Month: November 2004

Okrent’s new column argues for a journalistic trend I absolutely believe in: That journalists should be more free to include their own conclusions, based on their reporting, in stories.
“But haven’t we reached the point where denying the reader what a writer knows to be true is far more unfair than including it? I was delighted when, in ‘After 6 Months, Tyco Prosecutors Close Case Against Ex-Officials‘ (March 18), Alex Berenson described the prosecutor’s case as ‘bewildering,’ ‘tedious’ and having ‘rarely been presented in a straightforward way’ – a vision of the trial that would have been utterly unavailable had Berenson not dared to offer conclusive characterizations based on his own observations. On a much larger scale, I was dismayed when a reporter for The Wall Street Journal in a letter to friends (later passed around the Internet) described the horrors of life in Baghdad, and was criticized in some quarters for thereby jeopardizing her impartiality. But what she described was based on indisputable first-hand experience. If there was a journalistic offense here, it was that readers of The Journal had been denied knowledge of what this reporter knew to be true. Whom did that serve?”
Imposing false balance where there is none helps no one.
Also of note from the Sunday Times: Sitting in for Old Man Safire is none other than crabwalk.com-reader Erin McKean.

Here’s that story I hyped a few days ago: “James Wright was having some trouble with the science TAKS test last year at Wilmer-Hutchins’ Alta Mesa Elementary. He says his teacher was willing to help. ‘The teacher would walk around the class during the test and be like, “Hey, that’s wrong,” ‘ said James, now a 12-year-old sixth-grader at Kennedy-Curry Middle School. ‘You’d go through the answers and you’d say, “Is this the right one?” They’d say “nope.” And you’d say, “Is this the right one?” And they’d say “nope” until you got the right one. Then they’d say “Yeah” and nod their head.’ He’s one of several students and teachers in Wilmer-Hutchins schools who have come forward to support suspicions first raised by a Dallas Morning News data analysis that cheating took place on the TAKS tests.”
Yesterday’s story: “A prominent business leader and a former interim Dallas superintendent will be the state overseers in Wilmer-Hutchins.”

Today’s W-H story: “The Wilmer-Hutchins school board is no longer grounded. State District Judge Merrill Hartman agreed Thursday to let the board hold a meeting next week. He had issued an unusual temporary restraining order last week banning the trustees from meeting or acting on any subject.”

What the Chipmunks really sounded like. I love this more than I can say.

“He was paralyzed on the ventilator, his family was devastated, and the ICU staff was stunned at how quickly he was worsening.”

Today’s Wilmer-Hutchins story: “The leaders at the top are changing, but the news is familiar: Wilmer-Hutchins will not be meeting payroll this month.”
This story features no fewer than three global news exclusives, at least zero of which crabwalk.com readers will care about.
Also, it just got cited by plaintiff’s attorneys in a court hearing thirty minutes ago. Which is so exciting I have to use italics.
Trust me: I’m working on a great post themed around trends in 20th-century New Brunswick history. Stick with me! This W-H stuff will end eventually!

Now that’s record promotion: The Decemberists chronicle the making of their upcoming record.

Today’s Wilmer-Hutchins story: “After months of turmoil in Wilmer-Hutchins schools, the state is ready to take over.”
For the record, this isn’t the story I hyped up yesterday. That would be tomorrow, most likely.
Just to reward you readers for swimming through a lot of Wilmer-Hutchins these past months: Revising Hawaiian History for an Unambiguous Age, including info on the Hawai’i monarchy-restoration movement.

Today is the 15th anniversary of the toppling of the Berlin Wall.
Or, as I prefer to think of it, the fifth anniversary of my writing a story about the 10th anniversary of the toppling of the Berlin Wall.

From today’s paper: The Wilmer-Hutchins administration building was silent Monday night after district officials unsuccessfully tried to convince a judge its school board should be allowed to meet.
You may want to pick up tomorrow’s paper. If you see a big story on the front page with my name attached, you may want to read it.
If there is no such story, you’ll want to pick up Thursday’s paper. Either way you’ll be rewarded.