I can't say I am enamored of the changes that have been made to the Standard Times recently. Not much in news in there anymore. Tough to have much when you only have a handful of reporters to generate copy. Still, it is the best and often only source of news on local happenings. The newspapers all over the country are going broke. The Boston Globe and Philadelphia Inquirer may soon cease to exist. The trouble is that advertising revenue is drying up, perhaps being shifted to websites and newer technologies. How will we have an informed electorate if the fourth estate is not there to tell us ...
...what our government and elected officials are doing? As much as I complain about the media, they serve a vital function in a democracy. I don't know what the answer is, what do you think?
Monday, April 27, 2009
Are newspapers going to disappear?
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The S-T is going under partly because they don't do enough real reporting and they do too much trying to influence political outcomes. It is east to see through them. The Chronicle is actually a better source for local happenings. As far as state, national and world news goes, the S-T is just the "Globe" but three days later.
Live from the SB Meeting.
The taxi cab companies have realized that Dartmouth is officially, if unofficially, a city. This is the second cab company to apply for a license recently. We now have two cab companies in Dartmouth.
Volunteers needed at the Board of Health in case we find ourselves in an apopalyptic situation. Swine flu is up to 40 confirmed cases in the U.S.
Dockside is still in business. I miss Rosa. Salvador's and C.V. General Store have better ice cream than Oxford.
The paralegal who doesn't do legal work(except to insert perpetual employment clauses into her contract) is speaking now. She did administer a grant from 2008 and she plans to apply for it again for 2010. What did she do in 2009? She is doing her best to convince the SB that she is worth her excessive salary.
Watson is wondering how she got paid $28k to administer a grant that she spent 135 hours on. So am I. Doris wants to have a service that looks for grants for her.
Joe is asking if she is willing to help the chief of Police and the DPW write grants but she already said that she didn't even write the grant that she administers.
Doris' job is safe with the new SB. They don't have the kahonas to do what's right for the town.
Kathleen has resigned from the Lincoln Park Overlay District. She has already done her damage. Bill and Lara are both willing to serve. Lara is on a first name basis with the Delphic Developers so she gets the nod. Say hello to 160 more apartments off Reed Rd on top of the 340 at Lincoln Park. Why not? That makes an even 500. Is there a population minimum requirement for changing from a town meeting style government? This should put us close to 40,000 people.
Ironically, the subject is now about the benefits of conservation restrictions. At this point we may as well just pave it all.
There have been 6 new businesses located in the industrial park. This is good news because that is where business should be.
Meeting adjourned.
Doris and Lara, tonight: sad, very sad, for Dartmouth.
To paraphrase Peter, Paul, and Mary: "when will we ever learn?"
When the money's all gone.
the fourth estate is responsible for its own demise. When you look back to the founding of this country, it wasn't any better, although there were enough newspapers with their biases to cover the vast majority of political philosophies. When all you have to read is one side, you have to seek out other avenues. Talk radio, the internet, and cable news have tried to fill the void. Try to read as many primary sources as possible, from as varied sources as you can find, and the truth may lie somewhere in there. momof3
Good luck with finding truth on talk radio. It's entertainment, folks! If they were having a real discussion on policy, nobody would listen.
It will be a shame if the Philadelphia Inquirer goes under. It is a fine newspaper but has been getting worse with erosion of advertising base.
The "help wanted" ads of this paper (serving a city of nearly 4 million) has a been reduced to a page or two under the disasterous Bush administration. So just like all the other outsourcing done under the benev-violent Bush administration, job loss will continue until the Obama administration can sort out all the crap we were fed from the dying Republican party.
The entertainer - Rush Limbaugh can keep feeding disinformation to the ditto heads and they can keep thinking they are informed right up to the time when newspapers declare that the Republican party is officially dead.
Keep sending Rush your money conservatives and we will keep seating senators.
"Well good day, Senator Specter, thanks for coming, Excuse me Mr. Franken, could you let Senator Specter have that chair. We will see about getting you one soon."
oh, when I invited all Republicans to join the Democratic party I forgot to exclude my invitation to Rush Limbaugh. We Democrats love to see him enriching himself as he singlehandedly destroys the Rupublican party.
Rush is the best leader of the Republicans since John Tower, no, Newt Gingrich, no, Bob Packwood, no, Dick Nixon, no, Trent Lott, no, Alberto Gonzales, no, Herbert Hoover, no, Bob Livingston, no, Jesse Helms, no, Spiro Agnew, no, Ted Stevens, no Abe Lincoln. That's it!
Rush Limbaugh is the greatest Republican since Lincoln.
Make sure you tell your friends.
Come on James. You know that the dems are just as beholden to corporate America as the repubs.
I used to consider myself a democrat but I no longer know what I am. The republican philosophy of fiscal conservatism and small government appeals to me. Too bad the party has forgotten its roots. I also think the party has crossed the line with religion. Religion should never be included in politics.
The democrats/liberals, I think they are becoming one and the same, seem to be hell bent on making all citizens completely dependent on government. The tax and spend agenda is going to kill the working class. It wouldn't be so distasteful to me to help those in need if I felt that was where the money was going. Unfortunately the money goes to unnecessary, highly paid government positions and programs that do not work. In general, welfare has done nothing for this country except make unproductive, non-contributing citizens. If you receive money from the government, you should be required to contribute as a volunteer in some capacity. Why did it become taboo to ask people to work for the assistance they receive?
The taxpayers cannot keep supporting other citizens and big government too. There is a tipping point. Universities would gladly keep this train running because it directly benefits their pockets. The higher the education/the more degrees, the more money you can expect to make. In turn university officials push for higher paid government jobs and school positions so the salaries become the carrot to justify more education. It is a viscous circle where universities benefit and the taxpayers continue to pay. Ever wonder why universities get involved with local politics?
I used to think republicans were fairly brutal with attack campaigns but the liberals now have them beat. If you disagree with them, the smear tactics and propaganda are unconscionable. This is what is being taught in universities across the country. Although I believe in the fundamental issues of the liberal platform, because of what the liberals have morphed into, I do not wish to have any association with them whatsoever.
So I guess I need a new party. I don't want government in my face, controlling my life. I don't want to overpay for my government. I want efficiency. I want the right to choose what is best for me. I want a government that can lend a hand without making it a handout. I'd like our government to go back to what it was meant to be, not the mess it has become.
I agree Michael. The Republicans invented dirty politics and the Democrats perfected it.
I receive more town information from this blog than the substandard times. Keep up the good info........death to the paper printers....
Michael, I can relate to your post. As those who switch parties like to say, I didn't leave my party, my party left me. Well I also feel like I love my country but just don't know if my country loves me.
I agree. who wants yesterdays news tomorrow. Between the internet and tv who needs newspapers.
It is very difficult to find any source for real news. Between the spin, sensationalism and nonsense, there is no room for just the news. The media has become too political. I don't want the reporter's take on the news, I just want the news. And do I really need to know what kind of dog the new first family is bringing home?
Now don't get me wrong. I am not a Sarah Palin fan. Katie Couric received an award for the interview she did with Palin. Huh??? That was noteworthy journalism? Michael Ware is who deserves an award for journalism with integrity but he gets very little notice.
The news has become entertainment. Maybe that is our fault. The media is giving the public what it wants.
Since it seems like people are doing a little venting here let me state my problem with what we have become. We have no control over people who want to shove 500 apartments down our throat but if I'm on the town beach with my kayak after 7pm in the off-season, there is a cop there to treat me like I am some kind of public nuisance and the Park Board agrees. Is there any wonder that people are fed up to their ears with government?
No offense meant here, but I would rather have my police department patrolling my street or elsewhere in the town where they are visible and the REAL trouble occurs.
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