ashlandNEWScoop

Trace Harding Bungay, 06.02.2005 07:23

Organizational Meeting for a new high-quality local news service
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 9th
7:30 pm
SOU STEVENSON UNION ROOM 333
please join us

After the newspaper coverage (or lack thereof) of last Fall's local election, a small group of us have been kicking around ideas about developing a high-quality local news service with integrity and articles that actually inform people. The focus is to be on problems facing and decisions made by the City Council; the City Departments, especially Planning and Public Works; the various Commissions and Committees, again with emphasis on planning; the School Board; Charter Review; Mt. Ashland and the watershed; and whatever else becomes hot.

Our current thinking is to start off electronically, using the Rogue IMC, and perhaps later go to a printed form. The tentative name for the operation is ashlandNEWScoop, the coop part based on the expectation that people like you who know the need for broader, more in-depth, and nuanced coverage of local civic issues will be willing help out. Specifically we need reporters to cover such things as Council meetings, editors to make sure said meetings are covered, and others to help out with the organizational and administrative end. While there will be room for some editorializing, we hope to keep the primary emphasis on news.

I know that a lot of you already send letters and commentaries to the papers so why not put that effort into making ashlandNEWScoop THE local news source? This way the people who care about the operation of our city Government won’t have to depend on the vagaries, of the local papers to give them the information necessary to make informed decisions.

We're having an organizational meeting Wed., Feb. 9th, at 7:30 pm in SOU's Stevenson Union room 333. Please join us to discuss this project and, of course, to kick in any ideas you may have - it's all in the formative stage. Also bring along others who may be interested in making this effort a success. Together, we can make a difference in how our city does business.

Cheers, Jack Hardesty, Pam Vavra, Art Bullock, Arlen Gregorio, Eric Navickas, Colin Swales, Aaron Corbet, Gina Grant, Allyn Stone, and Trace Harding Bungay

WEDNESDAY
FEBRUARY 9th
7:30 pm
Southern Oregon University
STEVENSON UNION
ROOM 333

e-mail:: stinky@mind.net

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Tidings' hypocritical diatribe on NEWScoop 11.02.2005 - 00:49 Scot Bolsinger of the ADT throws down a gauntlet:  http://www.dailytidings.com/2005/0210/021005c1.shtml This column confusedly invokes the Freedom of Information Act (which requires federal agencies to release documents on request) and incorrectly asserts that any meeting involving one elected official confers every news organization a right of coverage. These inaccuracies obscure Bolsinger's generally valid point about biased activists posing as objective reporters of "news." As if objectivity were real... Bolsinger's hypocritical diatribe overlooks his own performative contradiction: he regularly publishes editorials on topics about which he also reports "hard news." Local elections and the Iraq war, for example. If, as consumers of Bolsinger's newspaper, we are to discredit "news" reported by people with an opinion, then the Tidings should stop reporting on topics that draw its editorial attention. Or else stop editorializing. Jay Lininger> premature conclusions 13.02.2005 - 13:42 I think it's too early to conclude that the AshlandNEWScoop will be a hot bed of liberal slant. Clearly, it's got activist roots but let's wait until it's all in print before we conclude anything about what it *is*. Clearly, the Tidings enjoys the trumpet charge more than the self-introspection that such a challenge to it's prominent position as Ashland's local newspaper would present. Dear Tidings, address the concerns of your customers! Expand, report and record! And dare I say, Wake up? John> One Attendee's Perspective 13.02.2005 - 16:33 From: "Pam Vavra" Subject: ashlandNEWScoop Date: Sun, 13 Feb 2005 12:32:16 -0800 To:  abolsinger@dailytidings.com Dear Scot, I found your commentary very ...interesting, to say the least. Here is my take on the "episode" that I wish you would consider printing despite its length. Feel free to email me with any questions you may have or suggested edits. Thank you. Yours, Pam Vavra 2800 Dead Indian Memorial Road 488-0434 >From my perspective, There was nothing sinister, dark, or improper about the ashlandNEWScoop organizational meeting on Wednesday. Attendees included a city councilor, a former city councilor, a planning commissioner, a tree commissioner, a bike and ped commissioner, a charter review committee member, two independent media volunteers, a former reporter/editor, a party organizer (me), and two citizens who frequently appear before City Council meetings, one of whom has run for city office in the past. In short, it was a gathering of people deeply concerned about and actively engaged in civic affairs and information dissemination. They were gathered in response to an invitation posted on a list-serve for Ashland activists and on the RogueIMC, to discuss a proposed method for sharing the kind of information needed to make thoughtful recommendations and decisions regarding issues pertaining to local government. No government business was discussed. No plans were hatched to injure the Tidings or anyone else. The principal topic of discussion was the pros and cons of utilizing web-based independent media collective, RogeuIMC, as a venue for the type of news stories and analysis forums the group hopes to foster. I was perplexed as to why the Tidings would send a reporter to cover this open, but not public meeting, and I was involved in the decision to ask her to leave. Had the Tidings sent someone to learn more about what information the group felt was lacking in existing news services such as their own, with an eye toward filling any perceived gaps, or to inform the group of the many difficult challenges facing news producers/publishers, it would have been welcomed and appreciated. I assumed she was there to cover the event, and agreed with two others (Jack Hardesty NOT among them) who felt it was premature to announce our plans, which were still in the early formative stages. This was very politely explained to the reporter, and she left without protest. I am even more perplexed at the many inches of valuable newspaper real estate that was devoted to opining over what our intentions might or might not be. Truth be told, we are not certain ourselves. We do feel we are not getting all the information we need to be effective at our volunteer roles as community leaders and activists from the Tidings. Which is not to say that the Tidings is failing its mission. Producing a product aimed at informing and entertaining mass readers in a way that attracts advertising dollars, is very different from producing information aimed at engaging people in discussion about their own participatory governance. I'm very concerned about ethics in journalism and I believe strongly in open process and inclusion. I'm not interested in participating in trumped-up controversies. I'm anxious to learn more about what people like me want to see covered in an alternative news source and want to work with a congenial group toward providing it. The goals of ashlandNEWScoop may be lofty and unrealistic, but I think we've got the makings for a good start. Pam Vavra> e-mail:: pam@nv.net Daily Tidings blehhh 14.02.2005 - 13:37 The Daily Tidings appears to be terrified of a handful of activists, but then again any paper of such meager talents rightly deserves to be. For lack of a nicer way of putting it, the Daily Tidings totally sucks. (heck, I've seen highschool papers that do a better job than these guys with far less funding). And I'm not saying the Mail Tribune's much better either. If there's anything this town needs, it's a better news source. I'd love to see an alternative to what we have. Anybody who's willing to give it a try is all right in my book. an observer>