Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Media Every Day Matters...Three Days Later
Posted by Matt Pulle on Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 2:38 PM
Once again The Tennessean is forgetting that it's a daily newspaper and that it can't just get to the news whenever it feels like it.
Here are the two latest examples:
On Saturday, country songwriter Richard Fagan allegedly killed music publisher Gaetano Thomas Oteri with a pocket knife during a drunken brawl. Yesterday, a long three days after the murder, The Tennessean delivers its account of what happened in a front-page above-the-fold story.
Also in the paper that day, music writer Peter Cooper penned a riveting sidebar about a friendly lunch he had with both Fagan and Oteri. Still, should it take three days for the paper to write the definitive story about a juicy murder?
On Monday, the New York Daily News had a salacious front-page story reporting that disgraced pitcher Roger Clemens had an affair with country singer Mindy McCready. Later, McCready released a statement saying that she couldn't refute the tale of the tryst. Today, The Tennessean comes back with a front-page story rehashing the News' piece while adding a few chirpy local voices. Since the paper's reporting didn't break any new ground, why did it run two days after the Daily News' item? Does it take 48 hours to repackage a simple story that ran in another paper?
At my last stop in Dallas, the Morning News had its flaws too, but you could always count the paper's ability to react quickly to a major news story and write a thorough and engaging piece that would have people talking. If any of the above stories touched on Dallas, the paper wouldn't have kept its readers waiting a few days to read all about it. But here in Nashville, our daily paper prefers to get to the news when it's convenient—and if that means waiting an extra day or so, that's just fine. You'd think that with their circulation sliding every year, someone over at 1100 Broadway would have a sense of urgency.
Presidential Politics / Woods GOP Decries 'Malicious Lie' Against McCain
Posted by Jeff Woods on Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 9:32 AM
The state Republican Party is outraged by the latest DNC attack ad against John McCain.
That advertisement includes video of a terrorists’ roadside bomb attack on two American soldiers, footage not unlike that often used by Al Qaeda in its recruiting videos, as Democrats seek to exploit the attack to promote Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for president.Airing footage of what's actually happening in Iraq in a political ad? That's so low. And using sound-bite oversimplifications to attack a presidential candidate ... Republicans would never do that, would they?
Meet TVA's New Energy Partner
Posted by Jim Ridley on Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 9:02 AM
Bechtel...Bechtel...why does that name (see below) ring a bell? Oh, yeah. From Jeffrey St. Clair in CounterPunch:
"Bechtel engineered the oil infrastructure for the Standard Oil Company's burgeoning empire in Saudi Arabia, building pipelines, refineries, highways and ports. When Standard Oil's Aramco partnership in Saudi Arabia was nationalized, Bechtel didn't miss a beat. Instead, the company inaugurated a profitable new relationship with the Saudi royal family and went right to work building airports, military bases and an 850-mile long pipeline from Saudi Arabia to Jordan. "Somewhere along the line, the Bechtels encountered Saudi Arabia's largest construction company, which is also a family-run empire, called Bin Laden Construction. Founded by Osama's father, Mohammed Bin Laden, the Bin Laden firm worked on dozens of joint projects with the Bechtel Corporation, which had already perfected the art of subcontracting out hard labor to low-paid workers in the Third World. Outsourcing is a strategy that Bechtel is using in Iraq today, where 92 percent of its work there is subcontracted out. The Bin Ladens and Bechtels remain close to this day."Is that all? We're just gettin' warmed up. After the jump.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Media TVA Burns Up Its Ethics
Posted by Matt Pulle on Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 10:27 AM
Today's Tennessean was full of good stories and none better than Anne Paine's piece about how TVA awarded a contract to a company called Bechtel that basically hatched the idea for its own project. Bechel won a $1.1 billion contract to finish constructing a nuclear reactor north of Chattanooga after it completed a study for TVA recommending that the utility—surprise!—finish constructing the nuclear reactor north of Chattanooga.
TVA officials shamelessly claimed the utility did nothing wrong in awarding the lucrative contract to Bechtel. Then, as if trying to appear as slippery as possible, TVA refused to turn over Bechtel's, um "study" to The Tennessean. Meanwhile, all but one of TVA's directors, who preside over the nation's largest public power provider, wouldn't so much as return Paine's calls to explain their actions. I guess talking to the press is beneath them. (Or Bob Tuke is serving as the TVA corporate counsel.)
Anyhow, let's hope Paine and The Tennessean stay on this story. TVA shouldn't be allowed to get away with awarding billion-dollar contracts to companies with an epic conflict of interest.
(An interesting side note: As Paine's story noted, Bechtel belongs to Transparency International-USA, an organization with the goal of increasing governmental accountability and curbing corruption. Here's an idea: Maybe Bechtel could conduct a "study" for the TVA on how to run an honest shop.)
Monday, April 28, 2008
Media The Tennessean Loses Circulation: Also, Puppies are Still Cute and the Middle East is a Violent Place
Posted by Matt Pulle on Mon, Apr 28, 2008 at 2:49 PM
Some industry news to report this afternoon: The Tennessean's circulation numbers continue to decline, though no steeper than most daily newspapers.
Today Editor & Publisher has the recap of the latest numbers from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, estimating a 3.5 percent dip in daily circulation for all newspapers. The Tennessean is down a little more than the industry average having lost more than 6,000 copies over a one-year period. If you're keeping score at home, its daily circulation is now 161,131. The Tennessean dipped even more on Sundays, plunging more than 13,000 copies, a nearly six percent decline.
Today's circulation numbers capped a volatile week for Gannett, The Tennessean's parent company. Its stock flirted with historic lows while advertising revenue dropped a whopping 12.8 percent. Bad times.
Elsewhere across Tennessee, many other newspapers lost circulation—except for, oddly, the Memphis Commercial Appeal, which held steady on weekdays and went up a few thousand copies on Sunday. Its daily circulation is now 146,961, with Sunday at 188,040. If current trends hold—and that's not really a safe bet in the newspaper industry—the Commercial Appeal will catch The Tennessean in a few years, setting up another circulation duel for the state's top two newspapers.
The Week in Preview
Posted by Matt Pulle on Mon, Apr 28, 2008 at 12:02 PM
Today, we introduce a regular feature on Pith: Mayor Karl Dean's weekly schedule of public appearances, which we will deliver to you with a minimal amount of snarkiness. That said, Dean isn't exactly killing himself this week. Maybe Clement could have handled the job after all.
And here you go:
MAYOR DEAN - PUBLIC SCHEDULE - WEEK OF APRIL 28 - MAY 4 Monday, April 28 6 p.m. - Town Hall Meeting on Education - Glencliff High School, 160 Antioch Pike Tuesday, April 29 — Wednesday, April 30 11 a.m. - Red Cross Join the 10,000 Orientation for Metro Employees - 222 Building, Sixth Floor, Purchasing Room 8 p.m. - PENCIL Foundation, A Little Night of Music - Country Music Hall of Fame Thursday, May 111:30 a.m. - National Day of Prayer - Sommet Center, Plaza 6 p.m. - Leadership Donelson Hermitage - Donelson Senior Center, 108 Donelson Pike Friday, May 2 — Saturday, May 3 8:30 a.m. - Comcast Cares Day with PENCIL Foundation - 2501 McGavock Pike 10 a.m. - Grand Opening of Cumberland Pedestrian Bridge - Park at Wave Country, 2320 Two Rivers Parkway 2 p.m. - Coleman Regional Community Center Opening - 384 Thompson Lane Sunday, May 4 1:50 p.m. - Israel Independence Day celebration - Gordon Jewish Community Center 3 p.m. - Graduation celebration - C.E. McGruder Family Resource Center, 2013 25th Ave. N.
Politics / Woods McMillan Sends Message to Purcell
Posted by Jeff Woods on Mon, Apr 28, 2008 at 10:53 AM
By announcing her intention to run for governor so early, Kim McMillan is telling Bill Purcell to stay out of the contest. There's room for only one liberal candidate to go against Lincoln Davis in the Democratic primary, she's saying, and she's it. She hopes to discourage Purcell by showing fund-raising strength and generating excitement as possibly Tennessee's first woman governor.
She's off to a good start. Coinciding with her announcement, Jimmy Naifeh and Jane Eskind were prepped to say good things about McMillan to reporters.
Purcell has always been a cautious, risk-averse politician, and the betting here is that McMillan could succeed in keeping him on the sidelines.
It's Too Easy Being Green
Posted by Matt Pulle on Mon, Apr 28, 2008 at 10:45 AM
From the East Nashville listserv:
My wife and I have been sharing a Prius since moving to Nashville, but I'm now on the hunt for a sturdy and (quite) affordable diesel pickup truck which I'll convert to veggie oil. The need is twofold: I need wheels, AND the Sylvan Street community garden project is coming to fruition and we need a truck in the family to move tools, lumber, soil, seedlings, etc. (more info at sylvanstreetgarden.org—site maybe not live yet). SO...your help with this would be good for me, good for the air and good for the the community. Any thoughts? Any leads would be very much appreciated.Far be it from me to mock someone's commitment to environmentalism, but when people earnestly trumpet their dedication to living a green life as if it were an emblem of virtue, I want to buy a Hummer, move to a Brentwood subdivision and appreciatively listen to Phil Valentine argue against science. Seriously. Can't we just figure out ways to drive less, recycle more and shut up about it? Maybe it's not that conservatives hate the environment—although that's not a bad point—it's that they understandably loathe people who brag about driving hybrids. OK, I'm done now.
Friday, April 25, 2008
The Worst Pith Post Ever
Posted by Matt Pulle on Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 2:50 PM
So we're having blogger's block today. We already wrote about Puryear, we're kind of over Tuke and The Tennessean. Your state lawmakers have left for the weekend and what is there ever to say about Karl Dean? And besides, it's beautiful outside. Jeff left the office a little after 10 a.m. to hike the Smokies and Liz just left me a voice mail about a stray dog she found at Radnor Lake. It's just me manning the controls here at Pith and I'm lonely.
Anyone doing anything fun this weekend?
Breaking News Gus and CCA Are So Not OK
Posted by Matt Pulle on Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 10:56 AM
State Rep. Mike Turner has fired off a missive to Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner George Little about the spate of questionable practices and incidents that have landed Corrections Corporation of America in the news. CCA, as you'll recall, contracts with Tennessee (along with many other state and federal authorities) to run their prisons and jails.
In his April 16 letter, which Pith obtained this morning, Turner mentions the Time magazine story that alleges CCA counsel Gus Puryear allegedly whitewashed incident reports on escapes and unnatural deaths, so as not to alarm the company's clients. He also cites The Tennessean piece on an inmate at a Metro-controlled, CCA-run correctional facility who went nine months without a shower, as well as the recent Nashville Scene article that reported how guards at that same facility falsely claimed a jail-cell surveillance camera wasn't working—just one day after an inmate was found in her cell with a broken skull, according to the detective who wanted to review the footage.
In other words, it's just another day in the life of CCA and Gus Puryear—who, we should add, is called out in the upcoming issue of the National Law Journal for being one of Bush's most controversial judicial appointees.
