Author: jbenton

For those wondering what else has been keeping me so damned busy the last couple weeks, here’s another answer: the DMN’s back to school section. As U.S. News and World Report would say, “It’s news you can use!”
I had four stories in the section: one on the federal rights guaranteed to special ed students, one on how to be a geek and research your school on that newfangled Internet, one on the state’s early reading test, and one on education acronyms.
On top of that, here’s my story from today’s front page, on the new, tougher state standardized test, the TAKS.
It’s been a busy couple of weeks.

Also: I’ll be on Greg Knapp‘s talk show on KLIF AM 570 tomorrow afternoon at 6:43 p.m. (Oh, the precision of the electronic media!) Mom always said I had a face made for radio.

For those wondering what’s been keeping me so damned busy the last couple weeks, here’s one answer: The Dallas Morning News’ new education page. (And yes, I know there are a couple layout screwups — I’ve been trying to get those fixed for days, to no avail. I did code the thing, but a few things were out of my control. Harrumph.)

Bad luck is wearing a vaguely loud, two-sizes-too-large patterned shirt to work, then being told you’re going to be on TV that afternoon. Live TV, no less.
Those seeking excuses to taunt and giggle at my expense should know I’ll be on TXCN every day this week, live, at about 4:20 p.m. This is along with WFAA tomorrow morning around 9:20 and a couple radio talk shows. I’m getting overexposed.

Richard Roeper has some interesting thoughts on the identifying rape victims issue. (He makes reference to an Omaha column in the story; here it is.)

Good morning! Here’s my story from today’s newspaper, on how a local Catholic school is asking all of its parents to undergo a criminal background check.

Classic journalism, about the fact Giants RHP Livan Hernandez wasn’t traded before this week’s deadline:
San Jose Mercury News: Hernandez happy to stay after hearing trade talk.
Contra Costa Times: Distraught Hernandez would have liked trade.

Newspapers routinely publish the names of people who’ve been murdered, or assaulted, or kidnapped, or had any number of other horrible things done to them. But when a woman is raped, most have policies banning the use of names.
This came to a head yesterday, when the two teenaged girls who were kidnapped in California were found. CNN and the rest had been running the girls’ names and photos all day (in the absurd overkill way we’ve gotten used to — but that’s another complaint). Then, when the girls were rescued and they told investigators they’d been raped, suddenly their names and photos disappeared.
(For instance, this is today’s New York Times story — no names. Yesterday’s, which included names, seems to have been taken down from the web site. This is the AP story after the girls were rescued but before they said they were raped — complete with names; this is the story after — no names.)
Anyone else think this is absurd? To me, this just dates back to the old premise that a woman who’d been raped was somehow spoiled and shamed, that she was somehow at fault. Is being raped somehow more shameful than being beaten or murdered? Not publishing the name (and thus treating it like every other crime) just increases the stigma attached to being a victim of the crime.
Here are a few other pieces on the topic.

Here’s my story in today’s paper, on the new school ratings released in Texas yesterday. Another snoozer.

Lo, vast is the reach of the CD Mix of the Month Club. Just did a sort on the Word file that holds everybody’s address. As of the July trade, CDMOM discs have made their way into 28 states (plus the District of Columbia), three Canadian provinces, and three other foreign countries (Australia, Austria, and Ireland). Close to 500 CDs have been swapped in total.