Good points, well taken. You've convinced me the line "Adler was barking up the wrong tree when he complained to the city" is questionable, especially since the city could and should and maybe even did forward the concern to the appropriate authorities. But, contrary to popular opinion, I'm not the journalism police. And I'm still more inclined to defend than defame this reporter's coverage of this issue.
One thing we do as journalists -- with varying degrees of success -- is to demonstrate distance from our subjects. For instance, I happen to like Dave Cieslewicz. I really think he's a good mayor and a good guy. But I might poke fun at him on occasion or hold his feet to the fire over this or that, because I want to be seen as a credible interpretation of facts, not as his buddy. This job is not about making friends, which has worked out well for me. Was chiding Adler for barking up the wrong tree a bit snide? Probably. But it does serve to show that the reporter was not merely taking everything this source had to say at face value and holding him out as a beacon of pure truth, which would cause some readers to question his account. The truth is: People want journalists to be aggressive but journalists want to be fair. So sometimes what we do is sort of needle both sides, in various minor ways. The big boys, like our mayor, understand this. Citizens who go to the media to raise a concern should too. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 2:13 PM To: [email protected]; [email protected] Cc: [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: RE: [Bikies] Fish Hatchery road Bill, First I would like to thank you for your input on this topic, and for your recent column entitled "I'm not on your side". I found it to be quite a valuable tool for bicycle advocates who are considering contacting the media about an issue of concern. I would also like to thank Chris Rickert for picking up this story in the first place. That being said, I do think there is some merit to Darin's second point: "That the reporter has been let off the hook for suggesting that no one bothered to contact them about the problem - at the very least, the city of Madison passed along those complaints." While it may be true that the complaint systems between the city-county are flawed, that to me should have been a major part of the story. Instead, Rickert uses language suggesting that the bicyclist should have known to complain to the county: "But Adler was barking up the wrong tree when he complained to the city. While the areas around Fish Hatchery are generally considered city of Madison territory, Dane County is responsible for plowing the road, also known as County Highway D, from Wingra Drive south to near Oregon." It is not reasonable to expect a person to know which unit of government has jurisdiction over a particular road surface in Madison. I think it is reasonable for three things to have occured when Adler used the "Report a problem" website to complain about the plowing problem: 1) The City of Madison should have forwarded the information to the appropriate Dane County agency. 2) The Dane County angency should have forwarded the information on to appropriate county staff. 3) The City of Madison should have replied to Adler to let him know that the most direct way to get the problem addressed is to contact the county. > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: Re: [Bikies] Fish Hatchery road > From: "Bill Lueders" <[email protected]> > Date: Thu, February 12, 2009 1:02 pm > To: <[email protected]> > Cc: [email protected] > You're surprised about my reacting to a blanket condemnation of drivers as > cowards? Life is full of surprises. > Here's another: I just reread Chris Rickert's State Journal story and I don't > find it "ridiculous." It's not our job as reporters to accuse people of being > disingenuous simply for making statements you disagree with. (See > http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=24951.) Especially > since your indignation with the article is premised on a subtle distortion of > what it says. [snip] _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
