Tag Archives: journalism

Is Space.com a Soviet-Style News Agency for SpaceX

29 Friday Mar 2019

Posted by in Business, Communication, Communism, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Ethics, Exploration, Falcon Heavy, Human Resources, Information Technology, Internet, jobs, Journalism, labor, Management Practices, Marketing, Mars, NASA, Public Image, Public Relations, Science, Science Fiction, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, Soviet Russia, Space, SpaceX, Technology, United States, US Space Program

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Space.com is in love. They are head-over-heels in love with SpaceX. Reading the articles posted by Space.com writers one might think that SpaceX has already landed on Mars, colonized the Moon, and cured the common cold. It’s not that Space.com writers present false information about SpaceX, it’s just that they tend to overlook…well, almost everything negative.

This style of almost compulsory cheerleading of SpaceX by an alleged news source is reminiscent of the type of reporting from the Soviet days of TASS (Telegrafnoye agentstvo Sovetskogo Soyuza,) Russia’s official news source. From 1925 to 1992, Soviet intelligence agencies often used TASS to put out positive news and disinformation, including crafted stories praising the Soviet space program. For decades, TASS was the mouthpiece for the Soviet government reminding Soviet citizens that the Soviet government was always correct even when they were wrong.

A Fake Starship Prototype?

Space.com demonstrates the Soviet-like reporting in one of its latest articles on SpaceX. Writer Lee Cavendish published an article [Space.com 29 Mar 2019] that gushed about SpaceX’s Starship Hopper. He began his piece as follows:

SpaceX continues to amaze in popularizing space exploration. Not only is it doing fantastic work in reaching and exploring space…

Lee Cavendish for Space.com

For his article, he used this artist’s rendering of the Starship…

Artists rendering of SpaceX’s Starship used by Space.com

However, this is what the actual craft looked like at the test site in January before the top blew off in the wind…

…and this is what it looked like after it fall down, go boom….

…and finally, this is what it looked like for this week’s tests:

A test of a Starship, or a silo with legs?

It’s understandable why the artist’s rendering was used and not images of the real thing. SpaceX didn’t even bother to put the top half of the Starship back on for the test.

Not an expert, but doesn’t that seem to be a wimpy propulsion system?

Close-ups of the bottom of the Starship would indicate that almost no effort was put into making this ‘prototype’ anything but a show for the public. From top to bottom this doesn’t look like anything that can get off the ground, which is may be why Space.com used an artist’s rendering.

Is Space.com Ignoring the Problems?

SpaceX has glaring problems and yet, Space.com has nothing but praise for the company. This week I wrote two articles detailing their problems (SpaceX’s Implosion and SpaceX 2019 Launch Schedule Realities] and yet, space-focused media outlets like Space.com seem to have a blind eye regarding the issues that seem to be obvious.

Among the issues that seem to be ignored are:

  • Hidden costs of relanding the boosters (30% fuel reserved for relanding reducing lift capacity, cost of boosters built for reentry and landing, cost of maintaining an ocean landing pad, costs of launch delays because of weather conditions at the ocean landing pad, cost of transportation of reused booster, costs of refurbishment of a booster, etc.)
  • Reduction of 10% of their workers when they should be expanding
  • Failure to test a Block 5 version of the Falcon Heavy before launching for a paying customer
  • A lack of progress on Dragon 2 and Falcon Heavy testing for most of 2018
  • Drastic reduction in 2019 launch schedule
  • Significantly underpricing the cost of a mission while apparently in a financial crisis
  • A silly prototype test of the SpaceX Starship
  • Overhyping an unmanned test of the Dragon 2 crew capsule that was essentially a mimic of a cargo delivery to the International Space Station (ISS)

Space.com:  SpaceX’s Public Relations Team

Instead, Space.com publishes an unending series of articles that 1) sing praises of SpaceX, 2) seem to be expanded versions of a SpaceX public service announcement, and/or 3) are based on an Elon Musk Tweet. At times the articles cover the same topic as reported by another Space.com writer or sometimes the same writer will cover the same topic, only days apart.

Below is a list of articles that Space.com has published regarding SpaceX in the last 35 days:

  1. Meet SpaceX’s Starship Hopper [Space.com 29 Mar 2019 – Lee Cavendish]
  2. SpaceX’s Hexagon Tiles for Starship Heat Shield Pass Fiery Test [Space.com 22 Mar 2019 – Tariq Malik]
  3. You Can Watch SpaceX’s Starship Hopper Tests Live Via a South Texas Surf School [Space.com 22 Mar 2019 – Sarah Lewin]
  4. SpaceX Preparing to Begin Starship Hopper Tests [Space.com 18 Mar 2019 – Jeff Foust]
  5. SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy Megarocket to Fly 1st Commercial Mission in April: Report [Space.com 18 Mar 2019 – Mike Wall]
  6. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Demo-1 Test Flight in Pictures [Space.com 8 Mar 2019 – Hanneke Weitering]
  7. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Looks Just Like a Toasted Marshmallow After Fiery Re-Entry [Space.com 8 Mar 2019 – Tariq Malik]
  8. SpaceX Crew Dragon Splashes Down in Atlantic to Cap Historic Test Flight [Space.com 8 Mar 2019 – Mike Wall]
  9. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Success Heralds ‘New Era’ in Spaceflight [Space.com 8 Mar 2019 – Mike Wall]
  10. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Left Its ‘Little Earth’ Behind on Space Station [Space.com 8 Mar 2019 – Hanneke Weitering]
  11. SpaceX Crew Dragon Re-Entry May Be Visible Over Some of Eastern US [Space.com 7 Mar 2019 – Joe Rao]
  12. Astronauts Pack Up SpaceX’s Crew Dragon for Return to Earth [Space.com 7 Mar 2019 – Meghan Bartels]
  13. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Homecoming Friday May Be Toughest Part of Its Mission [Space.com 6 Mar 2019 – Mike Wall]
  14. VP Mike Pence Hails SpaceX Crew Dragon Success at Space Station [Space.com 6 Mar 2019 – Mike Wall]
  15. ‘Little Earth’ on SpaceX Crew Dragon Gives Boost to Celestial Buddies [Space.com 4 Mar 2019 – Robert Z. Pearlman]
  16. New ‘Celestial Buddies’ Earth Plush Is Even Cooler than SpaceX’s ‘Zero-G Indicator’ [Space.com 4 Mar 2019 – Kasandra Brabaw]
  17. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Docks at Space Station for First Time [Space.com 3 Mar 2019 – Mike Wall]
  18. Trump Hails SpaceX Crew Dragon Launch, Says NASA’s ‘Rocking Again’ [Space.com 3 Mar 2019 – Tariq Malik]
  19. SpaceX Adds Adorable ‘Zero-G Indicator’ Inside the Crew Dragon [Space.com 2 Mar 2019 – Hanneke Weitering]
  20. Elon Musk Was Emotionally Wrecked by SpaceX’s 1st Crew Dragon Launch Success — But In A Good Way [Space.com 2 Mar 2019 – Tariq Malik]
  21. SpaceX Crew Dragon Launch Heralds ‘New Era in Spaceflight,’ NASA Chief Says [Space.com 2 Mar 2019 – Mike Wall]
  22. With SpaceX and Boeing, Commercial Crew Launches Will Boost Space Station Science [Space.com 1 Mar 2019 – Meghan Bartels]
  23. It’s Just About ‘Go’ Time for SpaceX’s 1st Crew Dragon Spaceship [Space.com 28 Feb 2019 – Tariq Malik]
  24. SpaceX Is Launching a Spacesuit-Clad Dummy on 1st Crew Dragon [Space.com 27 Feb 2019 – Mike Wall]
  25. NASA, SpaceX ‘Go’ for 1st Crew Dragon Test Flight on March 2 [Space.com 23 Feb 2019 – Mike Wall]

Why?

The question is why? Why do Space.com writers seem like they are part of a Soviet-style news agency? One reason is that perhaps they are just fans of SpaceX and Space.com has become a SpaceX fansite. Another possibility is that their access to information regarding SpaceX is conditional on cooperation with the company. It may be as simple as an article that is critical of SpaceX will result in he or she being blacklisted. Maybe the writers are enamored with and afraid of SpaceX at the same time.

Regardless, it would seem that Space.com is not a reliable source of unbiased information. In 2003, Space.com won an award from the Online Journalism Association for coverage of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. That was over 15 years ago. Maybe they haven’t won another award because they actually have to do journalism to be considered.

100 Consecutive Days of Writing

22 Thursday Mar 2018

Posted by in Aging, Branding, Communication, Generational, habits, Health, Internet, Journalism, Language, Lessons of Life, Life, Mental Health, Nevada, Reno, review, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Technology, Website, Wordpress, Writing

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On 13 December 2017, I published an article titled, “Send Our Trash Into Space.” That began a streak of 100 consecutive days of posting an article. I had no grand plan to start publishing daily, but after a week it became addictive. I decided to go for two weeks, then a month. Now it’s been over three months, and I’ve discovered something about writing every day. It’s about me.

Personal View Writing is Historical, Not Instant Analysis

Writing on a frequent basis is not great for the reader. There is a saturation point at which I passed a long time ago. To keep someone’s attention over the long-term usually requires a mystery, sensationalism, a serial-type plot, or some other device to capture a reader’s mind. I write in an episodic style that is observational. My readership numbers ebb and flow depending on the topic, but I’m not writing to attract an audience.

Our world has become obsessed with instant analysis, interview the person on the street, report the story before we have the facts, and/or assess the pulse of our society based on what is trending on social media. That is not necessarily bad, but it is not news. That is ‘entertainment.’ Its focus is attracting a bigger audience.

News organizations have always fought for market share, but in the days of Watergate and before, journalistic integrity was the foundation and audience size was secondary. Now all the media organizations are investor-owned and viewer/listener/reader body count is the center of the news world. When the goal of ‘news’ media is based on the size of the audience, the focus turns to the most outrageous, most shocking, most disgusting stories.

We have made the news into a for-profit business, and that means its primary focus is to entertain, not report. What is needed is an alternate view that is not about trying to entertain to attract an audience. The perspective of the individual writer, devoid of concerns of the accountants, is the last remnant of what was called journalism.

Witness To a Calamity

I am convinced we are in a time of crisis. We are the frogs in the pot that the heat has been slowly turned up to a boil. Many are in a state of denial, but no one can deny that our society is in upheaval with a severe conflict in process.

I am not the one who can judge the effectiveness of my writing but I hope that by offering my perspective, not for entertainment or market share, that it will give the sense of the time of this crisis. Our country has made horrible mistakes that the future needs to understand.

I’m sure people in the future will wonder at how we allowed these Republicans and this President to rise to power. In part, my political writing is to give my viewpoint in how and why that happened. Writing is a recording of history and the United States in 2018 is a time of dire history.

My Method

Not all my writing is about politics. I also try to interject subjects that interest and/or amaze me. I’m not sure I can claim to have a method in my writing. Most of the time I create a working title for the topic a few days in advance. Usually, that is all I have to start with when I start writing. I don’t plan out, nor outline my articles. If I have multiple points to make in an story I will sometimes write draft headings to remind me.

Typically, I do some research on the issue, but sometimes that doesn’t occur until a reach the point in the article that I’m trying to say something that should be backed up with a fact or source. I link to my sources rather than footnote the source. If I’m writing a reaction piece to an event or act I will link the article or include a quote.

I’m not held to any standard of truth, but my own. There have been times I have started writing about a topic and changed my opinion about the issue during my research. As a liberal, I know I have an opinion, but I it also means that I have to support my opinion. That doesn’t make my opinion correct, but it is absolutely required in a decent society.

The Score

In 2016 I wrote 40 articles using 22,085 words (an average of 552 words per article.) In 2017 I wrote 53 articles using 23,954 words (an average of 452 words per article.) So far in 2018 I’ve written 82 articles (including this one) using 47,337 words (an average of 577 words per article.)

I don’t know if I will keep going on the streak. I have other writing projects that I would like to finish and I find that writing at this pace is difficult to maintain. Regardless, this has been very rewarding for me. I hope it has been of some benefit to you.

Looking Back

Here are the articles I’ve published during the last 100 days (and more):

DECEMBER 2017

DATE TITLE WORDS
13-Dec-17 Send Our Trash Into Space 271
14-Dec-17 The End of the United States of America 225
15-Dec-17 School Vouchers Are About Religion and Racism, Not Choice 625
16-Dec-17 Journalists Using Uneducated, Uninformed Opinion As Fact 237
17-Dec-17 Government Regulation Makes USA Business Great 412
18-Dec-17 Redacted Review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi 477

[NOTE:  Articles from 19 December 2017 to 28 February 2018 are not currently linked. This is being corrected.]

19-Dec-17 What Happens In Sixty Years 304
20-Dec-17 Senator Dean Heller is Still a Stockbroker 298
21-Dec-17 A New Year’s Earthquake? 386
22-Dec-17 Review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi 217
22-Dec-17 Failure to Diagnose: Right Hemisphere Strokes 482
23-Dec-17 SpaceX and Mars: The Illogical Strategy 453
24-Dec-17 GOP War on the Spirit of Christmas 326
25-Dec-17 Can Venus Be Made Habitable? 475
26-Dec-17 Illogical: Commercial Real Estate Price Boom in an Internet Economy 183
27-Dec-17 Religion Controls Equality For Women 398
28-Dec-17 Dear Republican: Your Party Left Without You 345
29-Dec-17 1929 is Coming 216
30-Dec-17 Are You Not Breathing When You Sleep? 670
31-Dec-17 Understanding Global Warming and Cold Weather 530

JANUARY 2018

DATE TITLE WORDS
1-Jan-18 Why a Bigger Government is Being Fiscally Responsible 507
2-Jan-18 Need a New Plan for Gaining Political Support 285
3-Jan-18 Nevada’s Pot Business About to be Smoked 401
4-Jan-18 Telsa Powerwall Has Product-Killing Questions Unanswered 1000
5-Jan-18 Trump Corrupt Public Relations: Using Business PR as the Model 393
6-Jan-18 12 Days in 1968 956
7-Jan-18 1968 Mystery: Four Subs Lost In Four Months 626
8-Jan-18 To Sleep, Perchance To Dream 327
9-Jan-18 Panamá versus Oklahoma: Transportation 457
10-Jan-18 Zuma Fail: Why Space Is No Place For Private Business 509
11-Jan-18 Rapid HR Hiring Process Required In Professional Environment 477
12-Jan-18 ICE Solidifies Itself As Trump’s SS Police 555
13-Jan-18 About This, About Writing 412
14-Jan-18 Panamá’s Caribbean Afterthought 805
15-Jan-18 Why You Won’t See A Tax Cut 338
16-Jan-18 Why Trumpsters Don’t Understand Anti-Trump Reactions 377
17-Jan-18 Should the Nuremberg Code Be Applied to Internet Data Collection? 1212
18-Jan-18 Government Shutdown An Opportunity 416
19-Jan-18 NASA’s Orion Capsule: A ‘Look Busy’ Project? 1067
20-Jan-18 Total Lunar Eclipse January 31…Western United States 243
21-Jan-18 Popes That Damned Women, Choice, and Humanity 708
22-Jan-18 An Indictment Against NPR Journalism Standards 745
23-Jan-18 SpaceX Falcon Heavy-Lift Rocket: A Soviet-Style Disaster? 865
24-Jan-18 Why the Stock Market is Like a Strip Club 316
25-Jan-18 Trump and GOP Causing Emotional Numbness? 455
26-Jan-18 Employee Relations: The You’re-Not-Getting-a-Raise-Letter 342
27-Jan-18 Why We Elect the Wrong People?: #1 Business Wants Dumb Politicians 428
28-Jan-18 The Day Business Killed The NASA Space Program 1246
29-Jan-18 The State of the Union of the United States of America 1069
30-Jan-18 Why We Elect the Wrong People?: #2 We Don’t Understand the Purpose of a Republic 592
31-Jan-18 2018 Blue Moon Lunar Eclipse 499

FEBRUARY 2018

DATE TITLE WORDS
1-Feb-18 Zuma Mystery: It’s Classified and Invisible…Apparently 777
2-Feb-18 Should You Become a Parent? 789
3-Feb-18 The Plantar Wart and HPV 385
4-Feb-18 Housing Prices Edge Closer to Catastrophe 419
5-Feb-18 Stock Market Symptom of Great Depression, Not Cause 629
6-Feb-18 GOP Memo is Last Straw 343
7-Feb-18 SpaceX Falcon Heavy Defies the Odds 484
8-Feb-18 66 Years Ago: A Princess in Africa Becomes Queen 392
9-Feb-18 North Korea Bizzare Olympics Stunt 382
10-Feb-18 Snowpack is No Longer a Viable Water Supply 583
11-Feb-18 500th WordPress PAULx Post: Milestone of Words 553
12-Feb-18 Forget Stock Market & Bitcoin, Invest in Mendadent Toothpaste 329
13-Feb-18 Reno Nevada Mayor Schieve Declares She is Uninformed 804
14-Feb-18 To Love Your Child, Be Honest With Them 652
15-Feb-18 Corp USA: “The Stock Market Requires We Underpay You” 312
16-Feb-18 Space Exploration Isn’t Profitable, It’s Transformative 707
17-Feb-18 McDonald’s Shake Machines Legendary Unreliability 551
18-Feb-18 Mass Shooters Not Criminals Before They Picked Up A Gun 341
19-Feb-18 Are These People the Next Mass Shooter? 353
20-Feb-18 Center of the Milky Way: Update 608
21-Feb-18 Second Amendment: A Well Regulated Militia 501
22-Feb-18 Victims of Major Mass Shootings Since Sandy Hook Elementary 709
23-Feb-18 David Brooks is Wrong Again on Guns 473
24-Feb-18 Five ‘Facts’ About the Equinox? 529
25-Feb-18 Trumpster ‘Hillary’ Excuse Proves Russian Influence 1701
26-Feb-18 Hiding Journalists Behind the Paywall 527
27-Feb-18 My Imaginary Interview with Marketplace’s Kai Ryssdal 499
28-Feb-18 SpaceX 2018 Launch Schedule Is PR Gold or PR Nightmare 681

MARCH 2018

DATE TITLE WORDS
1-Mar-18 Pigs In Space: Discrimination on the ISS 744
2-Mar-18 Trump’s Family: Keepers of the Big Liar 335
3-Mar-18 Is There a Planet Nine or Not? 553
4-Mar-18 Urban Coyotes 609
5-Mar-18 Could David Brooks Be Correct About Being Wrong? 664
5-Mar-18 Breaking News: Trump Loses Control of Hotel in Panama 321
6-Mar-18 Pence’s White Greed National Space Council 710
7-Mar-18 Trump’s Trade Deficit Talk Proves Lack of Knowledge 522
8-Mar-18 Leadership Madness: Time To Check Trump’s Urine Color 373
9-Mar-18 Three Myths That Gun Extremist Believe 350
10-Mar-18 Magnetic Pole Reversal: Will It Turn Our World Upside Down? 620
11-Mar-18 Time To Stop Changing Time? Why We Need Daylight Saving Time All Year 425
12-Mar-18 Are We Ready For Gender Neutral Language? 355
13-Mar-18 Why Are Conservatives Anti-Society? 558
14-Mar-18 NRA is Not a Gun Safety Organization 719
15-Mar-18 The Ides of March is Really About the Moon 381
16-Mar-18 Three Steps For Solving the Assault-Type Weapons Problem 375
17-Mar-18 Saint Patrick Wasn’t Irish and Other Facts? 461
18-Mar-18 Roots of ‘Easter’ Myth Adapted For New Testament 946
19-Mar-18 Why Are There 360 Degrees in a Circle? 376
20-Mar-18 First Day of Spring is Fake News 506
21-Mar-18 Ten Reasons There is Life on Earth 965
22-Mar-18 100 Consecutive Days of Writing 828
23-Mar-18 GOP Disease: Say It, Then Apologize 477
24-Mar-18 Saturn V’s F-1 Engine: The Monster That Made USSR Cry 445
25-Mar-18 Trump’s Tariffs Are For Putin 775
26-Mar-18 The Sad Life of a Russian Troll (Печальная жизнь русского тролля) 697
27-Mar-18 Journalism Ethics: Interviewing the Reporter As a News Source 507
28-Mar-18 Falling Sky: China’s Tiangong 1 Space Station Last Hours 355
29-Mar-18 Novice Directors Make Theatre Painful 536
30-Mar-18 Trump’s Soviet-Style Government 409
31-Mar-18 Our Roving Intelligent Life On Mars 427

APRIL 2018

DATE TITLE WORDS
1-Apr-18 April Fool’s Day is Donald Trump Day 368
2-Apr-18 Tax Breaks Don’t Work When Everyone is Giving Them 502
3-Apr-18 Should Federal Dollars Go To States With Low Taxes? 451
4-Apr-18 The Dichotomy of Small Towns: Good People, Small Minds 608
5-Apr-18 My First and Final (gulp) Imaginary Interview With Terry Gross 833

Hiding Journalists Behind the Paywall

26 Monday Feb 2018

Posted by in Branding, Business, Communication, Customer Relations, Ethics, History, Honor, Information Technology, Journalism, Management Practices, Print Media, Public Image, Public Relations, Respect, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, Stock Market, Technology, Traditional Media, United States, US History, Website, Writing

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Several news organizations have blocked their website content behind paywalls. The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post are noteworthy examples. Paywalls are an attempt to force the reader to pay a subscription to access the news articles of the day. The question is what kind of a journalist wants her or his work held captive from the public?

Paywall News Organizations: The Road to Irrelevance

Out of Sight, Out of Mind, and Irrelevant

The thinking of these organizations is that the value of the content behind the paywall will create a desire for the reader to open a wallet and pay them money. The problem with that theory is that information is not ‘owned’ by a news organization, it is only packaged. News is what happens in the world and is reported in the raw on Twitter, Facebook, and all the other free sources on the Internet.

What investor-owned news media attempts to do is make the reader pay for their packaging of the news, not the product itself, and in an age of the Internet, someone else can offer the same product in a different package for free. 

For the writer or journalist that creates the packaging of the news, it means that the public can’t see her or his work…ever. If people can’t see your work, you become irrelevant. The best writer in the world risks becoming invisible when all his or her creative efforts are on a pay-to-read basis.

Even those who are willing to pay for the subscription can’t share an article with others when it is behind a paywall. The benefit of readers discussing a journalist’s work is limited to the subset of those who pay-to-read and in a ‘Share’ world, that is a critical shortfall.

Paying Journalists For Their Work Myth

The organizations that inflict a paywall on the reader and the journalists defend the decision by saying:

Someone has to pay for quality journalism!

But that is a lie. The truth is closer to the statement:

Our investors have to suck as much money out of the work of the journalists!

Note the list of news organizations and, according to Forbes magazine, who owns (as of June 2016) the controlling stake in them.

Behind Hard Paywall (all articles pay-to-read)

  • Wall Street Journal – Billionaires Rupert Murdoch and Lachian Murdoch
  • The Washington Post – Billionaire Jeff Bezos

Behind Soft Paywall (limited free views)

  • New York Times – Billionaire Carlos Slim Helu
  • Wired – Billionaire Donald Newhouse
  • The New Yorker– Billionaire Donald Newhouse

No Paywall

  • Bloomberg Businessweek – Billionaire Michael Bloomberg

The people who control these news organizations don’t need to find new ways to pay journalists. They are just using journalists for greed.

News As Entertainment

Journalism is a philanthropic duty. It is not created to generate profit for investors, it is created to provide information to citizens. The transition from journalism to entertainment is strictly about greed.

Few great journalists become wealthy, but great journalists become the keystone to a great society. The fall of our country can be traced, at least in part, to the fall of journalism. If journalism is about making money then journalists are just prostitutes of news.

An Indictment Against NPR Journalism Standards

22 Monday Jan 2018

Posted by in Aging, Communication, Ethics, Generational, Government, Government Regulation, Higher Education, Honor, Journalism, Opinion, Politics, Pride, Print Media, Public Image, racism, Taxes, Traditional Media, Writing

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National Public Radio’s (NPR) Morning Edition is not alone in the race to lower journalism standards. It is; however, the latest example of how hard-hitting journalism has become a game of tossing softballs to ill-informed people for entertainment and soundbites.

Interview With a Trumpster

Friday morning (19 January 2018) Morning Edition’s Steve Inskeep and Don Gonyea were discussing Gonyea’s report on Donald Trump’s support in southwestern Pennsylvania. Included in his report was a soundbite of an interview with a Trump supporter using the name, Paul Walker:

Trump was not a politician. He did not come up through all the bullcrap and the handshakes and the elbow-rubbing. He came in. And I think it’s a direct approach. I like his twitters (ph). If you watch my Twitter account, I retweet just about everything that he puts out.

Gonyea then implied that people from the coal mining areas like Trump because they believe government regulation is taking away coal mining jobs. The next soundbite was of Republican State Senator Camera Bartolotta who explained the rationale behind Trumpster’s alleged “war on coal” sentiment:

…we have to fight for our jobs… Of course coal mining is different now. Of course you’re not going to need 2,000 coal miners in a coal mine. We’ve got automation. We’ve got machines. We’ve got, you know, better technology. But you know what? We still need coal.

As Gonyea ended his report, Steve Inskeep asked what seemed to be a prepared question for Gonyea:

…people on the left, …anytime we put Trump voters on the air. They ask – why keep interviewing Trump voters? They never change. They’re out of touch. Why? Why? Why?…Why talk to Trump voters?

Gonyea gave what seemed to be a prepared answer:

Well, first, we talk to voters of all kinds – of all stripes…As for the Trump voters, it’s important to know, A, if they’re still with him. But it’s good to hear how they talk about him and how that may change over time, if there are shifts. Is there strong support suddenly?…Also, in states where the vote’s very close, any movement among any voter group can make the difference.

The Indictment against NPR’s Morning Edition

Morning Edition violated basic journalism standards in the following ways:

Most of the information was based on opinion, not fact.

The man using the name, Paul Walker, expressed his opinion. State Senator Camera Bartolotta expressed her opinion of other people’s opinions. 

Walker, said: “Trump’s not a politician.” FACT:  Trump has run for political office many times. Trump has been a political figure for decades.

State Senator Bartolotta explained why Trump supporters feel they have to fight the government for coal mining jobs, then gave reasons why it wasn’t the government stealing coal mining jobs.

None of the opinions expressed were newsworthy.

These opinions are typical opinions of Trump supporters. The apparent news was that Trump supporters have the same opinions as they have always had. It is the classic dog bites man story. 

Information was meaningless.

The entire story was based on uninformed and/or incorrect opinions. The story was not exposing the lack of facts by the people interviewed but instead legitimized inaccurate and/or uninformed opinion. 

End Didn’t Justify the Story

The exchange between Inskeep and Gonyea seemed to be an attempt to justify poor journalism. Uniformed opinions are not news. They don’t add to the debate, and to focus on inaccurate opinion rather than fact leads people to believe that their opinion is valid regardless of how uninformed, racist, or inappropriate it is to be expressed. It encourages people to become more extremist in order to attract the attention of the media.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Trumpster Babble Shorthand

Babble #1 – “Trump’s a straight shooter” = He doesn’t research or listen to people, he just says the first thing to come into his head.

Babble #2 – “Trump speaks for the little guy.” = Trump says what uneducated racist is thinking.

Babble #3 – “We have to stop giving all our money to the government.” = I don’t want to pay for the privilege of living in the United States of America. 

Babble #4 – “Trump is keeping people from coming to America and stealing our jobs.” = I’m racist so I can blame people of color for taking jobs I would never apply for because they’re beneath me, or far beyond my qualifications.

Babble #5 – “Trump’s not a politician” = He’s inexperienced. 

Babble #6 – “We need jobs!” = We need jobs that pay lots of money to people in a small town with few skills and only a high school degree…or less.

Journalists Using Uneducated, Uninformed Opinion As Fact

16 Saturday Dec 2017

Posted by in Aging, Communication, Education, Ethics, Generational, Government, Government Regulation, Green, Health, Higher Education, Journalism, Politics, racism, Religion, Science, Taxes, Traditional Media, Universities, US History, Women

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There is a growing crisis of legitimate news organizations interviewing an uninformed person and presenting it as news. The person-on-street interview is justified by journalists as a citizen’s opinion, using the logic that all citizens are equally informed and knowledgeable; therefore, his or her opinion is valid.

Opinions are like assholes. Everybody has one.

Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry

However, an opinion is limited by the person’s real experience and knowledge. Few people are qualified to speak intelligently on significant topics like foreign policy, and economic and legal issues. An unqualified person should not be giving their opinion on local or national news without clarifying his or her background on the subject matter.

Journalists Going For Entertainment, Not Fact

The problem of unqualified opinions being presented as news has become more severe as the opinions have become more outrageous. Trump supporters have had an entertainment value for some news organizations because their statements are often contrary to known facts and/or logical reasoning.

We do not go to first graders and ask them to design the best and most effective educational methods because they have no qualifications or skills to offer an opinion. They may have an opinion, but having recess all day long is not a legitimate answer to the question.

Opinions of uneducated, uninformed citizens destroy democracy because it circumvents intelligent discussion. An irrational person’s opinion does not lead to a rational debate of the issues.

Is Reno’s NBC Affiliate Moving Back to the Middle?

09 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by in About Reno, Branding, Business, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Ethics, Government, Honor, Management Practices, Opinion, Politics, Pride, Public Image, Public Relations, Respect, Taxes, Traditional Media

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Image by Paul Kiser

KRNV reconnecting with the rest of the community?

Something happened at KRNV, Reno’s NBC affiliate, on April 8. It was not what they did, but what they didn’t do. Tuesday’s 6 PM newscast of the Sinclair Broadcast Group‘s (SBGI) station didn’t run an anti-government story.

It’s possible it they were just having an off day. It’s possible that NBC has applied pressure to the station to not run Fox News-type stories. It’s possible that the station’s staff has had enough of sacrificing personal reputations for the conservative agenda of their parent organization. It’s possible the parent organization has had an epiphany regarding serving all viewers, not just conservatives. Who knows? Regardless, it was a refreshing change.

The station did run a Sinclair produced story in the ‘A’ Block, but rather than presenting an overt bias, Kai Jackson, a former news anchor on Baltimore’s CBS affiliate WJZ, offered a story about the cost of extending unemployment benefits. Jackson, who joined Sinclair in December 2013, pointed out that $500 billion have been spent on unemployment benefits since 2008, which is an issue that connects with the conservative viewer. He then he offered the viewpoint of a small business person who says that the money has a positive impact on his revenue as it flows into America’s economy.

Image by Karl Merton Ferron / Baltimore Sun

Kai Jackson at the desk of WJZ CBS Baltimore

One could argue that the issue itself is more of a concern by Republicans, but that is not accurate. Democrats and liberals understand that unemployment benefits are not a long-term solution; however, the money paid out to the unemployed is not lost. It flows through the economy, which is also important. Jackson presentation of the issues was fair and educated conservatives and liberals on the complexity of the problem.

What Jackson didn’t do was line up a long list of rabid conservative ‘experts’ to manipulate the story, nor did he indicate his personal spin on the issue.

Giving the Viewer What They Want or What They Need?
A news team can either manipulate news to invoke an emotional response, or they can work to educate the viewer on  the issues of the day and let the viewer decide how they feel about those topics. In the case of the former the news is sexy and entertaining. In the latter case the news is less emotional and requires more intelligent thought.

The excuse that Fox News-type reporting is just giving the viewer what he or she wants is same rationale of a drug dealer or prostitute. Reporting news should not be an attempt to manipulate emotions. News shouldn’t be anti-government, nor should it be pro-government. This does not mean that news has to be neutral, just that it can’t be driven by a political agenda.

The conservative and liberal views in the United States are both essential to our prosperity. Both viewpoints tend to carve out policies that succeed. A perfect example is the Affordable Care Act (ACA.) It was the health care reform proposed by the Heritage Foundation decades before it became law under President Obama’s administration. Despite Fox News stories that are trying to paint ACA as a disaster, the facts indicate that the number of uninsured people has dropped significantly and the program is actually succeeding.

A local television news organization is not a blog. It operates under the rules created by the FCC to protect the public trust. For whatever reason, yesterday KRNV rose to the expectations of that public trust.

Local TV Affiliate News Reputation Displaced With Conservative Propaganda Makeover

07 Monday Apr 2014

Posted by in About Reno, Branding, Business, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Ethics, Government, Government Regulation, Health, Honor, Management Practices, Opinion, Politics, Public Image, Public Relations, Traditional Media

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SBGI LogoSinclair Broadcast Group (SBGI) and related companies have been buying up local non-Fox affiliated stations and pushing conservative biased news stories into the local news programs.

Graphic thanks to NASDAQ

Sinclair stock hit its high at the beginning of 2014, but has been sliding downward for the last three months (from NASDAQ website)

Since September of 2011, Sinclair Broadcast Group or their affiliated companies (Cunningham Broadcasting, Deerfield Media) have acquired or obtained a Local Marketing Agreement (LMA) for almost one hundred local television stations. According to its website, Sinclair now operates or owns 29 ABC, 26 CBS, and 17 NBC local affiliated stations in addition to 41 Fox and 54 other affiliated stations.

Fox News Masquerading As Reputable Journalism
By snatching up ABC, NBC, and CBS affiliates, Sinclair masks itself under the traditions of reputable journalism of the three historic broadcast giants. The public trust of news anchors built over decades is used to distract viewers from news stories slanted to provoke outrage at the United States government and policies opposed by conservatives. News stories for Sinclair stations are manufactured by the parent organization and inserted into the local news. The stories employ interviews with conservative sources, often with no interview with the  agency or organization being accused of fraud, waste, or corruption.

In Reno, Nevada, the NBC affiliate, KRNV, has run stories on almost a daily basis from the parent organization that suggested and/or accuse waste or government conspiracy. In some cases, clips from Fox News are used, rather than from the NBC parent organization. Recently KRNV 6 PM broadcast ran ‘A’ Block stories (headline news) regarding the Affordable Care Act (e.g.; March 26, April 1) and gun laws (e.g.; March 28) that used people with a known conservative bias as their sources.

The LMA Loophole
Federal Communication Commission (FCC) rules do not allow licensing of more than one television station in a market to a person or company; however, during the first George Bush administration (1991) Sinclair Broadcast Group convinced the FCC to allow Local Marketing Agreements (LMA’s) that would allow a person or company to own one station and “operate” another station providing the latter station was licensed to a different person or corporation.

This has allowed Sinclair to go on a buying binge of television stations in the same market as their Fox stations. Sinclair uses Deerfield Media and Cunningham Broadcasting to own the licenses of stations where Sinclair already owns a television license. All Deerfield and Cunningham licensed stations are operated by Sinclair, and the family that owns Sinclair controls 90% of the stock in Cunningham Broadcasting.

In Reno, Nevada, the Sinclair Broadcast Group owns the license for Fox affiliate, KRXI, and operates the MyNetworkTV affiliate, KAME (licensed to Deerfield Media,) as well as the NBC affiliate, KRNV (recently licensed to Cunningham Broadcasting.)

This allows Sinclair to effectively control three stations in one market and supplant  reputable journalism with conservative propaganda.

The Lingering Question
There is ample evidence that Sinclair Broadcast Group is using loopholes in the FCC regulations to control multiple stations in a single market. It is also apparent that news stories manufactured by Sinclair are shoddy and biased. The question is whether or not the people behind Sinclair are trying to pander to conservatives in order to increase profits or if they are perverting journalism for a conservative agenda. In one case it is a matter of greed, in the other, a matter of a betrayal to the American citizen.

An audit of all of the communications, finances and contributions of the companies, vendors, Board of Directors, and owners involved is the only way we will know.

Reno NBC News Station Runs Another Conservative-Laced Story

07 Monday Apr 2014

Posted by in About Reno, Branding, Business, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Ethics, Government, Government Regulation, Information Technology, Management Practices, Opinion, Politics, Pride, Public Image, Public Relations, Technology, Traditional Media

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Image b Paul Kiser

Is KRNV a Fox or NBC affiliate?

On April 1, Reno’s NBC affiliate, KRNV, has ran another biased ‘A’ Block (headline news) story attacking the Affordable Care Act (ACA) featuring a reporter from the Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBGI) network. This is at least the third incident of Fox News-type reporting on KRNV in less than a week. This report suggested that the most of the seven million people who signed up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act already had insurance.  

As in the other biased news stories on KRNV, a non-local reporter presents an anti-government tirade. Chris Vanocur of the ABC affiliate, WSYX in Columbus, Ohio, one of Sinclair Broadcast Group’s 167 stations, starts out by saying:

“Seven million Obamacare new enrollees sounds like a lot, but…”

Image by Paul Kiser taken from video of KRNV newscast 1 April 2014

Grace-Marie Turner, crusader against healthcare reform

Vanocur then introduces Grace-Marie Turner, who has only one mission: oppose any change to healthcare’s broken free-market system. She founded the Galen Institute in 1995 to combat healthcare reform. According to her website, one of the key goals is to:

“Educate policymakers about the dangers that government control over the health sector pose to our economy and our society”

Turner clearly is dedicated to maligning anything regarding the Affordable Care Act. Despite her anti-ACA crusade, Vanocur refers to her as an ‘expert.’ Turner doesn’t hesitate to bear witness against the seven million new enrollees in Obamacare:

“Many of these, if fact, the great majority, are not newly insured people..”

Vanocur continues to say:

“Turner says only one-quarter to one-third of those who signed up didn’t have health insurance before.”

Turner claims to know that 25% to 33% of the seven million had insurance before and switched to Obamacare. She cites no study, nor does Vanocur offer any evidence of the source and/or reliability of the data. Rather, Vanocur offers another ‘expert’:

“…and she’s not the only one questioning the seven million number” 

Vanocur is referring to Joe Antos, his next ‘expert,’ of the conservative think tank, American Enterprise Institute For Public Policy Research (AEI.) Antos also claims to have reliable data on the new enrollees:

“It’s very likely that it’s no more than 1.5 million people who are actually new customers who were not already insured.”

Antos testifies that only 21% of the total enrollees had no insurance. Again, no source is presented for the ever dwindling number of previously uninsured. The only thing that kept this new story from becoming a Jon Lovitz sketch was Antos saying, “Yeah, yeah, 21%, That’s the ticket!”

Like other Sinclair generated anti-government ‘news’ stories (See articles on KRNV news stories of March 26 and March 28,) only one-side of the topic is presented and no data supports the claims made by the reporter, nor his sources. The irony is that on the same day, KRNV’s sister NBC affiliate in Las Vegas, KSNV, ran a locally produced news story on the ACA enrollment that discussed sign up issues, but kept a more balanced perspective.

NEXT:  How Sinclair Broadcast Group is using a FCC loophole to control multiple stations in one market. (Read article) 

War Declared on Social Media: Desperate Acts of Traditional Media

02 Wednesday Jun 2010

Posted by in 2020 Enterprise Technologies, About Reno, Branding, Communication, Customer Service, Information Technology, Internet, Management Practices, Public Relations, SEO, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, Website

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by Paul Kiser

Paul Kiser - CEO 2020 Enterprise Technologies

(NOTE USE AND REPRINT INFORMATION BELOW)

For the most part, the people in the traditional media (newspapers, magazines, TV, etc.)  have seen the tidal wave of Social Media coming for years. They have typically adopted an if-you-can’t-beat-them-join-them strategy. The editors of our local paper have pushed their reporters (from here forward I’ll refer to them as journalists) to use Twitter and to blog in order to keep pace with the millions of reporters online that inform the world of everything from the cute thing their toddler did this week to the world event that everyone will be talking about in tomorrow’s newspaper.

Social Media has given voice to everyone and now journalists are but one voice among many, which is a problem if your living comes from your ability to be paid to have people read your stuff. In the days before blogs and Twitter, publishers and editors had the ability to control who could be heard and who could be silenced, but Social Media took away all their power and at least one publisher is mad as hell and he’s not going to take it anymore. He has declared war! He is going to sue!

The rationale for the suit is legitimate. A certain publisher (let’s call him, Elmer) at a certain Nevada newspaper (let’s call it The Old Conservative Times) has called out the demons (let’s call them lawyers…on second thought, let’s stick with demons) and is going after any website that uses copyrighted material of the The Old Conservative Times. What’s more, Elmer wants everyone else in the traditional media to get on the bandwagon with him.

I agree that anyone who steals an article from another website without crediting or revealing their original source of information is wrong.  If possible, they should also link back to the original source. That’s the way Social Media works. We share information and let our friends, followers, readers know from where we got the information and, in turn, help publicize their work. Journalists, for the most part are professionals, and to steal their work and claim it as your own is unethical.

But that is not what this issue is really about for Elmer and the methods being used by The Old Conservative Times demonstrate that this is not an act of preserving the work of professional journalists. Elmer and his demons have decided to sue first and ask questions…never. Rather than contacting the offender and telling them to remove the copyrighted information, Elmer and his demons are going for the throat and filing suit with the intention of stealing the domain rights of the organization. That’s right, Elmer is using the nuclear option. No warning, just show up in court and turn over everything to Elmer. Freedom of Speech be damned, Elmer is here to tell us what we should think!

I should note that according to Elmer’s blogs he is a conservative. He hates President Barrack Obama and he takes any opportunity to spin a situation to cast a negative light on our President, or Democrats, or the elected government of the greatest nation in the history of the world. It seems about every third blog is pounding home the conservative dribble that proposes hate for our government, hate for our elected leaders, hate for the citizens of Mexico, ….you get the picture.

So Elmer is lashing out at Social Media, which is composed of people who want to be informed, but not by just those who hate, but those who can love, and everyone in between. Elmer wants traditional media to regain control of people’s hearts and minds and this Social Media thing is not acceptable! So Elmer and his demons are not seeking to correct the issue of copyright infringement, which could be done with a phone call or an email, they want to take away the voices of the Social Media, one domain at a time. Elmer also wants all his publishing friends to join him as he strikes a blow against freedom of speech for all and raises a flag on the land of the uninformed.

Hey Elmer, let me know how that works out for you…but don’t quote me, or I’ll sue you.

(Any use or reprint of part or all of this article is expressly ALLOWED for anyone,-except The Las Vegas Review-Journal, its staff, Stephens Media Group, or any affiliates, or any conservative-based organization that has made derogatory remarks about President Barack Obama, Senator Harry Reid, or Speaker Nancy Pelosi,-providing credit is given to Paul Kiser and, if possible, a link to this web address is included with the appearance.)

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