Sunday, August 31, 2008
Democracy in the USA
by Larry Geller
[As you view these videos, it's interesting to know that the rest of the world, through the miracle of the Internet, is watching with you. American democracy is being showcased to the world.]
Tomorrow's Democracy Now should be especially interesting. It seems that, among other actions in advance of the Republican convention, Minneapolis gestapo police attempted to preemptively detain an independent media group but found themselves facing a counter-army of journalists and TV cameras. In a video I even saw a WNYC microphone, so it wasn't just a crowd of independents.
At one point a cop put his hand on Amy Goodman's shoulder and someone in the crowd yelled, "Get your hands off her" and he did.
Democracy Now! member detained, Amy Goodman jumps fence to question cop.
by The Uptake
Saturday Aug 30th, 2008 7:51 PMAt least 7 activist spaces and private homes have been raided by police in Saint Paul/Minneapolis on the weekend before the Republican National Convention. Additional sites, including the Twin Cities indymedia collection building, have had code inspectors arrive to try to find a reason to close and evict the property. A newswire is being promptly maintained at this site, describing the latest incidents http://twincities.indymedia.org
A Democracy Now! journalist who was visiting at one of the raided houses, was detained and is currently reporting on the situation. A whole room full of I-Witness video journalists were detained. Over two dozen legal observers and attorneys were detained. In other words, the police aren't just arresting and detaining low-power young and poor individuals, but are going ahead and grabbing people with some status.
One video (if you don't mind the language) is at subMedia.TV. Another is here. In fact, independent media coverage is all over the web, let Google be your guide (thanks to Katy Rose for the pointer to submedia.tv). (more subMedia here.)
For many of these video sites, particularly the ones hosted by blip.tv, there's a little box to click for a full-screen view. It works very well, often better than YouTube. The esc key gets you out of full-screen. Also, the volume can be adjusted from the embedded player.
One promising site for following the RNC is The Uptake ("Will journalism be done by you or to you?"). They have Google map mashups and seem to be well organized.
Yes, there are alternatives to both mainstream TV and daily newspapers. I was surprised to find that submedia.tv was both serious and entertaining, and very well produced.
Stay tuned to independent media this coming week for a view of American justice at work. Remember, everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but that doesn't mean they can't lock up anyone they please. Go figure.
Maybe one day we'll have democracy in this country.
YouTube - Leonard Cohen "Democracy"
" It's coming to America first,
the cradle of the best and of the worst.
It's here they got the range
and the machinery for change
and it's here they got the spiritual thirst.
It's here the family's broken
and it's here the lonely say
that the heart has got to open
in a fundamental way:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A."
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Honolulu Weekly--great new look
by Larry Geller
If I've been critical of the Honolulu Weekly, I need also to heap praise when I'm pleased.
Last week a new look surprised me when I made my Wednesday pilgrimage to the newspaper rack. The venerable "splash" front page was gone, replaced by a more conventional newspaper format:
This really clicks for a couple of reasons. First, it's attractive enough and very functional. But most important in this era of shrinking newspapers is that it gives the paper more space for a cover story. And this one is well written.
I'm curious to see where the Weekly will go with its facelift. The art was nice, but if space for alternative news is limited, making the most of space available sounds like a good move to me.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Newspaper meltdown 10: How newspapers can earn their way back
by Larry Geller
Business as usual for the daily news may come to no business at all. They need to do something different or tomorrow will be pretty much the same as today. Actually, worse. A failing business model means that change of some kind will/must come.
If they would like to give a try at becoming essential parts of our lives again, there’s no shortage of suggestions out there. Here’s one, a snippet from an article that arrived in my inbox today from Media Matters for America, An Olympic-sized opportunity missed. The entire article is worth reading, but here’s the snippet:
On Thursday, Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus provided a perfect example of journalists' obsession with analyzing campaign strategy at the expense of actually providing their readers and viewers with useful information. Marcus wrote:
As issues become increasingly complex -- voters can't be expected to parse the technical differences between the candidates' cap-and-trade emissions plans or the distributional effects of their tax cuts -- biography, especially biography laced with conflict and resolution, becomes a proxy for providing assurance that the candidate can be counted on to get it right on the more difficult matters.
Voters can't be expected to parse the differences between the candidates' policies, according to Marcus -- and in many cases, she's right. But news organizations can be expected to do so: They have the time, and the resources, and they can hire reporters with the necessary expertise or the ability to obtain it. They can clearly and consistently explain what the candidates' policy proposals mean, how they would work, and how they differ. That would provide actual value to their customers, giving readers and viewers something that, as Marcus notes, they cannot get on their own.
Instead, they too often spend their airtime and column inches offering "analysis" of things like whether the candidates are "connecting" with voters. This provides absolutely no value to their customers. A reader doesn't need The Washington Post to tell her whether she feels a "connection" with Barack Obama or John McCain. If the reader cares about "connections" with candidates, the reader knows far better than the Post whether she feels one. The "analysis" is perhaps marginally interesting as cocktail party chatter; as journalism, it is pointless vanity and role-playing -- if reporters want to be campaign managers, they should go do that. But if they want to be journalists, they should start by giving their customers important information they can't get on their own -- like helping them "parse the technical differences" between the candidates' plans.
I would add one more thing: editors should assure that there is no bias in the analysis. Probably it’s often the opposite—journalists told to conform to the paper’s party line. Even if it’s not explicit, reporters can figure out what they need to do to keep their jobs at a particular newspaper.
Publishers needn’t keep shooting themselves in the foot (even if they are prominent NRA members) by firing key staff. They can be visionary and try to attract and retain subscribers by improving the quality of the product.
Of course, they know and understand this argument. The problem is that if they adopt this philosophy, they’ll get the axe themselves.
The long struggle at the Los Angeles times may be the best illustration of this:
After Editor James E. O’Shea refused to throw any more writers or editors off the roof of the Times’ offices, the publishers tossed O’Shea and appointed the guy who ran the Times’ Website, Russ Stanton, certain that a guy who’d worked Web media would know how to run a sweatshop correctly. [ok, this was the first Google hit, Cynics Party, 2/14/2008]
For the Honolulu Advertiser, Gannett calls the shots. Gannett seems to be in love with the web even more than the LA Times.
Yeah, it’s a bloodbath. I’m not prone to use the language of violence, but when good reporters or hard-working staff members lose their jobs, medical coverage and the chance to send their kids to good schools, that sounds like carnage to me.
Mediamatters for America is worth subscribing to. Their email signup is here.
Part of me says, “Just flush ‘em away”
by Larry Geller
I wanted to write something about the meeting the other night with Bernie Lunzer, president of the newspaper union. I will try to do that tomorrow.
Today, though, I was thinking of how much our wayward press tries to influence the elections. Here we are, ending a disastrous eight years of George Bush, who is leaving us with a legacy of war, death and an incomprehensibly high national debt to repay. A great deal of “credit” for those eight years must go to the press. Just a minor example: Al Gore never said he invented the Internet, but the press was eager to repeat the story. WMD, the drumbeat to war, the lies of the New York Times and other papers, set us up to accept Cheney/Bush’s Iraq war.
The Times still keeps the faulty reporters on staff. They may not have read the mea culpa they printed. Other papers joined in cheerleading for the war. They’re still at it, and we’re still at war.
There’s plenty of work for Media Matters, FAIR, and other organizations that exist to point out the lies and inaccuracies we’re seeing in the media every day. Every single day. Let’s face it, the commercial press wants to influence our vote (we don’t let corporations vote yet, maybe they will one day).
So now it seems they are in trouble. The business model is failing as they lose advertising revenue. There are huge layoffs industrywide and shrinking news pages.
Sometimes I’m angry about that, because I believe that a vigorous and vigilant press is necessary for a thriving democracy. Sometimes I’m in denial, thinking that they’ll pull through this somehow. Sometimes I feel like accepting that we’re going to lose many of our daily newspapers because readers just want to be entertained anyway, and I watch as they invest in web entertainment sites (like Gannett’s Metromix) instead of supporting their newsrooms. Ok, kiss ‘em goodbye, it’s inevitable. No one has thought of a way out of the meltdown.
There’s even some grief involved, it’s sad watching a great institution brought low.
Denial, anger, acceptance: does this sound like a Kübler-Ross cycle going here, or what?
Today I’m in the anger phase. I say, flush ‘em away, sheet by sheet. They want McCain to be elected, and they will bias and distort the news, select and even falsify articles. Shamelessly. Just read any of the press watch sites.
As I read around the web, I notice here and there that some writers are not afraid to see our lying press go the way of the dodo. Here’s an article by economist Dean Baker:
The Washington Post War On Social Security Continues
The Post is complaining yet again that politicians are unwilling to deal with a Social Security shortfall that is first projected to hit in 2049, when John McCain will be 113 years old. To try to makes it case sound more compelling it refers to the date 2018 when the Social Security trustees project that tax revenues will first be inadequate to meet benefit payments.
Of course 2018 is completely irrelevant to the finances of the program. At that point the program is projected to have accumulated more than $5 trillion in government bonds. But the Post wants to scare readers to advance their Social Security agenda so they trot out 2018 as though it is a date that anyone needs to worry about.
The positive side of this story is that Social Security's finances look much better than the Post's. If it keeps making up scare stories about Social Security, perhaps the date of its demise will be hastened.
--Dean Baker [prospect.org, 8/25/2008]
Of course, conservatives need the Washington Post and other papers to promulgate their lies (usually the conservatives make them up and the press merely parrots them endlessly to us). Maybe this alone will keep newspapers alive in some form, though with declining advertising, it’s hard to see how that would be possible.
Which leads us to the web. If lying newspapers create websites to lie to us, who needs that? I wonder if web surfers are smart enough to realize that they are being used.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Maui voting machine lawsuit continues onward
Instead of interpreting what is happening with this lawsuit, let me just pass on an email from lead plaintiff and election observer Bob Babson. Since he broadcast the email to many interested people, I think it’s ok to reproduce it here:
Aloha Friends, Supporters and Voters,
Our lawsuit for integrity in Hawai'i elections continues. Judge Cardoza denied our motion for preliminary injunction because he believed the harm to intervening in the current election outweighed the possibility of election fraud -- since "legally" election fraud can be challenged after an election. However, the issue of the overall illegality of the voting system has yet to be determined by the court. We are optimistic that we will prevail and thereby improve election integrity here in Hawaii.
The case is very simple. There is a law here in Hawaii called the Hawaii Administrative Procedures Act (HAPA) (aka Chapter 91, HRS) which requires all state agencies to promulgate "administrative rules" for their agency whenever the public is affected by actions their agency takes. Public hearings are required, the Attorney General must then approve the rules from a legal standpoint and then the Governor must sign the rules to make them law.
The Office of Elections has taken numerous actions that affect the public without promulgating administrative rules including transmitting votes from Maui to the state count center in Honolulu over telephone and internet connections and the use of electronic voting machines in general. We are simply asking the judge to order the Office of Elections to comply with the law by legally promulgating the necessary rules.
Our attorney, Lance Collins, has agreed to do this case pro bono. However, we, the plaintiffs, have agreed to pay the "court costs" and other fees. If you would like to help, please send a small donation to Lance Collins, Esq., 2070 W. Vineyard Street, Wailuku, HI 96793 and write "election lawsuit" on the memo line. We would be most appreciative.
Bob Babson
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Milk delivered again in glass bottles—in Manhattan
by Larry Geller
This snapshot taken from the website of the Manhattan Milk Company says it all:
(click for larger)
They charge $5 for delivery.
Thinking of Hawaii, if someone were to go into business delivering Costco milk around the islands, I wonder if they wouldn’t be successful.
Keep in mind that Costco milk is actually delivered refrigerated.
What do I mean by that?
It’s disappeared news that supermarket milk is unrefrigerated in transit to Hawaii. It has to be pasteurized again when it arrives, to kill any nasties that thrived during their long ride to paradise. No joke. Costco confirmed to me via telephone that their milk is kept refrigerated the whole way to the warehouse.
See this article and the two articles linked from it.
If we had dairies still operating here, then glass bottles would sound eco-friendly. But we don’t. So that will have to wait (unless one can buy milk in bulk… but it would be that unrefrigerated stuff).
Tune to KKCR Thursday for more news from outside the Democratic Convention
Katy Rose emails:
Thursday, August 28 4 - 5:30 on KKCR (Kaua'i Community Radio)
Join Katy and guest co-host Marcus as we speak with a protest organizer and bloggers at the the site of the Democratic National Convention in Denver. (Jimmy Trujillo will be off this Thursday.)
We'll talk with Jim and Judy Tarbell, writers and community radio programmers from Northern California. Jim is the co-author of "Imperial Overstretch: George W. Bush and the Hubris of Empire." Jim and Judy are in Denver participating in protests and
reporting on the events at their "Justice Rising" site:http://afdjusticerising.blogspot.com/search/label/Conventions%202008
Also, we will be joined on the phone by Clayton Dewey of Unconventional Denver, a local chapter of the Unconventional Action committee, a nation-wide anarchist network organizing protests and direct action at the Democratic and Republican conventions.
http://www.unconventionalaction.org
Note that you can stream the program from kkcr.org if you’re out of listening range.
UPDATE: Katy reports that they will also be joined by TJ Buonomo of Iraq
Veterans Against The War (ivaw.org), who is en route from Denver to Minneapolis where IVAW members will engage in protests at the Republican National Convention.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Your humble blogger banned from Advertiser blog!
by Larry Geller
I wanted to check again what Rich Figel posted the other day, which I had not read completely. So I clicked over to his blog. Look what I got:
Yeah, me. I am banned! Can you beat that.
My guess is that anyone would get that message, but I can’t be sure. They still feature Rich’s blog on their blog page:
How crude. Maybe they mean that Rich has been banned, but that’s not what they said.
It’s not like I’m a nasty commenter or something. I’ve never posted a comment on a blog at that website.
I checked some of the other Advertiser bloggers who are supporting the strike. Stephen Tsai’s popular Warrior Beat is still there. You can read his last story though comments are now blocked (but not before an astounding 1087 comments were posted!). Others seem to be still there. ‘Cept for Rich. Whatever he said in his last post must have been real good!
Well, I’m not going to creep into a corner and cry about being banned by the Advertiser. I’d just like to let them know that this is a dumb way to treat web visitors. I’m pretty sure they are sending that message to anyone who dares to visit Rich’s blog, so I won’t take it personally.
I learned from Tsai’s last article that the newspaper has a policy prohibiting their bloggers from participating in any other site. So I guess no one will be shifting over to Disappeared Blogs after all. It was just an idle thought (it’s still there, though, if it can be of any use).
If the strike is prolonged, I hope Advertiser bloggers will each find their own way to get back onto the Internet. I enjoyed reading several of them, including Rich’s now disappeared blog.
Injunction against Office of Elections fails
by Larry Geller
Oh, well. It was a very good try. Perhaps a different judge would have ruled differently.
Update: Foolish me. I was going by the Maui News story. The suit hasn’t failed, according to an email from attorney Lance Collins. Just the motion for preliminary injunction. The judge wants to have a full trial and a full record.
The Maui News reports today (snippet):
Judge denies renewed request to ban electronic voting machines
A judge Monday denied a renewed request by five Maui residents who had sought a preliminary injunction to prevent electronic voting machines from being used in state elections.
While commending the residents for their "active participation in government," 2nd Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza said, "The damage to the fast-approaching elections would be considerable if this court were to issue preliminary injunctive relief."
So instead of damaging the elections by preventing the machines from being used, now the risk is that the machines will be allowed to damage the elections all by themselves.
Without knowing where the machines might be emailing their vote tallies, and as long as the software is secret and proprietary, there’s no way that a person who uses the machines can be sure that their vote will count, or won’t be “flipped” in favor of the other candidate.
Following airport delays
by Larry Geller
I thought I would share a useful website with you.
Today CNN announced flight delays due to a computer problem in Atlanta. I’m not flying, but I was wondering if there was a way that people could easily tell what’s happening with that. So I visited my favorite airplane states site, flightstats.com, and sure enough, they have a Google mashup showing flight delays right there. And no delays shown except on the East Coast.
But this is really just an excuse to let you know about this handy site. I use it when I have to pick someone up at the airport. You can put in their flight, and it will send messages to your cellphone.
So I get a message enough ahead of the flight arrival that I figure it’s about time to think about going to the car. Then, while waiting someplace near the airport, it lets me know the flight is in. That’s a cool service.
You can put your own flight in and I think it is supposed to let you know if there will be significant delays before it leaves. I did that, but there were no delays, so I couldn’t test it out.
Following the DNC, what to do?
by Larry Geller
Bottom line, I’m looking at streaming video sites like ustream.tv. There was just a stream of Hillary speaking. Tomorrow, Wednesday, there will be a live stream of a healthcare forum featuring Hillary Clinton and others. That will be 5:30 a.m. in Honolulu, and a website with info is here.
There’s so much alternative coverage. What is turning out to be disappointing is clicking around to blog sites for those who are live-blogging. Why? They can only be in one place at a time.
Using a newsreader to pick up the blog RSS feeds is helping. I’m not going to spend any time on this, though, because I don’t feel a burning need to actually spend all my real time on this circus. I’m concerned that none of the demonstrators get hurt, and also that none of the cops actually use those deadly-looking weapons on anyone. Why do they give those things to cops anyway? That’s a recipe for trouble. I wonder if they’re really loaded.
Democracy Now is broadcasting two hours for the duration, but most stations won’t carry more than the first hour. Even their website doesn’t make the second hour available as a podcast. You can see the whole two hours by clicking on their embedded video. So that’s what I’ll be doing, later this evening.
Much of the coverage actually obscures what’s happening, though Democracy Now has discussed it without flinching. What’s happening is that Obama is surrounding himself with Clinton’s hawkish advisors. Biden as VP is not good news to me. Letting AT&T richly reward congresspeople visiting their party is shameful.
Hope for hope and expectation of change are going down the drain rapidly. But we can’t flush, we need to choose the lessor of the two evils, or we’ll end up with more Bush, more neocons, more war, more evil judicial appointments.
The circus is really turning into a tragic spectacle, I suspect, for those who hoped for better.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Advertiser locks out comments for striking blogs (space available elsewhere, though…)
by Larry Geller
I visited some Advertiser blogs. Some are still posting, apparently not joining the strike. Others have comments locked out (also see the comment posted to Newspaper meltdown 9: Hawaii’s first blog strike.
I hope the strike doesn’t go on too long, many of the Advertiser blogs are really good reading. Of course, I also hope the paper settles its dispute with its staff and gives them a nice, new contract.
If the blog strike goes on and bloggers are itching to post, it’s so easy these days to create your own blog, even for temporary use. I created this one, Disappeared Blogs, in something like 20 seconds. Anyone can do it. There’s a few things that would still need tweaking, but I just wanted to illustrate how fickle the web can be. Locked out one place? Go to another.
And we’re still a two-newspaper town, both bristling with blogs and possibly welcoming new ones.
There’s no monopoly on blogs, right? The trick is to get people to come read yours after you have committed your article to the infinite blogosphere.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Tear gas used against protestors in Denver? No news yet…
by Larry Geller
… but there is a tweet from Ian Lind, on the ground in Denver, about an hour ago:
Eyes stinging after riot police confront protest group downtown-tear gas used?
This is the value of Twitter. Instant news.
Follow Ian at his blog, or you can even subscribe to his tweets.
I couldn’t find any news yet on the web but haven’t searched thoroughly. If I twittered, it would be to let you know I’m off shortly to see the Merchant of Venice, so no time to follow events in Denver for a while.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Newspaper meltdown 9: Hawaii’s first blog strike
by Larry Geller
Why would people who are not paid go on strike? In this case, because they aren’t being paid. From Rich Figel’s latest article:
The Advertiser blog strike is supposed to start Monday, Aug. 25, so after Sunday I don’t know when (or if) I’ll be back. One issue is staff writers want to be compensated for extra work, such as blogging, Fair enough. But shouldn’t freelance bloggers be paid for our contributions as well? Content is content, and the Advertiser should pay writers who provide it.
Rich is discussing something that has so many aspects to it… I’d like to take up this thread. But randomly, since my thoughts don’t have a logical sequence to them.
Subordinating paper to web
The Advertiser appears desperate to promote its web site. I say that because it’s clearly sacrificing the print edition, using space and its most eye catching graphic highlights to suggest to readers that they drop the paper and rush to their computers right now. If I were running a restaurant, do you think I would send my customers to another establishment for desert and coffee? I don’t think so. But that’s what they’re doing.
Recently there was a big promo for Metromix, a feature of the Advertiser web page, which turns out to be owned by Gannett and Tribune Co. I can’t find the reference, but I recall that this website can be run by only two people. My guess is that, just as print staff is being tapped to create the on-line blogs, the arts and entertainment staff could be pressured into providing fodder for Metromix. Just a guess. How else will they fill it up? Only by sucking the blood of the print staff.
As you see from the pic, I did as I was supposed to, I took the paper over to my keyboard and checked Metromix out on the web.
So the web biz will be nurtured at the expense of the print publication. The article pictured in the August 13, 2008 Island Life section above is nothing more than a big infomercial.
Although I said “The Advertiser,” it’s pretty clear from reading blogs around the web that other Gannett papers are going through a similar process.
Here’s another example of trashing the print paper.
Yup, I’m back at the keyboard. The Advertiser runs the beginning part only of three blogs at the top of their Classified section. In order to read them, I need to drag the paper to my computer and go to the web. Heck with the paper, think I. Why not just go to the web in the first place? And what about granny and grampa, who don’t have a computer? They can never read the ending to the stories. Shame on whoever thought of this disrespectful and desperate strategy. I can’t think of any kind words for it, believe me, I tried.
Ok, I need to make a contrast. The other day I picked up my free Star-Bulletin at Subway. Leafing through it, I felt as though the editors wanted me to read the paper.
Here’s a long feature, a short story actually. In a newspaper. They are giving me something to read! Bless them. The feature story complements the content on the right-hand page.
This pic was snapped at my dining room table, no need for a computer at all. And granny and grampa might enjoy the story. It explains why one young woman accumulated a series of tattoos as her relationships collapsed. It’s of inter-generational interest. Although tattoos aren’t high on my interest list, I didn’t feel shoved away from the paper, I was encouraged to embrace it. That’s my point.
The Star-Bulletin, despite its hard little right-wing heart, is still something one can admire (both papers have admirably qualities, I’m just getting carried away with this concept of a paper wanting people to read it).
Newsprint can’t even compete with this
Gannett also invests in shoplocal.com (try it, put in your zip code). Going to the website, I noticed that I won’t need to look at the numerous ads packed with the Sunday paper any more. OfficeMax, RadioShack and more, they’re on this website. Even better, if I am looking for a Garmin GPS (for example), I can search for the best deal in Honolulu. That takes work, if all you have is the circular ads.
Logical extension: another reason why you don’t need to subscribe to the print edition. Just as Craigslist knocked classified ads out of the business model for print papers, services such as shoplocal could put a real dent in advertising circulars.
If publisher Lee Webber is planning to save the paper by doing this, he may be shooting himself in the foot (but no good NRA member would do that, so I’m assuming that Gannett is shooting him in the foot).
Oh, the site offers to send sale info to your email inbox. Can you beat that?? Perhaps a second Craigslist is in the making. And more layoffs at the print paper. Honolulu could end up a one-paper town after all.
I have to reveal a secret. I’ve wanted to be able to put together a comparison-shopping site for years, before there was actually an Internet. Of course, I never did anything with the idea. And now we have shoplocal. When it becomes possible to compare the price of milk (say) at Safeway, Times and Foodland, my idea will have been realized.
Note, please, all the investments in the web. Fine, good. How much is being invested to keep the newspaper alive, or are they (and other papers) thinking they can lay off staff and save it? We’ll have to see how that works out.
Blogging isn’t reporting
It seems the Advertiser is pushing its staff to write blogs. Without compensation. The push is amazingly strong. A huge crowd of bloggers have been assembled at the Advertiser website from among staff and freelancers. It’s as big a change for the paper as going from black-and-white to color might have been in the old days. A real benefit.
Yet it won’t compensate its bloggers, who are a key part of the plan to save its business?? Come on, now.
Worse, it’s easy to find blogs that are interesting, and some can be newsy, but vanishingly few blogs do the same work as experienced, trained reporters. And if the paper rots away, what will we bloggers have to quote (or complain about)?
There’s also something about the blog comments, which take us to Rich Figel’s latest-article-but-one: “Idiocracy”: Reading Article Comments. The stupid, ill-informed comments that are allowed to collect around many blogs, whether newspaper sites or not, are part of a world that is very different from anything that could be described as traditional journalism. A website does no service to the public by providing a forum for useless trash comments. If comments were moderated as they do letters to the editor, something of value might come of them. As it is, while there may be worthwhile reading amid the trash, it’s often just too much work to pan for the gold.
It’s also ugly, something like not picking up the litter around the yard. The whole scene gets trashy. And those commenters aren’t valued readers of the newspaper. They buzz around any website that will allow them to leave their narcissistic remarks.
If this is what a venerable newspaper is creating as its legacy, then the future is pretty much predetermined. Either we will have a respected newspaper with value to the community, or a cheap-to-operate website with standards low enough to accommodate comment junk.
Recognizing death throes when you see them
With shrinking experienced local staff, how long can a paper stretch out its survival? We can expect “media consolidation” in the form of more imported articles. More AP stories, for example. This inevitably turns “fair and balanced” into AP’s bias. Look, for example, at today’s breaking news and you’ll find these “balanced” articles:
Yup, each candidate gets a story. One is a fawning pro-McCain AP article, one a strongly anti-Obama AP article. And this, in a very pro-Obama town. If the editors are thinking at all, what do they think their readers will make of this transparent bias? Neither story addresses substantive issues. If I wanted to read USA Today I would have bought that paper. Oh, this is a web page. I forgot for the moment. Let’s see what is printed in the newspaper.
The spot previously occupied by Dick Adair’s editorial cartoon is filled, very awkwardly, by some national cartoon unrelated to Hawaii. Each time I look at that spot, I am reminded that Adair’s cartoon used to be there. The uncomfortable import is a pretty glaring reminder of how the reader’s interest has fallen by the wayside.
Let me close by saying that the Advertiser website has, IMHO, improved immensely. The layout is better (especially if your ad blocker is turned on), and the navigation is better than when they first cut over to the new system. I rely on them for breaking local news. The website’s value is largely derived from its mirroring of the print edition supplemented by breaking news coverage that print cannot achieve. Yeah, the blogs are good too.
Let’s have more and better newspaper websites. And more and better local apps like shoplocal.
But not at the expense of the print paper. It would be sad to lose The Honolulu Advertiser as a sacrifice to keep www.honoluluadvertiser.com alive.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Obama picks Biden, so we’re in for Cold War
by Larry Geller
Condoleeza Rice’s rushed signing of an agreement with Poland to house a missile defense system was highly provocative, and no doubt linked to US military support for Georgia against Russia. In other words, Bush is starting up a new Cold War in his last moments in power.
Now Obama picks Biden as his running mate.
Progressive activist and former California Senator Tom Hayden’s recent article in The Nation, Warning to Obama on the New Cold War, argues that “the same Republican neocons who fabricated the reasons for going to war in Iraq are back, and now they have been paid to trigger a new cold war with Russia that benefits John McCain.” Pointing out the lamentable fact that we won’t hear such forthright warnings from Sen. Obama “or anyone in the Democratic hierarchy,” Hayden emphatically cautions that “[t]hese are dangerous, expensive unwinnable games being played with American lives to benefit Republican politicians and their oil company friends.”
…Hayden’s most imperative recommendation is that those supporting Obama “should step up their criticism of his hawkish mimicry of McCain, and consider lessening their support--though still voting for him--unless he distinguishes himself from McCain on the immediate crisis.”
The pressing need for sending such a signal to the presumptive candidate was made all the more urgent during the past week, when Sen. Joe Biden, “rumored to be very high on Sen. Barack Obama’s list of running mates,” met with the president and prime minister of Georgia. According to Politico, Biden made the trip in the interest of “further burnishing his foreign policy credentials ahead of Obama’s decision.”
Claiming to have seen no evidence supporting Russian assertions “that the Georgian military was engaged in a ‘genocide’ in the region of South Ossetia,” Biden promised $1 billion to "help the people of Georgia to rebuild their country and preserve its democratic institutions." He also used the occasion of his journey as an opportunity to engage in his own “hawkish mimicry” of McCain’s bellicose rhetoric toward the former Soviet Union. [opednews.com, 8/23/2008]
While this strengthens the Democratic Party ticket’s foreign policy cred, it also means, since Biden is a supporter of Bush’s moves against Russia, that no matter who is elected president, we’re likely to see the new administration supporting this new Cold War.
Not a good sign.
The future holds more mass illegal detentions
by Larry Geller
Caging demonstrators, clearing streets with preventitive detention sweeps, and indiscriminate arrests violate the spirit and the letter of the Constitution of the United States. [publiceye.org]
Of course. But New York City police, experts at unconstitutional mass arrests and street sweeping, have been advising the Denver police. So I guess we can expect more illegal police activities next week.
In NYC, police did not hesitate to arrest anyone and everyone in their path. Lawsuits were dragged on for years, and ultimately they settled ($2 million to be paid to 2004 protestors, NYC cops won’t have to admit fault). What a bargain.
If we see a repeat in Denver, they’ll do their thing, Constitution be damned, get sued by the ACLU and others, and pay up later. The payment will be considered to be a cost of doing business.
Let’s see if this is what business as usual in a police state looks like. Denver police could do the right thing, or they could emulate their NYC cousins. Which do you think will happen?
There are resources for activists on the Public Eye website, including this page, Security for Activists: Overcoming Repression.
Update on Maui elections lawsuit
by Larry Geller
The real news will come Monday. The hearing today on the lawsuit challenging the use of Hart voting computers without administrative rules lasted from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Gads, three hours on the operating table. It must have been something.
Expect a ruling Monday afternoon. And news of the outcome right here.
Election software may have been losing votes for ten years
by Larry Geller
Hey, just in time. Wish I had seen this before writing the previous post:
Electronic Voting Company Admits System Flaw Could Cause Lost Votes
A major electronic voting company has acknowledged its voting system contains a critical programming error that can cause votes to be dropped and lost. The company, Premier Election Solutions, formerly known as Diebold, said the problem has been part of its software for ten years but was only recently identified. The flawed software is on both touchscreen and optical scan voting machines made by Premier, which supplies voting machines to thirty-four states. [Democracy Now, 8/22/2008]
Ten Years! A problem that could have caused lost votes has been part of their software for ten years!
This is a different manufacturer, but again I ask, why is Hawaii risking our voting system with a precipitously granted and questionable contract for voting computers while other states back off?
And who will do something about it?
Legislature should investigate Hawaii election office
by Larry Geller
There is enough smoke surrounding the Office of Elections that the Legislature might think about conducting its own investigation into the integrity of the system.
What’s more important than our vote?
The issues around the Hart Intercivic contract, use of secret and therefore suspect software, and irregularities in procedure have been discussed here, but have also been covered by other blogs. Today’s Star-Bulletin editorial, Primary ballot change complicates voting, correctly points out that the Office of Elections has changed the previous ballot system, which was reliable and familiar to voters, with one designed to cause trouble and invalid votes (snippet):
…In previous primaries, voters selected a ballot color-coded for a party's candidates in partisan races. The new ballots will have voters checking one of six political parties, but all candidates' names will be listed on the same ballot.
This could cause confusion if voters think they can choose candidates from parties other than the one they checked. Voters also might mistakenly think they have to be registered party members. Others might consider themselves independent, check that and have their ballots rejected.
Cronin's office says instructions will be clear and voters at polling places will have a chance to redo their ballots if filled out incorrectly. However, that won't be possible when an absentee ballot is cast.
Star-Bulletin editors are right to highlight this bad decision, and restrained in their criticism. I would have liked to see the debate at their editorial conference about how much heat to put on Cronin, the Chief Elections Officer, for this very bad move.
I also think that we should no longer accept that he’s doing “a heck of a job” and get busy—immediately—to protect our elections. Just look at what this ballot change could mean:
Imagine that 2%, 5%, 10% or more of the voters are confused and have to re-do their ballots. Will there be enough extra ballots for them to fill out? Will there be enough time to process all the rejects before the polls close? How long will the lines grow as the confusion persists? How many voters will tear up their ballots rather than submit to the chaos?
The Star-Bulletin editorial continues (please read the whole thing):
Since absentee voting has grown in popularity - more than a third of total votes in the 2006 primary were by absentee ballots - the number of invalid ballots could increase.
There will be no helpful election officials handy to re-do those ballots. They’ll simply be lost if voters make a mistake.
The blogs are buzzing. Ian Lind today points to a post on the Progressive Democrats blog by long-time activist Bart Dame. Read that if you can, it’s very detailed on the myriad of issues challenging the system today.
I disagree with Bart on the value of open-source voting computer software. Anything is better than the secret software that completely erases citizen trust in these voting computers and makes us question the sanity of election officials nationwide who chose them (in fact, states are backing off on these computers while Hawaii seems to be creeping into bed with them) (see: Bring Jimmy Carter to Hawaii, please! Quickly!).
Open source software can be inspected by anyone. And geeks will jump at the opportunity. I doubt any funny business would get by. As time passes, open source software can only get better, and wrinkles in the system can be ironed out—in full public view.
But I’m only arguing one point. Bart’s discussion is very comprehensive. Check it out.
You’ll likely get steamed up at what he reveals about how our election system is being run. Secret meetings, questionable actions (like not allowing review of the ballots before they are printed).
If any of these actions are contrary to law, who’s enforcing the laws?
There’s time for our Legislature to hold hearings on what the blogs and newspapers have revealed. They better book the State Capitol auditorium, I’ll bet lots of people would attend.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Local press and the political conventions, find a new paradigm or die
by Larry Geller
(They taught me all I knew).
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
I send them over land and sea,
I send them east and west;
But after they have worked for me,
I give them all a rest.
–from The Elephant's Child, by Rudyard Kipling
With the coming political conventions, starting with the Democrats in Denver, will come a media deluge. After all, it's all a show, an extravaganza, a spectacle. Standards of journalism, we can expect, will be stretched to the interpretive limit.
How boring it would be for a reporter to attend a circus and simply report "the clown circumambulated the inner ring three times before tripping over his shoe and tumbling off to the right amid thunderous applause." Same thing for these political circuses.
Neither print nor Internet nor video media will resist going beyond the "Five W's" of reporting. Way beyond. It's the age of "infotainment," after all. Except maybe for CSPAN, we are used to talking heads telling us everything we already saw, but with their twist added.
Since most TV viewers are set in their ways, they can be expected to come away with the slant or "take" that their favorite network imposes. The media are far from neutral reporters. They won't miss the chance to push their line at every opportunity. Fox News isn't going to change its stripes and suddenly become truly "fair and balanced."
This time, though, bloggers have been given accreditation at the Democratic Convention that starts next week. So the gaggle of reporters will be augmented by the blogging corps. So will the professional photographers. Bloggers are often well-versed in the hot technologies of modern alternative media. Expect live video, tweets, photo- and video-blogging, and more.
Actually, there is perhaps an intermediate level between the professionals and the unwashed bloggers. It’s the alternative media, and since they possess essentially the same technologies as the bloggers below and subscribe to the principles of the commercial journalists above, I think they will also provide a valuable service.
It’s up to us to choose where we look (if we look at all) for our convention coverage.
Hawaii is fortunate to have Ian Lind representing us in the blogger corps. Tune in to his Twitter (microblog) tweets, instant photo posts and of course his stories over at his blog. Volunteering to take this trip is truly a sacrifice, I suspect, and we are the passive beneficiaries of the trials and tribulations he will endure for our sake (Applause) (really!).
For the alternative media, check Democracy Now each day. They are expanding their broadcast schedule to two hours daily, but local TV may carry only one hour. Both hours will be found on their web page, only a click away.
Let’s see how our newspapers do. In this case, they are the less-favored media. Local papers are still in crisis mode even as we demand something brilliant from them. They are getting thinner and relying on outside sources for their coverage. It makes sense to simply skip to those sources directly via the Internet. Sorry about that, local papers, but here is one case where I’d love to be surprised by local analysis, local cartoons, and insightful editorials. So surprise me. Until then, I’ll be tuned via the Internet to my favorite networks.
So what is a role that might be successful for local papers anywhere? What opportunities for brilliance in journalism do they have? I suggest they consider emulating the blogs. Instead of just covering the faraway news, which they must still do a little bit, they should work at creating new visions and new interpretations of events. They might try to connect the dots for us. How do these political events relate to Hawaii? Assume I’ll be watching on TV. So when the morning paper hits my doorstep, I’ll have seen it all. Now tell me something about it that I didn’t know.
Local dailies simply can’t compete for convention news. The visual is so much more powerful and efficient. The blogs are poised to outdo what newspapers usually offer in print, instantly, and with no limits on story length. Newspapers might think like bloggers for a change.
Why should real newspapers emulate mere bloggers? Because a large segment of our population still does not surf the Internet, though they do watch TV. The papers need a new paradigm to keep TV viewers as subscribers. This may be it. There’s a risk. TV viewers may become so excited at the spectacle (on their shiny new giant home theater screens) that they forget to renew their newspaper sub.
I think it’s already happening with the Olympics. Papers have effectively dropped out of the race. It’s hard to compete with a 42-inch LCD screen no matter what kind of fancy German press you have.
Here’s a chance for print publications to carve out a new future for themselves. It’s radical. Instead of gathering the news, help us make sense of what we see.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Ten French soldiers reportedly killed by NATO air support, not by Taliban
by Larry Geller
Who was flying the support mission that might have mistakenly killed French soldiers in Afghanistan?
The French army and ISAF in Kabul meanwhile refused to comment on a report in Le Monde newspaper quoting French soldiers who had survived the ambush saying they came under fire from NATO planes that had come to help them escape.
The soldiers also reportedly complained they had to wait for four hours before any backup was sent.
In Brussels, a NATO official said the alliance would "look into the report", while the Pentagon said it had no information that close US air support resulted in French casualties. [Sarkozy tells French troops in Afghanistan to keep fighting, AFP, 8/20/2008]
This is still under investigation. The story has been covered in several countries and by AFP, Al Jazeera and some other news services.
It’s possible that American pilots were involved, so pending the outcome of the investigation, I wonder how much coverage the report will get here.
Hawaii courting space industry folly again
by Larry Geller
I was just listening to Bytemarks Café, a new program on Hawaii Public Radio (Wednesdays 5-6 p.m., KIPO 89.3 FM or streaming from hawaiipublicradio.org). It will be available as a podcast in a couple of days, and I’ll post the link. It’s well worth listening to. In-studio was host Burt Lum and Ryan Ozawa.
I was interested in the first part. It seems there is to be an event at the State Capitol Auditorium tomorrow pushing Hawaii’s future in the space biz. Oh, well, here we go again. Sure, maybe something will happen, after all, there is some military shooting of satellites that happens from Kauai.
I’ve written about DBEDT’s high-tech folly before. I wouldn’t mind being proven wrong, but so far, while there is some high-tech industry, we are far from a place that has the education, infrastructure, or proximity to research facilities, vendors, or customers to sustain something like a space industry.
The second guest on the program was Guy Kawasaki, the well-known venture capitalist and Apple evangelist. He was raised in Hawaii (but he left…). He knows this place well (maybe that had something to do with his leaving?). So I called in and asked him a question.
I asked about the space plan. A couple of years ago Kawasaki was speaking at the UH business school. Someone, perhaps from DBEDT, I can’t remember, asked about Hawaii’s advantage since it was in middle of the Pacific, between the time zones of the Mainland and Asia. He totally shot that down, pointing out that it was no advantage whatsoever, and that Hawaii was just too far away from anyplace to do the kinds of things they were talking about.
So today I asked him about this space plan. Can Hawaii become the center of the universe for some kind of space industry? Of course, he shot that down too. To paraphrase, while lightning can strike anywhere, we should look at where we have an advantage. For example, we have a better chance at being successful in hotel software development than someone in Indiana in a place with one Holiday Inn.
He asked how we could think of building a spaceport (?) when we can't even build a train that goes from the airport to UH and Waikiki.
I think it was Ryan who then asked him what we should do to be successful in high tech. He said we should develop our engineering schools at UH. Later, he said that will take at least three administrations and maybe 20 (?) years. I guess he meant, don’t hold your breath.
Hmmm... my thinking exactly. How come I'm neither rich nor famous?
Anyway, congratulations to Burt Lum on his new program. And tune in to Disappeared News, I’ll post when the audio is available.
Town Square Thurs 8/21 5-6 pm on Native Hawaiian issues re ConCon
by Larry Geller
It seems that there are ConCon programs, panels and discussions sprouting everywhere these days. Good thing. But it’s usually a bunch of white guys arguing pro or con or with ideas about what needs changing.
Tomorrow, tune in to Hawaii Public Radio’s Town Square program for Annelle Amaral, Mililani Trask, and Lehua Kinilau discussing their views on a constitutional convention with host Beth-Ann Kozlovich.
One hour is certainly not enough time, but it’s a beginning. You can call and join in also.
Town Square is Thursday, 5-6 p.m., KIPO 89.3 FM or streaming from hawaiipublicradio.org. Guests will be introduced at the beginning, and Beth-Ann will announce the call-in number frequently. Have your pen, pencil or keyboard ready.
Who’s guarding the palace? Who’s guarding the State Capitol?
by Larry Geller
Governor Lingle has been deflecting criticism of the state’s role in protecting the Iolani Palace (an obligation it has to all the people of Hawaii, including the original people). She has focused on the HPD response issue, which is certainly important, while avoiding discussion of the lack of preparedness by the state itself.
In an interview, Lingle said, "This was the second incident, but this one involved a more serious situation. There's been a history of this issue -- long before I even became the governor -- there's been this jurisdictional issue and I just wanted to make certain that there was an unconditional assurance to me, to the people of the island of Oahu , that it doesn't matter whose property you're on, when there's trouble you call HPD we're going to get a response." [Officials discuss palace security, Star-Bulletin 8/20/2008]
The State Capitol is adjacent to Iolani Palace, and in my observation, security is just as lax.
I’m not advocating turning the State Capitol into a prison, but these days, and in particular while the Governor herself is involved with questionable ties with the Indonesian military, shouldn’t the state look at what measures need to be taken to be sure that any visitor to the State Capitol remains safe?
Suppose, just suppose, a FedEx truck drove down the ramp and parked in the loading area while the Governor was addressing the Senate. Now, suppose the driver left the van to deliver a package.
Now suppose instead of delivering a package, he caught a taxi and left the scene. And then, suppose that the FexEx truck blew up.
Goodbye senators, goodbye governor.
Simpler (no truck needed), suppose someone walked into the Governor’s office (or a legislator’s office) with a gift. Say, a carved wooden horse with wheels. Nice horse. Kind of heavy, but nice horse… then bang!
When you go into a courtroom there is security at the entrance. Nothing for Iolani Palace, nothing for the State Capitol, either.
A conservative historian on Afghanistan, Iraq, and more
by Larry Geller
I found myself glued to my mp3 player as I listened to today’s Democracy Now interview with Andrew Bacevich, “Retired colonel who spent twenty-three years in the US Army. He is professor of history and international relations at Boston University…” and author of The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism. An audio link is here. Video is here. Better, go to today’s program page for the full program video, or move the slider along to about 32 minutes for this segment. You can watch the program tonight on Oahu at 10 p.m. Channel 56.
 | The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism by Andrew Bacevich Read more about this title... |
A complete transcript is here. Snippets can’t do justice to the conversation, but here are a few:
AMY GOODMAN: You say the Department of Defense didn’t actually do defense. It was prepared—it specialized in power projection.
ANDREW BACEVICH: It still doesn’t do defense. I mean, it is a remarkable thing, I think, that the reflexive response to 9/11 is, first of all, to create a new bureaucratic entity that supposedly does defend the country—that’s the Department of Homeland Security, as we call it—but to continue to see the purpose of the Department of Defense, so-called, as power projection.
So, what has the Department of Defense been doing for the last seven years since 9/11? Well, been fighting a war in—where? Afghanistan. And a second one in Iraq. Now, I think you can make the case for Afghanistan, at least in terms of you can make a case for the necessity of holding the Taliban accountable for having given sanctuary to al-Qaeda. You can’t make any case for the invasion of Iraq as related to the global war on terror. And frankly, it’s becoming rather difficult, I think, to make a case for the continuation of the Afghanistan war as part of the global war on terror….
…if we look at Afghanistan today, we have to see a country that historically, at least as I understand Afghan history, has never really functioned as an integrated and coherent nation state. It’s never been ruled from Kabul. It’s always been ruled from the—in the provinces by people you might call tribal chiefs. You might call them warlords, you can call them local bosses, but authority has been widely distributed. But we are engaged in a project in which we insist that we’re going to transform Afghanistan into something more or less like a modern, coherent nation state, and indeed, we insist that it has to conform to our notions of liberal democracy.
Were we able to actually do that, I think it would be a wonderful thing. But seven years or so into this project, I’m not sur