Across Wisconsin, newspapers have not distinguished themselves since the Great Recession. Most have descended into a cautious, center-right boosterism. They acted on their publishers’ own politics, and on the politics their elderly (but dwindling) readership. Doing so has only exacerbated their problems. The time to break from this was before – or even during –…
Blogging
Blogging, Newspapers, Press
One Paywall to Rule Them All?
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Two days ago, I wrote about another local newspaper becoming part of the APG chain. See Another Newspaper in the Shredder. It’s possible that these acquisitions will lead to an area-wide paywall, and perhaps even a strong paywall (hard to get around even with advances in incognito browsing). The theory, one supposes, is that the…
Blogging, Law, Liberty, Litigation, Newspapers, Press, Public Records 2, Wisconsin
Public Records Requests as Pre-Litigation Actions
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Wisconsinites submitting public records requests under the law (Wis. Stat. §§ 19.31 et seq.) may do so for any number of reasons (and need not declare a motivation of any sort). Not everyone will have the same aims in mind. For someone who’s a publisher (newspaper, magazine, blogger), however, a sensible way to look at…
Babbittry, Blogging, City, Freedom of Speech, Law, Liberty, Newspapers, Open Government, Press
Sunshine Week 2019
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
It’s Sunshine Week in America: a seven-day focus from the American Society of News Editors and Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press on “access to public information and what it means for you and your community.” One doesn’t have to be a reporter (and bloggers, for example, are not reporters) to understand the importance…
Babbittry, Blogging, New Media, Newspapers, Politics
The New Version of Old
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Blogging, City
Assorted Items on a Big Day
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
A few assorted items on a big day: Elections. I’ve no firm idea how any of the major contests nationally, statewide, or locally will go. It does seem clear that many contests have, in fact, been nationalized. How this will affect the final vote in our area (both in the city and townships immediately nearby)…
America, Babbittry, Blogging, Freedom of Speech, Law, Liberty, Newspapers, That Which Paved the Way, Trump
Print’s Continuing Decline (and the Message for Digital)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
One can be a critic of newspapers (for their low quality and high boosterism), and yet feel a sadness at their decline. There’s a notice in the Janesville Gazette about downsizing of the daily print edition. See Objective: Preserve local journalism in the face of rising costs. Editor Sid Schwartz tells readers that the Gazette…
Blogging, Newspapers, Politics, Press, That Which Paved the Way
‘Backed themselves into this corner’
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
There are local versions of the problem Fox News now faces as a flack for Trump. First, the Fox situation, then the local equivalent — Nationally, the Daily Beast website writes of remarks from a former Fox News contributor & panelist: [Andy] Levy, who served for 10 years as “ombudsman” and nightly panelist on Fox…
Blogging, City, Culture, Local Government, Politics
Policies & Actions
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
Yesterday’s post, The Winnowing Transition, offers thoughts on the last several years in Whitewater, and a look ahead to the next several. The key point is that we’re in a transitional time, where many who were politically prominent a decade ago no longer are, and few who are prominent now will come through the next…
Blogging
Quick Note on Comments
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Blogging
Daily Bread for 4.18.17
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning. Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of seventy-two. Sunrise is 6:06 AM and sunset 7:41 PM, for 13h 35m 08s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 59% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}one hundred sixty-first day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the…
Blogging, Politics
Lyrics from Hamilton
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
If you’ve not heard the cast recording from Hamilton, you’re missing out – it’s memorable from first to last. Although I’m not big on standalone quotes, here’s one, from that musical’s Washington on Your Side, that’s both memorable and, I think, often figuratively true: If there’s a fire you’re trying to douse, You can’t put it out from…
Blogging, City, Culture, New Media, Newspapers, Press, School District, University
Revisiting Kozloff’s ‘Dark, Futile Dream’
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
About a year ago, I wrote a post on an off-campus meeting at which local notables and a search consultant (Jessica Kozloff) discussed a replacement for Richard Telfer. A story on that meeting, published in the Daily Union, is one of the best accounts of insiders’ thinking. See, from that newspaper, UW-Whitewater chancellor session held, http://www.dailyunion.com/news/article_f042575e-a63a-11e4-bcd8-939679ffcc09.html.…
Blogging, Law, Liberty, Local Government, New Media, Newspapers, Public Records, Wisconsin
4 Points About Public Records Requests
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
So a local paper complains that a local school superintendent won’t comply with a public records request, won’t put the paper on a media contact list, and simply ‘must’ improve communications. A few points — 1. Compliance with a public records request isn’t a ‘communications’ issue; it’s a legal issue, of rights of residents…