Read All About It... Or Not
Rob Wilonsky, on Unfair Park blog, links to a blog post by Rod Dreher of The Dallas Morning News about layoffs taking place at the News today. Dreher calls it "Black Friday" and talks about the miserable situation for the newspaper industry in general, not just the News. At the end, Dreher asks readers to click on his link to the new Dallasnews.com Opinion site, which Dreher edits, to help keep at least him among the employed.
What jumps out at me about this sad story? First, I hear the news not from The Dallas Morning News, but from Unfair Park. Second, the News' own employee, Rod Dreher, tells us what's going on, not on the News' own Web site, but from his sideline blog at Beliefnet. Third, when you go to the New's Opinion site, which Dreher plugs, you don't see any opinion about the layoffs. In fact, you find links to other Web sites like Unfair Park and The Observer, where, more and more it looks like you find the real news.
I'm not saying I know how to save the newspaper business. But I do know that The Dallas Morning News acting like it still has a monopoly on news in Dallas, controlling what's news and what isn't, isn't helping itself. Who better to write about what's happening in the local newsroom than the News' employees themselves, eyewitnesses to events? When the News is the last place to cover the news, you know a little why this newspaper, at least, doesn't stand a chance in the new economy.
Vote Straight-Party And Irritate the News
The Dallas Morning News published its second editorial trying to scare voters away from voting a straight-ticket. Given that Dallas County voters tended to vote Democratic in 2006, the implication is clear. The Dallas Morning News is trying to save a few Republican seats this year.
The logic used is intellectually dishonest. The editorial says that instead of voting for a party, look for recommendations from "groups that represent your interests," like "Texas Right to Life" and the "Texas State Rifle Association" and the "Texas Heritage Alliance." They include a token liberal group, but by excluding political parties, The Dallas Morning News implies that the Texas Democratic Party isn't a "group that represents your interest." Or the Texas Republican Party, for that matter, but in that case, maybe the News is implicitly conceding that the GOP doesn't represent voters' interest.
The Dallas Morning News doesn't list one of the most valuable sources of information on the candidates. That's the information produced each year by the League of Women Voters, a non-partisan political organization dedicated to citizen education and advocacy. Support your local league. Learn about the candidates. Then, don't be afraid of voting a straight-party ticket. Many informed voters do just that.
2 comments:
> Then, don't be afraid of voting a
> straight-party ticket. Many informed
> voters do just that.
I find the idea straight-ticket voting repugnant; it is political tribalism, the Balkanization of civic intercourse.
I vote for people and issues rather than for a party and in this case it worked in your favor. Although my choices resulted in many Libertarian picks on my early voting ballot I chose Obama for the top of the ticket.
I think he is the best choice for our country right now. I surprised myself by getting a little emotional when I pressed the Vote button this time. Voting for Obama felt like participating in something meaningful in our nation's history. The last time I felt something like that in a civic sense was when I enlisted in the US Army and swore to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.
bloggermouse says he votes for people and issues. That is compatible with straight-ticket voting. The parties take a stand on the issues, candidates that support those stands run on their party platform, and voters can vote a straight-ticket ballot knowing that they are voting for candidates who share the voters' own views on the issues.
Voters still have to be informed that everything I said above is how it is with respect to the party they intend to vote for. If there are races where the "wrong" candidate managed to get the party's nomination, then you might have to correct your vote for that particular race. I still consider this to be straight-ticket voting. Call it informed straight-ticket voting, with review.
P.S. I have similar feelings as bloggermouse about the significance of voting in this election.
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