Category: Journalism

Best Website In Philly

Best Website In Philly — BillLawrenceOnline.Com has been named “Best Overall Website” in this year’s Philadelphia Press Association Contest.

In second place was KYW-CBSPhilly.Com while DailyLocalNews.Com took third.

BillLawrenceOnline also swept the Editorial and News Writing website categories receiving first place in Editorial for It’s A Thug’s Life At Drexel Or Culture Counts and first place in News Writing for Did 35,000 Scouts Boo Obama?

The site took second place in the Editorial category for Pennsylvanians, Prepare For Serious Pension Pain and third place for Should We Cut The Size Of The Pa. Legislature?

The site took second place in News Writing for Springfield Murder Motive Reportedly Love Triangle and third place for The Crucifixion Of Greg Skrepenak.

The Grand Award for Public Service went to NJN Public Television for “Decoding Autism”.

The Public Service Award For Daily Newspapers went to the Courier-Post for Jeremy Rosen’s articles regarding the Medford, N.J. police chief.

Overall Weekly Coverage was won by The Jewish Exponent.

Breaking News Television was won by LIsa Voyticki of WZBN who won several other awards.

Radio Public Service was won by KYW for “The New Spin On Gambling”.

Click here for a complete list of winners.

Best Website In Philly

 

Best Website In Philly

Inky Circ Gets Uptick But . . .

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s average daily circulation for the six-months ending in March 2011 was 343,710 making it the nation’s 13th largest daily while its Sunday circulation was 488,287 putting it in 12th place in that category.

This is an increase of 1,349 daily and 10,701 Sundays from the period ending in September.

There is a caveat regarding any celebration because the Audit Bureau of Circulations which tracks these things changed its main metric from “paid circulation” to “total average circulation” which allows for inclusion of digital products and “branded editions” which means different nameplates with different content, which in the Inky’s case would be the Philadelphia Daily News.

The Inky actually has been taking advantage of the “branded edition” policy for a year, and, in fact, fell a few places  in this tally because other newspaper companies are starting to do the same thing.

For this tally, the Daily News readers inflates the Inquirer daily circulation by 71,128.

Rolling Stone ‘Expose’ Exposed

Rolling Stone ‘Expose’ Exposed — The Rolling Stone expose alleging widespread thuggery by members of the 5/2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team in Afghanistan has been shown overblown to the point of dishonesty by war correspondent extraordinaire Michael Yon, a former Green Beret who has been covering combat in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2004.

Yon notes that the hope-it-dies-before-it-gets-older hippie mag mingled legitimate combat footage with a murder committed by a handful of members of that brigade who were subsequently turned in by a fellow soldier and prosecuted in due course all without media outcry.

Yon’s story can be found here.

 

Rolling Stone ‘Expose’ Exposed

Some More Criticism Of The Daily Times


The Delaware County Daily Times, today, devoted almost four pages — including the front page — of its ever shrinking paper to the recent allegations of sex crimes by clergy of the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

They used the men’s names and extensively quoted a fellow with a blatant ax to grind who baldly convicted the accused.

The allegations stem from a Philadelphia grand jury report last month which resulted in charges being levied against three priests and a teacher, and said that 37 others remained in the ministry “even when there is very convincing evidence that the accusations are true.”   These 37 included the 21 whose names became public two days ago when the Archdiocese put them on administrative leave.

Still, in all this righteous rage and huffing, there was no solid explanation as to why the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office wasn’t prosecuting these men being as how “there is very convincing evidence” and such.

The next-to-last paragraph of the main story mentioned that charges were never filed against some mentioned in a 2005 grand jury report concerning sex abuse in the Archdiocese due to the statute of limitations having lapsed but then said the statute was expanded in 2006 to age 50 for the victims, and never explained why those mentioned as having “very convincing evidence” against them in the 2011 report were not being prosecuted.

You think there might be a large religious institution being set up for some money-grab lawsuits?

Anyway, back to the Daily Times. Contrast the way it handled the story involving these unarrested, uncharged and unconvicted Catholic men with the wire story it ran on page 21: TV exec gets 25 to life for beheading wife.

Granted, it wasn’t a local story but one would have at least  thought they would have mentioned the name of the network at which killer Muzzammil Hassan had been an executive, actually CEO. It was Bridges TV which he founded in 2004 to counter stereotypes that Muslims were violent people.

You think if it was a Catholic network it might have been noted?

Times Fails To Address Key Questions On Khawaja


The Delaware County Daily Times, today, published my letter regarding the March 12 banquet the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Philadelphia chapter is going to have at the Springfield Country Club.

It can be found here.

Thank you, Linda DeMeglio.


Olbermann Has New TV Job

Former MSNBC personality Keith Olbermann has been named chief news officer on Current-TV, the  cable network started by Al Gore. Olbermann will host a nightly “news” and commentary show according to the network’s websitewhere he “will lead” the programming slate.

“Nothing is more vital to a free America than a free media, and nothing is more vital to my concept of a free media than news produced independently of corporate interference,” said Olbermann in  statement.

Olbermann’s compensation will include equity in Current Media, the corporate owners of Current-TV.

Olbermann left the constantly low-rated MSNBC on Jan. 21 three days after the network was acquired by Comcast along with the rest of NBC Universal.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing with regard to Current-TV is that has even fewer viewers that Olbermann’s old network.

Corporate question of the day: will Olbermann’s stake of stock cause him to stifle the spit and spite for the benefit of profits now that they are his own?


Olbermann Has New TV Job

Philly Abortion Outrage Hits Sour Note

The headlines of today’s dead-print publications in Philadelphia were filled with outrage regarding the revelations of what occurred in the West Philly arbortuary of Kermit Gosnell. “Butcher” screamed the Daily News. The Inquirer put his orange-tan face beneath the banner and headline saying he had been charged with eight counts of murder. They did politely refer to him as a doctor.

The abortuary at 3801 Lancaster Ave. was named the Women’s Medical Society. It was the site of about 1,000 abortions per year and served a mostly black clientele. It had been open since 1979.

The charges were announced yesterday. Gosnell is charged with third degree murder for the death of Karnamaya Mongar 41, a native of Bhutan who traveled from Virginia to die in his clinic in November 2009 after being overdosed with anesthetics by an unlicensed staff member. Gosnell is also charged with murders of seven babies born alive who he killed by sticking scissors in the backs of their necks.

The babies were born during the sixth, seventh or eight month of the pregnancy.

Four staff members are also charge with murder either for the death of Ms. Mongar or the death of a baby.

One staff member is charged with performing an abortion at 24 or more weeks in violation of state law.

Three are charged with conspiracy and/or perjury and related crimes.

Pretty sick stuff. Maybe the outrage should be considered social progress. But then the memory of how these same publications fought like cornered rats to keep Pennsylvania’s late-term abortion law from coming to pass, and the vicious, and often untrue, attacks made on its proponents.  They deserve no honor or praise. Their late epiphany just leaves a sick feeling in the stomach.

A thousand babies a year since 1979.

Wonder what Tony Auth’s cartoon will be tomorrow?

And one wonders how President Obama feels about Gosnell’s prosecution.  Twice as an Illinois state senator , Obama opposed opposed legislation to
define as “persons” babies who survive late-term abortions.

Philly Abortion Outrage Hits Sour Note

Defend Rush, Will The President?

Will The President Defend Rush? — President Obama, Wednesday, gave a wonderful speech at a memorial to the victims of the Tucson shooting held at the University of Arizona in the city.

He went off script to add the words “it did not ” for emphasis to a paragraph in which he baldly stated that heated political discourse was not responsible for the actions of the murderer.

His political allies among the dying dinosaurs of the once-dominant media have been attempting to convince Americans that a communist-praising, flag-burning, skull-worshiping, mentally unstable Christian-hater had been somehow inspired by prominent Republicans.

The President’s command for them to chill was, as one counts, his first attempt to impose national unity as our nation’s leader.

So sincere kudos but for him to succeed in his desire for “civil and honest public discourse” he must not stop with that one phrase uttered on one day. He must speak out in defense of all Americans — even his political adversaries — when they are on the receiving end of hate and lies.

When the Tea Party Movement is accused of racism, he must say they are not racists since they are not. When the Pro-Life movement is accused of being misogynist bullies, he must say they are not since they are not.

When a scary effigy of Sarah Palin is hanged high  from a window and then given wide publicity, his voice must be the loudest in saying take it down. When Rush Limbaugh is falsely accused of uttering vile, bigoted words, let the President be the first to come to his defense.

That he disagrees with Sarah and Rush would only make him look bigger and he might start getting the “civil and honest public discourse” that he claims to want.

Will The President Defend Rush?

Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist Spreads Hate

Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist Spreads Hate — Annette John-Hall wrote in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer that “words matter” in trying to explain the Tucson shootings and then listed a litany of word crimes committed by opponents of President Obama and the Democrat Party.

Among the examples of hate she used were  calling the President “a liar, a socialist, a racist and an alien”.  It seems this sort of stuff became hate on Jan. 20, 2009. Must have missed that memo. It certainly wasn’t called “hate” before that. Then it was called patriotism.

In the next paragraph, however, she crosses the line from simple ninnyness to become a spreader of hate herself when she writes
It wasn’t Democrats who spit on members of Congress and called them vile names during the health-care debate.

Of the myriad of recording devices on the scene whether the expensive cameras of professional news crews or simple cell phones, not one managed to capture such a thing despite a $10,000 reward offer for each use of said vile name found. 

One wonders why Annette John Hall can’t see the irony of using an unfounded allegation to demean an entire group whose protest did not in the slightest involve a race issue.

Making things up to acquire power and destroy the innocent is certainly not a thing unknown to the self-proclaimed caring progressive .

Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist Spreads Hate

Outlaw Teacher Strikes

Outlaw Teacher Strikes — Today’s Delaware County Daily Times had a tough editorial calling for the abolition of teacher strikes.

The Times points out that teachers in Moon Area School District across the state in Allegheny County went on strike after being offered a 2.88 percent raise. The Times also notes that teachers in the Bethel Park School District, also in Allegheny County are striking. The Bethel Park teachers  get salaries of between $45,700 and $92,548. They are offended, however, by the district’s request that they pay 2 percent of their individual health plans and 4 percent of their family ones. They now pay 0.5 percent and  0.9 percent respectively.

Has it started to dawn on anyone that teachers union really isn’t “for the children”?

And to the Times I say welcome to the club.

In 1990, I won an award for the editorial “Scrap Act 195”.  This was the 1970 law that allowed teachers to strike. The law was scrapped in 1992 and replaced with Act 88 which put some limits on teacher strikes. Ultimately it was nowhere near enough. The appropriate thing to do is to give school districts the power to not rehire teachers when their contracts end. It would require ending the tenure protection as well, but unless you a teacher or married to one, does that  really bother you?

These reforms are not just about money. Considering the cruelty of requiring a widow surviving on Social Security to cough up an extra couple hundred dollars each year — and that’s cumulative remember — just to keep her home, money should be more than reason enough to support banning strikes and tenure.

These reforms, though, really are ultimately about the children.

The  website StopTeachersStrikes.org has excellent background on the issue.

During my own little crusade I published a list of teacher and administrator salaries of some of the districts covered by the newspapers that I edited. It was quite controversial and even got me an interview with the superb Vern Odom of WPVI-TV which is Philadelphia’s ABC affiliate

Well, the web has made things a lot easier for that sort of thing. The salary information for public school employees in Pennsylvania can be found here.


 Outlaw Teacher Strikes