21st Century Journalism Standards Not for Me

“All of this makes me deeply suspicious of the Internet, with its endless supply of bloggers,” writes the Pilot‘s Tony Stein, who notes that he has 59 years as a newspaper man. “What is their training?”

Stein’s launching pad for his fear-of-new-media diatribe was the suspension of “an MSNBC personality.” But as the editor of Hampton Roads’ major online news and culture website (blog if you’re nasty), you can forgive me if I took his essay a bit personally.

Wait a second… Did I just admit that I took something personally? Meaning that this reporter has–God save us all–… feelings?

Stein yearns for a time when reporters “put aside personal feelings and carefully construct(ed) a story that is accurate and free of any personal bias.”

Let me ask you, dear reader: Have you ever been unbiased about anything? Like, in your entire life?

To me, journalists writing in the first person–and stating their biases and experiences upfront–brings journalism closer to its ideal state, just not in the form the old guard would hope. Journalism, at its best, holds a mirror up to society and asks, “Are you okay with this?” To deny that someone is holding the mirror… to deny that human hands crafted the mirror… is a lie in-and-of itself.

Not a journalist. (The Queen of Sheba Meeting with Solomon)

2oth Century journalism is built on a slight of hand: that objectivity exists at all.

Us writers and reporters, we’re just people, y’all. I’ve intimately known dozens of journalists over the years. We tend to be good people, in my biased opinion. But modern day Solomons, we are not.

Humans are hardwired to have opinions. I believe it was Oscar Wilde who said that opinions are like assholes, everyone has one. To ask a person to feign objectivity is to force them to play a game of reality roulette: spin a little this way to make up for that personal bias I took into the story, spin a little that way because the person I interviewed gave me a good feeling in my gut and I don’t want it to influence my reporting, then pull the trigger and hope the truth comes out.

Another way of looking at it: It was Walter Lippmann (trust me, I actually looked this one up) who said that, “There can be no higher law in journalism than to tell the truth and to shame the devil.”

I agree. But we’ve all got pretty different ideas on what the devil looks like, don’t we?

For my money, I’d rather know where the writer stands going into a story. Because he does stand somewhere, whether he admits it or not.

That’s why everything you read in AltDaily is in the first person. We are not, by most any old school journalism standard, “journalists.” I love the Pilot and all other news sources that strive for objectivity. I thank them for it. I admire them for it. And, I hope, the people over at the real paper don’t look down at us because we are something different than what they are, than what they’re used to. Because that would be horribly biased of them.

P.S., Tony Stein, to your (whether you meant it this way or not) snide question about our training: I have a master’s degree in journalism from N.Y.U., where I worked under Pulitzer Prize and Emmy winners on a daily basis. I also have an MFA in non-fiction writing from Old Dominion University. I interned in the research department of America’s largest producer of sports journalism, ESPN. I trained at my college newspaper, the University of Connecticut’s Daily Campus; was the managing editor of a Long Island newspaper; and a staff reporter for a weekly in San Diego. Your paper thought enough of my writing to publish me, as did the San Diego Union-Tribune. The New York Times must think I’m not such a blogging Internet psycho either, since they’ve published three of my op-eds. I would mention being the executive producer of a docu-drama series for Black Entertainment Television, but TV is icky technology, and this paragraph is supposed to make you feel safe, so forget I mentioned it.

All of this is to say that, at least locally, you can sleep a little better knowing that the editor of the alt online news source actually does have some formal training.

How Much Do School Employees Make? Find Out Here

Cliff Notes: Not enough.

To all the teachers, thank you for giving your life to our children.

Former Va. Beach Sheriff Helps Secure Large City Contract

Thank you for existing, Pilot.

Alcoholic Energy Drinks are Swill – I Mean, Swell

I just don’t see how alcoholic energy drinks are all that different than beer or cigarettes, except that they don’t have a big enough advertising budget to convince us otherwise.

One of our writers had a funny response to the local reaction to alcoholic energy drinks:

“My local TV news talks about Four Loko as if the terrorists had won and they were administering the drink to old ladies as a mandatory enema.”

By the way, AltDaily wrote about these back in February 2009… except the blog was a tip on where to buy Joose cheap. So why don’t we just… uhm… not link to that one.

Meet My New Girlfriend, Jane Jacobs

If we all thought of ourselves as citizen city planners, what a wonderful world in which we’d live.

“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody,” Jacobs said, and then I flew through time to kiss her.

If you ever wonder why your city doesn’t feel more alive, you might want to consider the perspective of the people who planned your city.

“…that the sight of people attracts still other people, is something that city planners and city architectural designers seem to find incomprehensible. They operate on the premise that city people seek the sight of emptiness, obvious order and quiet. Nothing could be less true. The presences of great numbers of people gathered together in cities should not only be frankly accepted as a physical fact – they should also be enjoyed as an asset and their presence celebrated…”

Jacobs was not a city planner. She was not an elected official. She was a regular–if completely extraordinary–person. But she took on the mighty Robert Moses, and stopped him from ruining lower Manhattan.

We, my friends, have that potential here too. All we have to do is care, and try.

And in case you still kind of hate/love your ex

Dear Old Love is good for you.

8 years. $16.1 million spent. And still just a Norfolk drawing.

You know that big ratty hole at the end of Granby St., down by the park? This predated my time here, so it’s news to me that the City spent $16 million on the site. They tore down *three* historic buildings to build our lot of sadness. (Man, in a region with so little physical history, is that depressing to me.)

“Officials agree nothing will happen until the economy improves and the slumping hotel industry revives.”

Which, let’s be real, won’t be for years, if ever. Until then, what are you gonna do, City? Leave it as an eyesore? Or find a few bucks and turn it into basketball courts? Or a weekend market? Or anything other than the blight that it is?

Step up, City. Step in, Downtown Norfolk Council, Downtown Norfolk Civic League, and anyone else who cares and has a little Jane Jacobs spirit in them.

Transit Mode Share Trends Looking Steady; Rail Appears to Encourage Non-Automobile Commutes

“Over the past nine years, carpooling’s mode share decreased on average by 25.9% and biking’s share increased by 58.5%”

Hooray, biking.

This Too

Plug your zip code into this, and see all the good that would be created by a public bike share program.

There is Greatness in our Midst.

This weekend HRBOR (Hampton Roads Business OutReach) was presented with an award from Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, the NGLCC Rising Star Chamber Award. The NGLCC promotes growth and prosperity of gay-and-lesbian-owned and gay-friendly businesses.

There are leaders among us, and they come in all colors and forms.

A search for ideas to boost Hampton Roads

I’m hiding this one after 1,300 words because, for reasons this transplant can’t understand, it stirs a hornet’s nest of emotions in a lot of locals.

So I was at the meeting being reported on in this story. It was held by LEAD Hampton Roads, and the goal was to brainstorm ways to get the word out about Hampton Roads to the rest of the country.

I lot of great ideas were thrown around. But when I gave one of mine, I was literally shouted over by people from LEAD and the Hampton Roads Partnership. They threatened to kick me out. And I was there as an invited guest to help with ideas, and not as a reporter.

What did I suggest that was so offensive? That we step away from the failed brand that is Hampton Roads, and move toward what the country already knows us as, Norfolk/Virginia Beach.

Please, people not in those two cities, bear with me. I can hear you gathering your feathers and heating up your tar. Just give me a second.

Cities and regions are brands. Obviously, Hampton Roads needs to build its brand; that’s why the meeting was held. But you can’t build a brand until you have a brand. And right now, not only is Hampton Roads not a brand–raise your hand if when you travel you say you’re from Hampton Roads (yeah, didn’t think so)–but after 27 years of trying to push Hampton Roads as our region’s name, it is clearly a failed brand.

You don’t have to work at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce to know that when a brand has failed, or needs a new image, the first thing you do is change the name.

Here, we don’t even have to go that far. It turns out we already have a name: Norfolk/Virginia Beach. And it has some pretty cool connotations already: A mid-size, mid-Atlantic city on the water known for its Navy and, now, zombies; and a beach that is one of America’s favorite tourist spots (read: pretty, fun).

Calling this region Norfolk/Virginia Beach would be the professional advice of anybody on Madison Avenue. I promise you. So why do we keep calling it Hampton Roads? What people tell me is that changing the name would offend everyone who doesn’t live in Norfolk or Virginia Beach. Ultimately, I don’t think that would be an issue. The people that live here are pragmatists who care deeply about their home. They want what’s best for it. And calling this place Norfolk/Virginia Beach is what’s best for it.

(Semantic note: It could be Virginia Beach/Norfolk, since VB is the stronger existing brand, but then the word ‘beach’ gets lost in the middle, and you don’t want that. I could almost be sold on including Williamsburg in the name, since it has a better brand than VB, but Williamsburg/Norfolk/Virginia Beach is just clunky, and anyone who lives here knows that to bill the stretch between those three cities as one metro is to fib.)