ouch, Glenn, you got us. Right through the heart.

Posted by James Faulk at 09:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Damn, it's cool. Have you seen the new T-S web site? It's spankier than spank. It's a definite improvement over the old site, which seemed circa 1995, and it has all the trappings of the modern Internet. I encourage you to check it out and let me know if you have any issues. Some bugs will continue to be worked out, obviously, but I'm eager to hear people's constructive feedback. So, if you work at the Reporter and only have destructive things to say, don't bother.

Posted by James Faulk at 01:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)