Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Some Questions Today's Press Never Ask: That Their Predecessors Would Have


Some Questions Today's Press Never Ask
That Their Predecessors Would Have

"It is function of government to invent philosophies to explain the demands of its own convenience." Murray Kempton

Compartmentalization Today pols and their spin doctors control news stories by only focusing or commenting on positive parts of the issue being discussed

"Rage is the only quality which has kept me, or anybody I have ever studied, writing columns for newspapers." Jimmy Breslin

Enabling Journalist It does not matter the cause - the changing newspaper business or the changing culture of those who become reporters, what is clear is by the way they allow elected officials to control their stories, either they are wimps with no backbone or clueless.

1. How do you start a new bidding process if you and your old bidding process is under criminal investigation?
Paterson is closer to putting the Aqueduct racino project back out for bid, possibly as soon as this month. A previous deal fell apart last month when the Aqueduct Entertainment Group was deemed "unlicensable" by the state Lottery Division * Paterson Says He'll Just Pick the Aqueduct Winner Himself * Most Smith earmarks went outside borough2. How do you allow a mayor to run for reelection without questioning if a 6000 reduction in the police force would result in an increase in crime? NYP The bad old daze Times Sq. gang riot spurs fear. It follows the first real, sustained uptick in crime figures -- shootings up 19 percent and murders up 22 percent over the same period last year -- which even Bloomberg has conceded is "worrisome."Wild time in Midtown(NYP Ed) NYT An Unwelcome Easter Custom in Times Square: Violence NYDN Easter night mayhem in Times Square evokes scarier times * Stop the cop chops: rampage proves that, if Albany botches budget, bad old days could return (DN Ed) * Statistics show crime up in New York City(WABCTV)

3. How do you allow Paterson to make empty threats over and over again without calling him a pathological liar? Dave's dangerous delusion: Paterson promised no state employee layoffs; now says otherwise Paterson long ago traded away his most persuasive bargaining weapon - his power to issue pink slips - in exchange for tinkering with public employees' grossly unaffordable pension benefits.

5. How do you allow pols to open a rehabbed subway station without talking about the MTA budget crisis and the end of free transit passes for students? Subway Station Gets Makeover, Light and Glass Included Why not a single question on how they are preventing terrorism if they cannot get the cameras at the city hall subway stop to work? Security cameras don't work at City Hall subway station


Each man reads his own meaning into New York
~ Meyer Berger

As the NYT lacks the passion and city coverage of the NYP and the DN and soon WSJ it would be interesting to imagine what the former NYT reporter Meyer Berger would say about the Albany gangs who rob funds for themselves and friends but cut programs for the vets Albany hides cri$is by raiding heroes Takes funds from vets to cut deficits How is the NYT going to battle the WSJ city section with dumb stories like Returning Prospect Park to the People The park's administrator Tupper Thomas has been in office for decades, has she been keeping the people out until now? * Turning Our Backs on Heroes Americans have no real sense of the sacrifices made by the young men and women who have fought the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.


"I take a grave view of the press. It is the weak slat under the bed of democracy." A. J. Liebling

6. How did the press allow Albany to turn a gambling operation into a money losers?
State Assembly may offer struggling OTB a lifeline Lawmakers have quietly developed a plan to thin OTB's management and employment ranks, and trim by 10% the payouts it must make to the state's racing industry - all in hopes of freeing up extra cash.

Forgetaboutit Markowitz as Tinkerbell