Slacker Friday
After a change-of-pace thanks to the arrival of actual news late last week, we will return today to our usual Friday habit of web site housekeeping and casual chit-chat.
One error to correct. In what must have been a typographical error of the fingers (the mind, or what’s left of it, knew the right word), the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act” become the “American recovering and Reinvestment Act”
Repeat after me. Recovery is (or so it is to be hoped) for economies. Recovering is for substance abusers.
Typographical errors of the more common variety have been all but eliminated thanks to the engagement – at extraordinarily competitive wages – of a top-notch copy editor whose identity may not be revealed (and who could not have been expected to know the name of the legislation).
I thank the reader who caught the mistake. All are invited to follow his example. The standards here are: (1) Nothing gets printed unless it is both newsworthy and accurate; (2) Nothing is concluded unless the conclusion is based on empirically verifiable fact, as opposed to surmise or the weaving of some (UGH!) scenario. Any violation of these standards should be exposed. If the writer fails to expose them, a reader should,
Even if there have been few mistakes, there has been a lapse. Vermont News Guy has not yet been to the Legislature. Intentions were good. Execution was non-existent. Events ranging from car trouble to snow intervened.
They will not be allowed to intervene any longer. One cannot cover the news of a state without hanging around its Legislature when it is in session. Starting next week, some hanging around will commence.
More than 50 readers have now “registered” on this site, meaning they can make comments. A few have. More are invited to do so. Do not be bashful. Feel free to object to the posts by the editor/writer/poobah and to objections or endorsements by other readers. One goal of Vermont News Guy is to get some conversations going. Even some disputations. Just keep it relatively polite.
Who knows whether 50 is a lot of registrants or a disappointment after eight weeks? There are indications, though, that Vermont News Guy is getting some attention. A member of the Legislature reported that one earlier post had been “the talk of Montpelier” for a day or two. And a recent post so enraged one state government flack that he screamed at your humble agent, who had been screamed at only once before in 46 years as a reporter.
In the earlier case, the screamer was, at the time of the screaming, president of the United States. So this was a comedown.
The ambition here is to continue to enrage state flacks, their bosses, as many members of the Legislature as possible, and tub-thumpers on the right and left sides of the political debate.
OK, that’s not really true. The ambition here is to cover the news and tell the truth, no matter who gets enraged. But if the news and truth get some folks enraged, so be it.
The suspicion grows that the ambition of most established news organizations in Vermont is to make sure never to enrage anyone, especially those in power. There are exceptions because – as has been noted here before – there are some very good reporters in the state, and sometimes they write very good stories.
In general, though, the newspapers get both skimpier and blander. Not much news, and no personality.
We’ll try to provide both here, to justify the donations received this past week, for which the donors are dearly thanked.
February 1st, 2009 at 11:32 am
In my honest opinion… The governor’s proposal to cut 600 state jobs is a red herring (‘Oh, no!’ they cried). Another ‘tough decision’ that he doesn’t want to make. AND YET, level funding the school budgets (especially at this last moment) will cost how many jobs? And that’s OK? Cutting jobs that contribute taxes to municipalities as well as the state government. Has anyone investigated that trade-off? AND who’s to say the 600 state jobs will actually be cut after all. About 10% of the stimulus $$ targeted for VT is supposed to go to balancing the state budget (check this link & click on VT: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/01/house_stimulus_overview.html). Hmmm … guess that won’t be applicable to teacher’s salaries and school programs, but could be applied to keeping the state jobs and programs.
Make no mistake, I am very much for more efficiency in the state government as well as the schools, nonprofits, businesses, et al. This year the Lowell School Board is offering an unprecedented budget for voter consideration that actually proposes spending below last year’s levels. Some have had to make sacrifices to make this happen, and to them we are thankful. In the process the school board has in no any way compromised our children’s safety or security. Next year, who knows what reality will present?
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Make that 51 registrants, or maybe more. Just wanted to echo your sentiment about the quality of Vermont, and most small-market, news. With a few notable exceptions, the papers print fluff. On the tougher issues, they fail to provide any level of analysis. Keep up the good work.