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I'm reading the newspapers today (the Republic and the East Valley Tribune) and I'm struck by the number of liberal-bashing, Democratic-party-bashing stories and opinion pieces. Not that any of that surprises me, but where's the balance? Where's the folks writing in complaining about the purposeful misrepresentations? Where's the outrage from the Democrats? Are these propaganda rags or what?
During the election cycle, both papers did get slightly more balanced. But boy, after the Republicans got their hats handed to them, did the vitriol come out of the woodwork again. "Tax and spend." "Cut and run." "Party of Death." All clap-trap and no fact.
Maybe wealthy democrats need to fund the start up of a new paper that really is balanced. Maybe it's done completely online (since newspaper subscriptions are dropping like GWB's ratings). I know I'd drop my subscription to the paper in a heartbeat if a better paper came along. I'm sure all those other people who want just the truth would be willing to do so.
So what do others think? Is it time to start speaking loudly for an alternative paper? I think so.
Is it time for another daily newspaper?
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Posted By: tinchandler Posted on: Dec. 16, 2006 at 1:55 PM  8 Comments
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2.5 / 5
Based on 2 ratings.
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Dec. 16, 2006 at 03:12:26 PM
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| I am not very familiar with the East Valley Tribune, but the AZ Republic is the sorriest large city newspaper in the USA. When I travel, I always get the local papers and they put our local rag to shame. The Republic is so far up the asses of McCain and Kyl that I am sure John/Jon can taste the newsprint. I would love to see the Republic get some competition. Where's the folks writing in complaining about the purposeful misrepresentations? Well tinchandler, they are writing in, but are ignored. I have a perfect example. During the stem cell veto debate, someone (from a rightwing action group) wrote a letter to the editor about adult stem cell research that was factually incorrect. MiC (Moron in Charge to newcomers to our site) actually called the letter writer and asked her about her "facts." The writer admitted she didn't have the data to back up the claims she had made. MiC wrote an opposing letter to the editor, pointing out the inaccuracies in the original letter and the fact that she admitted she was in error. You probably can figure out if MiC's letter was printed or not. |
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Dec. 16, 2006 at 03:39:01 PM
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| To their credit, The AZ Republic actually emailed to let me know they were considering it. My experience is, when they send that email to you, you usually get published in one or two days. Not that time, however. If I didn't read the AZ Republic that is usually laying around at work, or in some fast food place, I wouldn't read it at all. It is a rag, with numerous pooly written or researched articles, a load of useless tripe thrown in, and absolutely no balance. The only redeeming thing is that they often print syndicated columns and op-ed pieces from more reputable newspapers and journalism sources. Too bad our homegrown AZ newspaper talent is few and far between. We could do better circulating a newsprint edition of the Voice of Arizona, including daily bylines by some of our more linguistically challenged article writers. I would subscribe to a local Phoenix newspaper in a heartbeat if it had some journalistic integrity. In the meantime, I recommend the email version of the New York Times, Today's Headlines. The limited but free version is a good place to start getting the current news and analysis, and complete online access (Times Select) can be purchased for a relatively low fee. [link:www.nytimes.com] |
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Dec. 16, 2006 at 06:23:36 PM
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Rating for this article
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| Welcome T.C. My family gets the Phoenix tabloid for the crossword puzzles and the Sunday coupons. That is it! Generally though, the way to fight the fascist news is to not by it! Your dollars are your votes. Vote them away. Fox news . . . turn them off. Although I did happen to see Bill O'really debating David Duke the other day? Who was the worse Human being? I am not sure which of those turds won. I think it was a tie.
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Dec. 17, 2006 at 08:54:31 AM
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| Run down on local papers Arizona Republican : editor was Dan Quayle's uncle. Dan's brother also was an editor for the Wickenburg Sun. Always manages to endorse every Republican candidate in competitve races. East Valley Mesa Tribune: even more Republican than the AZ Republican. They run Prickles City cartoon, which is basically a liberal bashing cartoon, and Vance David Hanson's article (or whatever his name is). He's a big time fascist, neocon war lover, who oddly still thinks Iraq was the right thing to do. Tucson Daily Star: Best paper in the state. Actual to god liberals on the editorial staff. Talk about moral values like helping the poor, and healing the sick. This may the last paper aside from the Minneapolis Star that is a liberal paper. Flagstaff's daily rag ? Don't remeber the name, even though two of my buddies worked there in the early 90's. Good paper, all the national stories are taken from the wire service, but the editorials were balanced, and generally fact based. Prescott Daily Courrier - In the most conservative corner of AZ, we got the most conservative rag. They run the drunk driver Mallard Fillmore cartoon, and run all the old Nixon hands' columns. The only use for this one is cartoons, local news, movie times, and to use under bird cage. |
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Dec. 18, 2006 at 05:22:47 AM
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| To me, a large factor in the political problems facing Arizona is we have, in large part, to have put the lunatics in charge of the asylum. Things get published as fact when they're far from it and some of the reporters are lazy to staggering proportions, accepting what a politician says as gospel. I can't say that I know how to do it, but maybe if we start complaining more often and more loudly and threaten to start a competing paper, maybe we'll get some needed changes or maybe someone will step up to make it happen. Arizona is being horribly served by the daily papers here and change is needed. Maybe a group needs to be formed to monitor the newspapers and report publically when they screw up. |
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Dec. 18, 2006 at 10:57:40 AM
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| I get the Az Republic(an) as well, mostly because I like a daily newspaper, grew up in a household where we always had one, and was a paperboy in the old days . . . . I guess . . . habit . . . The Phoenix Gazette was better, the old afternoon paper, even though owned by the same folks, I dunno, maybe I liked their sports writers better . . . but not many two-paper towns, or ones with an afternoon daily anymore . . For balance, I recommend: Weekly edition of the Washington Post Washington Monthly magazine U.S. News and World Report (or Newsweek if you must, better than Time, Inc.). We have a small town paper mailed to us as well . . . and I don't know, but maybe the Tucson Daily Star would mail you a copy? Might be a day late, but . . . Online stuff is all over the map, but you can access some of the NYT for free, columns mostly cost a bit . . . some stores have hard copy NYT for sale (our AJ's does for example). Then, of course, you can flip around the web all day with CNN, abcnews, msnbc.com, etc. etc. Greg Palast online is free; also many columnists at: www.alternet.orgcolumnists -- like Molly Ivins is there. Another of my favorites is: www.huffingtonpost.com. There are many more, the Center for American Progress, the Nation, Salon, MoveOn.org, etc. You could possibly get some friends who pay for online content to do some clever copying and pasting of columns to send you perhaps? The more I list online stuff, the more I wonder why bother with the newspaper at all? comics? ads? travel section? Who knows? We know what we don't know. . . or it's an unknown known, or a known unknown . . . Nobody knows. Write on. --KZ
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Dec. 18, 2006 at 08:31:41 PM
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| This is slightly off topic but a bit germane. This AM I was watching Fox News. The reporter was solemnly reporting on the death of one of the Mt Hood climbers and saying (paraphrasing) "Out of deference to the family and because the authorities have asked us not too, we are not going to reveal the name the deceased climber at this time." On the bottom of the screen at the same time that the reporter was saying it, Fox News had this: AP REPORTS THAT DEAD CLIMBER IS KELLY JAMES. |
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