Newscoma

Maybe I do have something more than nothing. Actually, it’s not me that has it. No exclusives, huge news from the ‘coma here, but R. Neal does on Broadband Access and the pros and cons of what’s being bantered about the state on rural accessibility.

He has links to the details over at Facing South.

Go ahead. Get over there.

Sorry, I got nothing.

Photo from Futility.

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Steve Cohen at Firedoglake.

Yeah, it gives me a happy.

Hat tip to Tennessee Guerilla Women. 

Kathy T. liked the link dump from earlier this week, so let’s do it again, shall we.

Suze Orman said this and I saw it at the Huffington Post. Of course, once you pop over and see the headline, you’ll understand why I clicked on it.

Brittney throws down and I believe rightfully so.

I really dig this picture posted at Pour Out.

Blogger Dreams. 

It’s a holiday over at Smiley’s place. I, for one, am very glad he took up blogging.

CE’s post literally made me want to cry.

The White House is getting their 24 on today apparently.

So there you go. Enjoy and drive safely.

UPDATE ON SUNDAY EVENING:

Mrs. Frank answered the question on her comment section late Sunday evening that I had and I feel that it is only fair that I post it here because it clears up some of my reaction to her original post for me as I was focused on her work at her newspaper.

She wrote:

Newscoma–I don’t work for the paper. I only write a column. I’m not paid.

This clears up this particular issue regarding my post and changes the direction of my comments here regarding a paid newspaper writer posting a blog post of the nature that she did over the past few days. As my post regarded the nature of reporter/columnist professional newspaper relationships, I felt it best to add her response.

Beginning of Original Post begins here:

I want to be thoughtful with this post. It concerns Terry Frank, Stacey Campfield and the whole “Huge” thing.

As an editor of a small paper, if one of my writers had an exclusive story that would change the face of a national issue, a writer that our organization paid as a staff member mind you, and didn’t let our organization know about it and I found they were holding on to it to shop for a mainstream media market, I would not be happy.

Let me explain, I do not break stories on this blog (and this is where the lines of journalism and blogging blur sometimes) and I have broken several stories in the past year to the AP. I don’t talk about it much. This blog is for my amusement. My job is my job.

I have a set of rules I follow, quite honestly but their mine and I toss them about on here occassionally. I don’t blog from work except for one time, I don’t really link to stories I’ve written other than the Goodyear strike from last year (the only time in 15 months I ever blogged from work) and the way our community reacted by the death of a young man in Iraq, Westboro Baptist Church showing up and how we came together. It was a truly terrible time for our community and I wrote about the reaction. One of my writers last year had a picture she took that appeared on CNN, MSNBC and other mainstream outlets.

I realize we are a small paper. Heck, that’s what I write about, working in rural media more than anything else on this blog.

I didn’t write about the photo thing last year. In all honestly, I didn’t think any of you who read ‘coma with any regularity would care.

But the publishers pay the bills. And it’s their paper and if I had an exclusive story that I didn’t let them know about first, they would have every right to be angry with me.

I guess my question is because I don’t know all the details. Ms. Frank adamantly says she has information that no one else has. Okay, I get that. But where does the newspaper she works at fit into all of these. Rep. Campfield said in a hot thread this morning over at Frank’s blog to Brittney G. from NiT and it concerns me:

Why not make the deal and see. In poker if you think the other person is bluffing you put you money on the table and call. People turn over the cards and one person is right. I don’t see the money…..

I realize that he’s just in a throw down with Brittney and he’s making an analogy but I cannot help but be concerned with the “money” comment and what it entails. In all honesty, I think Campy is hurting Frank over on that thread right now than helping her but that’s my opinion. AND, the thread is not about that, it’s about Frank citing she has documentation about uranium. She hasn’t posted the documentation yet but she’s talked about it a lot in the last couple of days and it has inspired tense debate across the state.

I wrote a couple of days ago about the rules at my newspaper at least, attribute, attribute and the when you’re done with that, attribute again.

I’m not saying Frank doesn’t have a story. I’m not saying she does. It’s the course of action that was taken.

But my initial first take about this was where does her newspaper’s editor and publisher fit in to this?

And yet, she is still being paid by the paper, right? And wouldn’t they want the exclusive she says she has, right? Even if it is a small paper, anyone who works in journalism wants the scoop, right?

I’m trying to be thoughtful here. I really am.

And, as SQ and I are both editors (she’s the sports editor and I’m the managing editor) we agreed that we wouldn’t be happy with a reporter that tried to break it on their blog and didn’t let management know and especially if they didn’t back it up. Now Frank may have let them know, I don’t know but as this is what I do for a living, my point of view focused on the paper she works at.

We wouldn’t be happy with a reporter doing this at all.

Just a different perspective here about rural media.

Pshaw has about a thousand blogs. He writes this post at Kidnapped by Aliens:

The New York Times recently published a story called “Flame First, Think Later”. The story is about the psychology in all of us that gives us the ability to speak more freely in e-mail or blogs than we would when speaking face-to-face with people.

I thought it was share-worthy.

A day in the life of Newscoma

The tired but nicely recovering ‘coma laid about last night watching television and staring at the wall. Sometimes staring at the wall isn’t a bad thing if you ask me.

One of the aspects of my job is listening. I think if you are going to work in the newspaper business, especially in a tiny market like ours, is that people feel connected to you. I was late getting in the office when I stopped at a convenience store and the power was out. The manager, a woman I see pretty frequently, talked to me about the outage for several minutes. I made a couple of calls on my cell phone and, although I didn’t have the entire story, I at least had a bit more information than she had previously and this appeared to satisfy her.

Later, at lunch, while I was eating, I got stopped about some things that were in the paper the last couple of weeks. My food got cold, but that person needed me to listen for a few minutes so I did. It wasn’t necessarily negative, mind you, but there were things this person needed to say and I got the honors. I didn’t know this person.

And late in the day, there was a situation that had been kind of festering that I didn’t want to get out of whack, so I went and talked to another person. Mind you, I didn’t think it was a big deal, but several people said I needed to go and encourage this person including her husband who caught me last week. So I did, when I entered the business, some guy just standing around took a shot at me and said “You misspelled my name in the paper.” I asked who he was and realized he was making one of those sarcastic jokes because he didn’t make the paper and thought he should have. I took a minute, listened to his story and then it hit me he really, really wanted his actions on a certain event to be in the paper over something he had done and felt a bit slighted. (I know this may sound callous, but what he did, although admirable, wasn’t newsworthy in the least.) I told him this in a nice kind way. Then I went on to speak with the person I had come to see in the first place. It took a little while and everything was cool, but it needed to be done.

The key is listening. Sometimes, people may think taking the 30 minutes here, the 15 minutes at lunch, and the hour later in the day are not worthy. But, for an hour and 45 minutes yesterday, I just sat and listened, because that’s what you do. In a busy world, this is not always easy, but it has to be done.

Why am I telling you this? Because it’s important. Listening in any job you do is important, but if anyone wanting to be a reporter/media person, the first thing you have to do is remember that a lot of the times, your time is not your own. Sometimes your tanks are empty, but you still have to remember that, like my job in the newspaper, although we are a private business, the community has ownership in what we do. Lindsey wrote at Theology and Geometry this very, very accurate account of having a creative job:

You just never know. That’s the excitement/anxiety that comes with a “creative” job. The success of everything you do depends on the opinions of other people. Nothing is objective. I can put things on a page that make me happy and reference, even slightly, things in my life that make me smile, but other people might never get those visual references and jokes. So you just hope that you at least construct a solid foundation of elements that harmonize and, at some gut level, make sense.

And I’m going to take it a step further. Every little mistake, every time we do things it’s under public scrutiny. My latest ephipheny is that, yes, people are going to either get it or not, in my case, I’m the complaint department. But on the other hand, if they want me to listen to them, then they feel a part of things and that is of value.

And I’m starting to realize that’s one of the most important aspects of my job. Yeah, I spent two hours yesterday just listening. But, in the big scheme of things, I think that’s what I’m supposed to be doing.

McCain. How long is this going to last before you change your mind again?

As a thrift store chick, this gives me a happy.

Oh for Pete’s Sake, this is friggin’ ridiculous. 

I’m very happy for Miss Julie, who is the sweetest kindest soul in the world and has been given the gift of love.

Go check out The Editor, who makes me smile.

I am guilty of this. Oops.

And this would surprise no one if it does, indeed, eventually occur.

One thing I tell my writers to do is attribute, attribute, attribute and be prepared to show me the documentation before it goes to print. It has to be right, timely and accurate.  Just saying. 

And finally, if the troops are taking care of our country in the fight against “terrorism,” than why isn’t our government taking care of them when they come home. This is not something I can even grasp because my grandfather and my father were both in the military. John H. is more eloquent than I am on this subject.

So, I believe that Seasonal Affective Disorder exists. I really do. February just wears me out and I find myself being a person I don’t necessarily like. I like myself just fine usually, but when February hits, I feel like a mess. It’s hard to stay focused and I find myself kind of floating around.

I’m usually pretty optimistic. But not so much lately.

Yesterday, Tammy Lynette and I went and had a late lunch at this great restaurant in Martin called The Opera House (go there if ever you come to Martin). It was very positive and for the first time in weeks, I felt a little better about things. And I think the Lifehacker guy has it right. Maybe I have been suffering from Information Fatigue Syndrome. But Tammy Lynette sort of put it into perspective for me. She does that sometimes and it was mucho appreciated. We talked business and I felt pretty good about it all as she was very encouraging with this internet upgrade thing that’s been driving me up a tree.

During February (the bitch of the month that she is) I always get a little down. I have felt recently like the Holly Hunter character in Broadcast News, where I have to schedule myself a little mini-breakdown once every couple of days.

See, things have been stressful but on the other hand and I do believe that I have been what I like to call “situationally depressed”, it’s me as a whole that’s the issue. It’s absolutely me that is the the problem, and what a hard pill to swallow that is. Now, for those of you who know me, I’m a pretty laid-back person. I can go all Type-A in 2.2 seconds, but most of the time I laugh easily and I’m fine.

During the SAD month, the person I become is not someone I’m fond of. And if you aren’t fond of yourself, that who else wants to be around you.

Usually, I’d be chomping at the bit over things like this, but today, not so much.

I even thought about taking a hiatus from blogging for awhile, but Homer and Squirrel Queen said “NO.” I think it’s because they know I’ll talk their ears off with my self-induced pity party.

So, alas, I whined this morning. I’ll be over it soon and I can already start to see the sun shining a bit, but in all honesty, I’ll be really glad when March 1 gets here.

But February. Man, it wears me out and I guess I just needed a bit of a blog venting.

Last night, I watched Lost and I’ll be honest, my head wasn’t into it so Yay for the joys of the DVR.

So, as I am an early riser, I watched it this morning while I could concentrate.

I have been the biggest defender of Lost. I have watched hot and sweaty Sawyer and my toes have curled although Homer and I agree that kissing anyone on Lost would be rather gross because of the lack of toothbrushes. We do dig Ben/Henry. He really is a compelling actor to watch. Homer’s crush on Sayid is monumental. Our irritation anytime Charlie comes on the screen has been documented many times.

We want Jin back.

So, last night the whole marking focus was so … how do I say it?

Dull.

Very, very dull. Now, I’m not the biggest Jack fan, but I will say that I like it when he throws his cajones around and I dig that. I honestly like him better now than I used to, but the whole gift/Bai Ling thing was so anticlimatic that I’m disappointed. I really dug Desmond’s flashback last week (but I’m a Donnie Darko/Dark Tower fan) so this week, I was ready for me something equally amazing.

Nope.

I love Lost. I love the mysteries of Lost. The whole tattoo thing was just damned weird. Jack getting beat up was odd (I guess I’m a moron because I just plum didn’t get it.)

I want the Lost I fell in love with three years ago back. The two-hour pilot was such a good and innovative piece of television that I used to rush home (before the DVR) to see the show, sometimes leaving the paper and then going back again to finish it up.

So, I get it. ABC does this obscure gamble of six shows and then coming back to the rest of them so we as an audience can see consecutive episodes. But there are things that made us care about the show which have been (hopefully temporarily) thrown to the wayside. I like Rose and Bernard, I liked the sexual tension between Jack and Kate and Sawyer and Kate.

I’m also thinking that the Sawyer character is so much like Spike used to be back on Buffy the Vampire Slayer that I’m wondering what the hell’s going on with that (Drew Goddard and the David Fury connection I’m guessing.)

Where’s the redemption plotline? Where’s the daddy issues? I want me some smoke monster, dammit. I want those damned whispers back where I would sit and try to figure out what was being said.

I miss the crazy not-quite French lady.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked last week’s episode, but this week I was sort of “Oh well.” which is the first time that’s happened to me. And is it just me but I find the Mr. Friendly/Zeke/Tom character sort of compelling for some odd reason.

So I flip/flop about it all because the characters do make me want to know more about them but have any of these people thought about just asking each other questions?

I’ll keep watching. I like it. It’s still much better than most of the crap on television, but I’m a bit weary with it all. And, yeah, I miss Eko.

So, here is my first “bitch” post about Lost.

As I have been working day and night (and it became pretty unhealthy because sometimes I’m a moron and get all focused on something where I should just chill the hell out) on getting numbers and figures together for bringing, as Carter said, the newspaper into the 21st century (which is true), I have really fallen back on political blogging. But I had to bring up the news that Britan is saying it’s pulling their troops out by October.

Homer and I talked about it last night and of course, being the armchair pundits we are, had a score of political theories on why this was happening.

“Well, could it be all the talk about going into Iran?” Homer asked. “Here we are talking about non-binding resolutions which aren’t going to mean a bit of difference for anybody and Anna Nicole Smith for God’s sake, and then this seems to be lurking under the surface.”

“I know,” I said. I can’t even grasp the concept of this subject right now because it just scares the hell out of me. “Who knows why George Bush does what he does?”

“You know, if Prince Harry (in a sidenote, my younger niece calls him Prince Larry) is going in there, wouldn’t the military spend more time protecting him than doing anything else. I can’t imagine that being good for anyone,” she said. “Wouldn’t that be a distraction?”

“Good point,” I said. “He would be on the hit list to make a point with the insurgents, I’m guessing. Bachelor prince at war sort of thing. I haven’t really read that much about it from the UK, but I bet there is a lot going on there we don’t know.”

” Yeah,” Homer said thoughtfully. “All of this makes me weird out.”

“Me too,” I added.

And she’s right. Wouldn’t it be a distraction? I know that the last thing that my friends who are serving or have served in Iraq would want is one more thing they would have to worry about.

They are just trying to get their butts back home. Or at least that’s what they are saying to me.

And with Britain pulling out, what does this mean for the United States globally, which is probably a redundant question because we aren’t necessarily beloved right now anyway.

All food for thought.

Update: (Yeah, fixed the typos. Bad damned week.)

In our on-going reasons for newscoma apparently being on-line these days, I wish to tell you I’m still getting the obscure search engine looksies and sees for Sen. Lowe Finney:

1. Lowe Finney Tall Senator
2. Lowe Lowe Finney
3. Ned McWherter Lowe Finney
4. Finney’s Floor Service (That would be his dad, Rick’s, business)
5. Two more on Lowe’s Blue Eyes
6. One that I won’t post because I know his family and they would be appalled, because, … umm … I sort of was.
7. And then the one that made me laugh yesterday, Monkeys need Therapy, and although this has nothing to do with Lowe Finney, I thought I would post it anyway.

Speaking of Finney, he’s starting his town hall meetings Thursday night in Jackson:

State Sen. Lowe Finney, D-Jackson, is beginning a new initiative to hold a series of town-hall conversations with West Tennesseans.The first Madison County meeting will be at 7 p.m. Thursday in the George A. Smith room at Jackson City Hall.

I guess the searches for Finney will be documented here as an on-going series.