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Sunday Roundup
posted at 2009-02-22 18:31 | Last modified 2009-02-22 18:43
Hot topics
The N&O’s Ben Niolet had an excellent front-pager on the pros and cons of involuntary annexation.
The AP’s Gary Robertson had a thorough rundown of health plan changes proposed last week by SHP chief Jack Walker.
The N&O’s Joe Neff and Anne Blythe reported on improvements underway in the state’s troubled probation system.
Charlotte’s Jack Betts saw a little irony in Judge Howard Manning’s decision this week to overturn the state’s video poker ban. More on the decision itself here from the AP’s Gary Robertson.
The N&O’s Rob Christensen looks back at the history of unions in NC. Paging Norma Rae…
And Fay-O’s Paul Woolverton follows up with State Schools Chief June Atkinson on a proposal to make her office appointed, not elected.
Recovery room
- W-SJ’s James Romoser had a nice profile of NC's new Recovery Czar, Dempsey Benton.
- Romoser’s colleagues Laura Graff and Wesley Young compiled a Triad stimulus-money wish list.
- The VA-Pilot’s Catherine Kozak has an Outer Banks wish list, too .
- Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory wonders whether his city’s getting stiffed on DOT stimulus money. Char-O’s Steve Harrison has the details.
Reality check
Over at Talking About Politics, Gary Pearce defends former N&O ombudsman Ted Vaden’s move to the DOT. Vaden took some snark this week from folks who’d apparently forgotten that Vaden’s job had already been cut to part-time by the powers that be at McClatchy.
I’m with Pearce all the way, and not just about Vaden, either. There was no end of handwringing in the media this past week about reporters everywhere “jumping ship” to work as PIOs, flacks, speechwriters, etc. Those stories usually ran cheek-by-jowl with items about media layoffs, bureau closings, forced furloughs, and frozen dividends. Talk about irony.
A lot of us journos like to think of what we do as a calling. It’s a perspective that makes low pay and long days a little more bearable, sure - but kidding aside, there’s a seed of truth in it. For a lot of us, it’s just who we are.
Still, all the higher purpose in the world won’t pay a mortgage or keep a badly managed industry out of the red. And while we might see what we do as an avocation, the investors who own the commercial media see it as a dividend machine. Hate it or love it, that’s what it is. And if the industry can’t or won’t recognize the value of the talent that generated the dividends in the first place, why is anyone surprised when said talent goes elsewhere? That’s not a moral failing. It’s economic reality.
So I say good for Ted, and good for the DOT and the public, too. Vaden’s an excellent communicator and a smart guy who understands how to explain complex issues to everyday people. How is it a bad thing for him to earn a living at an agency in desperate need of someone who can do that?
Comments? Drop me a line.
