Entries from June 28th, 2012

A Narrow Range of Ideas

June 28th, 2012 · No Comments · economy, journalism, role of government, tax policy, Uncategorized

By Arthur Alpert I like to read about ideas. The Albuquerque Journal necessarily deals with some but its range is narrow – in particular with ideas on business and political economy. It isn’t easy figuring out why the Journal’s marketplace is so bare, but let’s start with its choice of syndicated columnists. Here’s the list [...]

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Journal Story on Prostitution Ruling Has Legs

June 25th, 2012 · No Comments · Uncategorized

By Denise Tessier New Mexicans aren’t the only ones shocked to learn that online adult prostitution isn’t illegal (at least, according to a ruling by state District Judge Stan Whitaker). News and blog sites around the nation – from the Washington Post to msnbc to the Chronicle of Higher Education – have picked up on [...]

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Another Lesson in Tailoring the News to Fit

June 25th, 2012 · No Comments · economy, financial coverage, journalism

By Arthur Alpert Our next class in the Albuquerque Journal’s unique approach to journalism deals with J.P. Morgan Chase’s loss of a few billion dollars (maybe $2 billion, maybe $3, maybe more) as a result of a hedging strategy gone awry or wrong-way bets, depending on your point of view. Coming as the nation still [...]

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Power Outage

June 25th, 2012 · No Comments · Uncategorized

By Denise Tessier There probably wasn’t enough room for it, Monday’s Albuquerque Journal was so thin. Nonetheless, it was disappointing there wasn’t even a two- paragraph brief explaining Sunday’s four-hour power outage in the East Mountains. Calls to PNM’s recorded message Sunday (June 24) indicated the electricity provider was experiencing “multiple outages” and “widespread outages” [...]

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Chasing the DREAM Act: News Judgment Trumps Partisanship

June 20th, 2012 · No Comments · Uncategorized

By Denise Tessier When a reader approaches the Albuquerque Journal expecting a conservative slant, one’s view is colored to the point it can be surprising when the paper appears to favor, or give top billing to a “liberal” idea – such as President Obama’s policy announcement regarding the partial implementation of the DREAM Act for [...]

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Attention Must Be Paid: Journal's Coverage of McCleskey Email Story Is Praiseworthy

June 19th, 2012 · No Comments · journalism, open government

By Arthur Alpert Stop the presses! The Journal is digging into a story that cuts against its editorial agenda. That’s the fact and (as Willy Loman’s wife insisted) attention must be paid. To be specific, Dan Boyd reported June 13 that the Public Education Department (PED) culled a list of non-union teachers for the Governor’s [...]

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Good News for Journalism

June 15th, 2012 · No Comments · Uncategorized

By Denise Tessier Good news for journalism appeared on two fronts this past week. On Monday (June 11), a quarter-page ad at the bottom of Albuquerque Journal Business Outlook announced that readership of the Sunday Journal rose 15 percent (from 338,863 adults to 390,801) over the previous year, and readership of the daily Albuquerque Journal [...]

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Just Suppose

June 14th, 2012 · No Comments · journalism, role of government

By Arthur Alpert Suppose you owned a newspaper and wanted to use it to advance a political agenda that was rightist – sometimes conservative but more often radically rightist. And suppose that you, the newspaper owner, weren’t satisfied with editorializing along those lines or loading your opinion pages with ditto-headed writers, but wanted your news [...]

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The Long War

June 11th, 2012 · No Comments · health care reform, role of government, Uncategorized

By Arthur Alpert OK, it’s not on the top of the news agenda these days, but if you can put aside the presidential sparring, economy and Wisconsin recall for a moment, I’d like to remind you there’s still a war going on. I refer to the Albuquerque Journal’s long war on Obamacare, waged not just [...]

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Abstinence and Avoidance

June 5th, 2012 · No Comments · Uncategorized

By Denise Tessier Since May 23, the Albuquerque Journal article “Health Dept. Official Resigns After Pushing Condoms,” has lain on my desk; I’ve been waiting to see if the Journal would produce an editorial in defense of the doctor who resigned. A week later, “State Sees Spike In Cases of Gonorrhea” was the headline on [...]

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