We're fairly sure that most of you have heard by now that singing sensation and pop music icon Whitney Houston passed away over the weekend. Though the exact cause of death remains a mystery, it was no mystery to us why it took the media as long as it did to report the event.
We and others have mentioned it many times, sadly; corporate media no longer wants to pay for live staff members on weekends and overnights - even in the so-called 24-hour news business. As big a star as Whitney Houston once was, and as much as she still meant to pop music, when Ms. Houston died Saturday afternoon, it wasn't until Saturday evening that the Associated Press released the first official report of her death.
Even in the midst of a such a sad occasion for many in the music business, her death did provide a note of positivity for some of us.
When the AP sent out its initial news blast about Ms. Houston's death, over Twitter, Facebook, and other more standard news channels, the first reaction we saw from those we know OUTSIDE the media industry wasn't to automatically accept the news at face value. Sure, they trusted the word coming from the AP - a news organization that has earned and mostly continues to earn a great deal of trust.
However, a surprising number of our friends also acted like REAL journalists themselves, attempting to verify the news from a second source, unrelated to the first, before accepting it as factual. We saw a blistering flow of Facebook and Twitter messages, and received several texts and e-mails, that said things like, "I checked CNN - no Whitney news. Just recd prgm," or "Saw it on ABC News - but they're just quoting AP. Keep looking."
At a moment of sadness for many, people who have never been journalists were following the old-fashioned journalistic rules that we we hold in very high regard. Trust, but verify. Use multiple, unrelated sources. Make sure the facts are clear before you react. Then, you can react.
From the time the AP news brief hit, until the time ANY of the cable news networks spoke of it was easily thirty minutes. Some of them took nearly an hour. The TV network news bureaus responded more rapidly than their cable partners, surprisingly. Some radio stations around the nation were also surprisingly fast, shifting into playing blocks of Ms. Houston's music by mid-evening, some with produced liners already.
The point of our media self-reflection today isn't to pat anyone on the back, or even to be maudlin about Ms. Houston. It's to point out the need for all of us, in the media, to step up to where our audience is now.
There are so many issues of MAJOR importance happening in our world now, that our listeners and readers want and need us - now more than ever - to be ready to give them accurate, truthful, honest information, at any time.
Just in politics, this week alone, the payroll tax extension will be discussed and heavily debated. It could mean $40 less in every paycheck the rest of the year for working Americans, if Republicans refuse to compromise with Democrats and the President. Today, the President is also releasing his proposed budget for 2013 - which Republicans have been saying will be DOA before they've even seen it. It's actually a fairly balanced plan, with both additional budget cuts and tax increases on the richest Americans, who are the only ones who can still afford it.
The Federal highway budget bill will also come up for votes this week, with the President and the Senate - including some Republicans - on one side, and the highly partisan Republican-led House on the other. In short, the extremist House Republicans want to do to Federal highway funding what they're currently doing with the Payroll Tax; make it a political issue they can hold hostage regularly.
Without a media that's actually taking their responsibilities seriously, Republican extremists will use that same method on everything that comes before them, as they have for some time now. Specifically, they hijack the rest of their party, hold the rest of the country hostage, throw a tantrum until they get all or part of their way, while the entire time saying whatever anyone else proposes is garbage - even if they don't have a plan of their own.
The truth can no longer wait. Our audience is not sitting back passively any more. If we don't do our jobs? People will no longer need us. If that means a media company has to sacrifice the highly bloated salaries of a few questionably worthwhile executives so that they can actually staff the business they claim to be running, that's a small price to pay to make sure the truth arrives before the lies fill the void.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Friday, February 10, 2012
Friday Funday: Trading Spaces
In case you hadn't noticed, in addition to Paul's newest cartoons for Capitol News and the Oklahoma Gazette, we've been pulling out a few of Paul's best cartoons this week, as the office was getting a bit of a "remodel." That made it a little difficult to follow our normal production workflow, with half the furniture stacked in a corner, on top of itself.
With the remodeling and the colder temperatures in Lincoln and DC, some of our staff members have been thinking that a trade of office spaces with our West Palm Beach location might not be a bad idea, at least for a little while. Truthfully, it's a wonder of the modern age that we can so easily shift duties from one location to another and move parts of our publication workflow around the more scheduled requirements of our other jobs.
It's also true that right now, South Florida - including Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, and our location in West Palm Beach - is considered one of the most miserable places to live in America, by Forbes magazine.
Even though this winter has been surprisingly mild - especially compared to the last few years - we sympathize and empathize with many of those who regularly feel the grip of Old Man Winter. Certainly, the idea of living in warm climates during the winter is appealing to a large number of people. For our staff in our South Florida location, not having to deal with ice IS probably the most enjoyable part of winter.
There is a lot more to life than just the weather, though.
We love the museums, events, history, culture, and of course our friends, in our DC location. And our family, many friends, Husker sports, and favorite places and foods draw us to Lincoln too. At least one member of our staff doesn't even mind the snow and ice (We know - the rest us think that's crazy too).
Thoughts about all the things we love in each of our office locations makes us think that maybe we should trade office spaces with each other, for even just a little while.
Of course, that would also mean packing up many of the things we have in each of our locations that aren't in the others - and that's not really a pleasant thought at all.
Maybe this weekend, we'll simply call each other, or get on Skype so we can see the weather in the other locations. After all - while trading spaces SOUNDS like a good idea, we'd each still have to travel to our other office locations.
Frankly, none of us is in the mood to get groped by the TSA this weekend.
We hope that wherever you are this weekend, you enjoy where you are, and don't wish you were somewhere else.
With the remodeling and the colder temperatures in Lincoln and DC, some of our staff members have been thinking that a trade of office spaces with our West Palm Beach location might not be a bad idea, at least for a little while. Truthfully, it's a wonder of the modern age that we can so easily shift duties from one location to another and move parts of our publication workflow around the more scheduled requirements of our other jobs.
It's also true that right now, South Florida - including Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, and our location in West Palm Beach - is considered one of the most miserable places to live in America, by Forbes magazine.
Even though this winter has been surprisingly mild - especially compared to the last few years - we sympathize and empathize with many of those who regularly feel the grip of Old Man Winter. Certainly, the idea of living in warm climates during the winter is appealing to a large number of people. For our staff in our South Florida location, not having to deal with ice IS probably the most enjoyable part of winter.
There is a lot more to life than just the weather, though.
We love the museums, events, history, culture, and of course our friends, in our DC location. And our family, many friends, Husker sports, and favorite places and foods draw us to Lincoln too. At least one member of our staff doesn't even mind the snow and ice (We know - the rest us think that's crazy too).
Thoughts about all the things we love in each of our office locations makes us think that maybe we should trade office spaces with each other, for even just a little while.
Of course, that would also mean packing up many of the things we have in each of our locations that aren't in the others - and that's not really a pleasant thought at all.
Maybe this weekend, we'll simply call each other, or get on Skype so we can see the weather in the other locations. After all - while trading spaces SOUNDS like a good idea, we'd each still have to travel to our other office locations.
Frankly, none of us is in the mood to get groped by the TSA this weekend.
We hope that wherever you are this weekend, you enjoy where you are, and don't wish you were somewhere else.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Finding The Truth In The Noise
For nearly a week, right wing extremists in both the Catholic Church and the media, have been screaming about a policy that has been discussed in political circles since shortly after the Affordable Care Act - the ACA - was passed last year. In January, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that the Obama Administration was going to go ahead and implement the policy of equitable insurance coverage, as part of the continuing rollout of the ACA.
The policy had been known about for some time before it began being implemented. Parts of the policy have actually been in place for over a decade, and were put in place during the Bush years. No religious groups or media organizations had made any significant noise about it, even when the Obama Administration rolled out its part of the policy. That would lead most sane, honest people to think there was no real trouble with the issue.
Legally and ethically, there still isn't - though the screams and tantrums coming from the extremist right may have made you think otherwise.
The claims of people from the screaming radio hatemongers to the members of the Council of Catholic Bishops - even some candidates for the President - have been saying that the equitable insurance coverage clause will force Catholic hospitals to pay for birth control and abortions. Some of those setting their hair on fire have even been saying this will be done with taxpayer dollars in Catholic medical institutions.
The truth is much more boring.
Those who've been stirring up trouble on the contraception and insurance issue say the Obama Administration can't make religious organizations include coverage for birth control... but twenty-eight states already do. Most Americans are already paying for birth control, whether they like it or not - though most Americans do actually like it.
In fact, as Steve Benen recently pointed out, most Americans - including most Catholics - believe that all employers should be required to provide their employees with health care that covers contraception and birth control at no cost to the patient.
That's what the equitable insurance coverage clause does.
It says that IF a private employer is going to provide health insurance for their employees, ALL policies - including those at the most basic level - must provide the OPTION of coverage for birth control and other women's health options, in the same way they are already required to provide the OPTION for men's health issues like Erectile Dysfunction.
In short, the insurance policies an employer chooses must give the choice to cover both the little blue pill for him, and the little pink pills for her.
There are those who are saying the Obama administration - through the equitable insurance coverage clause - is taking away the freedom of choice of businesses to choose not to provide insurance, or to provide a less-than-adequate basic level of health insurance. That the ACA, and many states' insurance laws already give states and the Federal government the right to fine an employer if they don't provide certain basic levels of health care insurance seems to escape those who are protesting this decision.
Just like with any law that benefits the greater public good, individuals and businesses alike already have the freedom to violate the law if they choose - so long as they're willing to pay the penalty for doing so.
The decision to roll out the equitable insurance coverage clause was not a decision the White House made lightly - and our sources say the Administration is NOT likely to change this policy in any serious way, no matter how much trouble the Catholic Church stirs up. That the administration has said in public it will try and "resolve the controversy" and "ease the ire" regarding this issue, even if they don't change the policy, isn't hypocrisy - it's politics.
In this case, it's the politics of the Obama Administration attempting to explain the new rules, while applying the "General Welfare" clause of the Constitution.
The policy had been known about for some time before it began being implemented. Parts of the policy have actually been in place for over a decade, and were put in place during the Bush years. No religious groups or media organizations had made any significant noise about it, even when the Obama Administration rolled out its part of the policy. That would lead most sane, honest people to think there was no real trouble with the issue.
Legally and ethically, there still isn't - though the screams and tantrums coming from the extremist right may have made you think otherwise.
The claims of people from the screaming radio hatemongers to the members of the Council of Catholic Bishops - even some candidates for the President - have been saying that the equitable insurance coverage clause will force Catholic hospitals to pay for birth control and abortions. Some of those setting their hair on fire have even been saying this will be done with taxpayer dollars in Catholic medical institutions.
The truth is much more boring.
Those who've been stirring up trouble on the contraception and insurance issue say the Obama Administration can't make religious organizations include coverage for birth control... but twenty-eight states already do. Most Americans are already paying for birth control, whether they like it or not - though most Americans do actually like it.
In fact, as Steve Benen recently pointed out, most Americans - including most Catholics - believe that all employers should be required to provide their employees with health care that covers contraception and birth control at no cost to the patient.
That's what the equitable insurance coverage clause does.
It says that IF a private employer is going to provide health insurance for their employees, ALL policies - including those at the most basic level - must provide the OPTION of coverage for birth control and other women's health options, in the same way they are already required to provide the OPTION for men's health issues like Erectile Dysfunction.
In short, the insurance policies an employer chooses must give the choice to cover both the little blue pill for him, and the little pink pills for her.
There are those who are saying the Obama administration - through the equitable insurance coverage clause - is taking away the freedom of choice of businesses to choose not to provide insurance, or to provide a less-than-adequate basic level of health insurance. That the ACA, and many states' insurance laws already give states and the Federal government the right to fine an employer if they don't provide certain basic levels of health care insurance seems to escape those who are protesting this decision.
Just like with any law that benefits the greater public good, individuals and businesses alike already have the freedom to violate the law if they choose - so long as they're willing to pay the penalty for doing so.
The decision to roll out the equitable insurance coverage clause was not a decision the White House made lightly - and our sources say the Administration is NOT likely to change this policy in any serious way, no matter how much trouble the Catholic Church stirs up. That the administration has said in public it will try and "resolve the controversy" and "ease the ire" regarding this issue, even if they don't change the policy, isn't hypocrisy - it's politics.
In this case, it's the politics of the Obama Administration attempting to explain the new rules, while applying the "General Welfare" clause of the Constitution.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)