Promises of “hybrid Journalism” from the North Coast Journal appear more and more impotent.
First, the alt-weekly lost its “web guru” Hank Sims after surprising him with a demotion new job title that was less prestigious than the one he held for some six years, which the publisher gave to an old friend.
Now the Journal blog is being attacked by spambots. Need to learn how to pick up the ladies? Make more money? Maintain an erection? Visit any number of comment threads at the NCJ to learn how.
In fairness to Abate, they’re tasteful, high-quality spambots offering only the comeliest companionship on the web. But they’re in London, which seems a gutter too far in these impecunious times.
I suppose Hank used to read the comments and delete the dildos. I wonder what Tom does all day, with all that time he saves by ignoring county issues?
There is no need to do it manually, if you will excuse the pun. Most blogs have spam filters. The Herald is hit by spam everyday, most of which you never see.
So very painful. Although some of those spams are nearly poetic.
Also… “Keep it up”… hahahhahaa.
I’m finding it all very hard to swallow :)
Oh the poor Journal, Hank will be sorely missed, and as far as I’m concerned they deserve what they get, kind of like the Eureka voters….oh, btw….is that THE Jennifer Savage the teenage boys over at the “Mirror” drool over! wow…..what an honor! :) we love you here too Jen, but we really DO, or used to, ‘read the NCJ for the articles”!
The comments thus far are tremendous.
I don’t think they’re teenagers if they’re drooling over me… And in the bigger picture, I do hope at least a few people out there like for me for my writing skills, such as they may be — and more importantly, that folks continue to appreciate the staff/freelancers that are sticking it out. A lot of talent still exists at the NCJ, editorial leadership aside.
Despite the fact that my favorite column is gone from the Journal, I will still read it thanks to the talent that remains on board. So glad to have Barry, Charlie, Ryan, Seven-o-heaven, Heidi and Bob…
Thanks for the erections!
Yes, Jen, you’re right– and we really DO. Welcome. What an honor. May I say you’re in better company here than at the Mirror. Why? They’re darkly stinkier than a carload full of assholes. Forget that filet for Hi-Fi mentioned elsewhere. You deserve flowers, Jen. Today.
You can talk about the talent still left in the office, but man, if you don’t have your self esteem, you’ve got nothing. I understand that staff members are stuck due to the economy, but the columnists have no excuse for not leaving. Jen has distinguished herself as having character.
It warms my heart that Judy has given us this wonderful gift to discuss on the Herald, something everyone can agree upon to despise and/or lament.
I saw Tom Abate speak at a Rotary meeting and twice he made comments about hoping his words didn’t get blown up in the blogospere. Came off very paranoid.
Tom if you’re reading this comment (you are) it’s gonna get a lot worse, dude.
The last issue of the NCJ was very good. The beginning of a new trend.
Jennifer, your last piece in the Journal, the one about all the benefits of being destitute – made me chuckle a little. I knew it was meant as humor. But two of my best friends were offended. They did not see the humor, only the bleak reality you tried to spoof. They thought it was insensitive.
Insensitive was the tone Hank fostered. Good riddance to that.
“Tom if you’re reading this comment (you are) it’s gonna get a lot worse, dude.”
I call shenanigans on the 8:46 stooge.
The cover story this week is sustainable farming. How could anyone who has lived in Humboldt the past 10 years pick that story? It’s been done to death. I love the religious angle. Unlock The Secret, my friends! And then an extra editorial about sustainable farming? Huh? How is this alternative?
The Times-Standard and Arcata Eye have written on the topic ad infinitum and it sure feels like the Journal has written a thing or two in the past, certainly about CR’s program.
At the very least, nothing new has come out of the Journal yet, and certainly nothing hybrid.
He was more than paranoid at that Rotary Meeting. He was arrogant and narcissistic. It was my first opportunity to see him in action and he was everything he had been touted to be–a self absorbed jerk. I truly don’t know what Judy’s thinkin’.
What’s the matter, Anonymous. Somebody stealing your thunder? You obviously have a personal connection and your ego is injured.
You can stew in it, or move on. Go outside, enjoy the sun, and grind your axe out there. In here, you are so boringly obvious.
When in the last decade has the Journal been relevant? Seriously, every six months or so they would have an in-depth piece worth reading,but other than that it’s a just a rehash of the daily news in the area.
What I have been $since I read this weeks Journal cover story is, how many people are going to pay $25.00/$35.00 for the bash up at Redwood Acres this weekend?
That would be “wondering” how many will pay… where is Mavis Beacon when I need her?
It’s clear to me that ‘Change is Good’ has a vested interest in polishing this turd. Touchy, much?
I believe Hank made a big difference in the political discourse in HumCo. He raised issues and asked questions that were formerly only whispered about or not widely known. His journalism moved the county from knowledge of how local government operates being restricted to only those who have personal interest to it being known to the public and openly discussed. He used the Freedom of Information Act judiciously to call power brokers to account and went to court to stop unfair competitive practices intended to squelch his voice. The NCJ received national journalism awards.
But now it seems, the NCJ has met the Eureka Reporter with cloying boosterism and smug self congratulatory pattings on the back masquerading as news. Likely, we’ll soon be reading in the NCJ about cats rescued from trees and reports of local VIPs’ and their families’ travels, along with rambling essays more appropriate in a psychologist’s note book.
NAN, where have you discerned this “likely” trend?
Where?? For starters, the last two editions of the NCJ and Abate’s contributions to them.
Now, NAN. Certainly one as cultivated as yourself can manage a more convincing critique. I’m disappointed in you. Maybe you have become infected by our innate inferiority.
“Likely, we’ll soon be reading in the NCJ about cats rescued from trees and reports of local VIPs’ and their families’ travels. . .” Oh how I miss those stories and pictures of kids getting high and hanging themselves up with meathooks. Whatever happened to “if it bleeds it leads”?
Do you really think the Journal is an “alt-weekly,” Heraldo?
Now that you say that, I wonder if that was perhaps a basic philosophical difference between the publisher and the most recent editor that finally resulted in a restructuring of the editorial staff. I don’t think the publisher intends the NCJ to be an alt-weekly, and like it or not, the publisher gets to decide the vision and direction of the publication.
Tom.
Tom.
I would say some good alt weeklies include the SF Bay Guardian and Willamette Week in Portland. I’m not so sure that I would call the NCJ an alt weekly. Kind of more like a weekly newspaper and entertainment guide. Which is fine, but there is a difference.
What IS an alt-weekly?
yuck all around. the state of “journalism” in this county is ridiculous. I’m feeling a bit Twainy…
In my view, an alt weekly is a newspaper that covers stories about a region that the mainstream news does not cover. What is considered news by daily newspapers and TV news programs is very limited. So, an alt weekly covers the issues that fall through the cracks. Also, mainstream journalism relies on the crisis-expert response scenario and only grants authority to people in government or aligned with official organizations. An alt weekly is much more likely to cover neighborhood-specific issues, regard everyday people as valid players in a news story, and not always defend/support the government, police, etc.
An Alt-weekly would mean a weekly newspaper giving an alternative viewpoint.
NCJ really seems zingless. Are they trying to put us asleep? Actually folks, I was on the edge of my seat with that ‘Good Food’ story. The ‘Post Card Kings’ really had my attention too, on alert, so to speak. Sure glad I hadn’t taken that little blue pill first.
Maybe a story on the woes of Eureka’s finances and and this councils take on the latest local store closures, local unemployment numbers, How does Eureka city budget cuts compare to others local towns. Any steps taken to increase local employment? How long does the current city manager intend to stay on? How about a story on how much the new water rates really increased. My bill was up over 50%. Just some light reading, please.
Anonymous, Je ne suis pas Tom.
Sorry, dude. And, BTW, you really should get more exercise.
Meanwhile, the development community has circled their wagons at the county courthouse to continue their “principally permitted” right to sprawl, without a reporter in sight.
It wasn’t that long ago that talented writers at “community newspapers” around the nation were busy taking down a U.S. President and ending an illegal war.
Media’s focus today is on snappy, entertaining human-interest spectacles, and the tyranny of “positive thought” making the mildest dissent pass for moral acuity.
Sooo depressing…
Could an “alt weekly” be like an alter kocker? Nu?
Indeed.
Has anyone read the county’s Housing Element DEIR?
Why is it that local “advocates” for children, the aged, women, the ill, the disabled, the poor, the homeless, veterans, etc, etc, largely fail to submit written testimony that provides critical statistics, and advocates for affordable infill housing??
Everyone, in fact, does pay for the infrastructure and suffer the costs of poor planning, we need a community media that makes this clear to citizens and demands answers to obvious questions AT THE BATTLEGROUNDS!
The NCJ and TS’s rare visits to homeless camps are far-friendlier environments!
I was slightly alarmed to learn that our website is being invaded by spambots with, what was it, “any number of comment threads” infected. I went to the backend of the site to check it out and found a half dozen offending comments, mostly imploring you to “sell digital products sell your digital products.” I checked the appropriate boxes and they’re gone now. It didn’t seem like much of an infestation, but maybe someone else cleaned up head of me. BTW, you can check our comments here. (Incidentally, we don’t have the same spam filtering as your WordPress blog since our system was designed by Hank.)
He says he’s not Tom, and then drops a “dude” in the same paragraph. Nice. You’ve listened to yourself talk, right?
In tech circles, that’s not incidental. It’s a startling revelation. To rephrase: our website is run by software custom written and maintained by the guy who just quit. Two words: UH OH!
If you’re not worried, you should be. The next road bump that comes along is going to cost a ton to fix as some consultant tries to figure out what’s under the hood. Better start planning for your website replacement.
There seems to be a crazy amount of bitterness and spite surrounding the changes at NCJ. I know Hank has his fans — especially those who have interacted online with him I suppose — and Tom Abate hasn’t exactly endeared himself to Humboldt with his approach. But jeez, people, is it really such a big deal? Tom isn’t Hank. No shit. Isn’t it time to get over the fact that Hank ain’t coming back and at least give the new guy a little slack? It doesn’t seem very Humboldt to me to be this prickly. Does it to you?
Humboldt has a reputation for being the laid back mecca of the west. It’s mostly undeserved, methinks.
Anonymous, you won’t get the prize for perception. Sure, OK, you want me to be Tom, construct your reality.
You said -”Better start planning for your website replacement.”
I’m guessing, No problem. Plenty of smart people out there and times are lean. Speaking of lean, get outside and exercise more. It will help.
Sure sounds like him. It’s hard not to hear that voice when reading those words.
At least in the overheated world of the local blogosphere, anyway.
Exactly, 06em.
Most of the people I interact with in the real world are able to discuss local news stories, public figures, current events and political disagreements without all the nastiness, personal attacks, sneering disdain, spleen-venting, and general blog-rage.
So what I wonder is whether those I observe showing these dysfunctional characteristics online are actually like that in the real world, too, and it’s just that I don’t run into them very often because we move in different social circles? Or whether they suppress their inner rage while interacting with their friends and neighbors like normal people, but then go and “let it all hang out” here in cyberspace? Or, perhaps they are genuinely more civil and less angry in real life, and somehow the medium itself encourages anger and hostility and discourages thoughtful discussion?
Any theories?
Nobody who’s ever read Abate would believe he’s posting under a pseudonym. One thing he has always shared with Hank is a vociferous belief that anonymous comments are chicken shit. Check his old blog posts if you don’t believe me. Not that I agree with him, obviously, but that’s long been his position and frankly he’s too narcissistic to pretend to be somebody else.
So who would go around posing as him?
Hi tra — I believe that the apparent anonymity of the blog-world and internet encourages nastiness, incivility, and unreasonableness. Face-to-face or in public conversation we have to take responsibility for our assertions. There are also laws about slander and libel.
Outside of the net, how many places can you publicly make unsubstantiated assertions or derogatory comments or inflammatory remarks about others? The walls of stalls in restrooms? Scrawls on fences or the sidewalk? Anonymously distributed handbills or mailings? The blog-world is like these. Newspapers always required a name for letters-to-the editor.
Funny you should mention. The Journal printed a letter in last week’s edition by someone with a pseudonym. I don’t object, but it’s definitely not normal protocol.
Hank was a dick. A talented dick, but a dick nonetheless, who did himself in with his arrogance. If Hank had cloned himself, his clone would be pissing on Hank’s grave.
‘Nuff said.
People: don’t forget that there’s more than one person who is capable of running an alt-weekly up here. How ’bout Heidi Walters? How about Keith Easthouse? How about Marci the media critic?
There’s more than one way to skin a cat, or run an alt-weekly.
If the Eureka Reporter were still here we could get rid of the T-S and the NCJ. Ver y good NEWSpaper!
Gag me with a spoon!
A lot of people did not realize just how bad the Times Standard was until the Eureka Reporter came on the scene.
It pushed the T/S to be better and the competition made all the reporters hustle. Now the Reporter is gone and the T/S is worse than ever. Their “reporters” are 21 yr old kids that do little more than print press releases. The paper is mostly AP stories that we read on the web the day before.
Glup! I actually agree with High Fi! I’m going outside for a walk no matter how cold it is. i need some fresh air.
i am so tired of in-your-face critiques. come on Humboldt. we can do better.
Rumbustious 11:47 asked–
Outside of the net, how many places can you publicly make unsubstantiated assertions or derogatory comments or inflammatory remarks about others?
Answer–Fox Network, Rush Limbaugh…
I miss the Eureka Reporter too. It was good-looking, and the opinion pieces were unfailingly hilarious. The editor was an unfortunate choice, but I’d rather have a paper owned by a local wealthy right-wing tycoon with a stake in our county than a paper owner by a distant right-wing tycoon who couldn’t care less about Humboldt County.
That’s a hell of a choice. I’d rather have neither.
Did 4.26pm forget about CBS and Dan Rather ?
Rather’s evidence of Bush being a lousy soldier was just as good as Bush’s that Iraq was trying to buy yellowcake, probably the same source. People sure have bad memories when they can only remember that the memo was a possibly forgery, but forget that the information on it was never refuted.
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2010/112310.html
“…they’re gone now.”
The spam-bots are back.
HiFi, care to supply a quote from CBS and Dan Rather to support your claim?
Hi-Fi Can’t always be wrong. His comment about the T-S is spot on. The T-S was terrible before the ER and was driven to a better performance level during that time period. Subsequently, the have slid into the ‘ol Sub-Standard; low pay, under staffed, lack of investigative reporting, largely reprinting or re-writing press releases from governmental agencies and corporate public relations departments, and general cow-towing to advertisers. I find out a lot more from conversations with people whom I know than a local 100+ year old small town newspaper. In a small town, how could so many secrets be kept from the local newspaper? i.e. Statewide Bank’s failure, bankruptcy, and subsequent taxpayer bailout under it’s CEO, Robyn Arkley Junior?
well I would agree with HiFi, Larry and others, the Reporter made local newspapers better, but its like agreeing that its raining…
Certainly competition in the daily newspaper market forced the Time-Standard to try harder. Too bad that competition came from a well-financed but hopelessly ideologically biased offering, bankrolled by a local billionaire who then pulled the plug as soon as it was clear that the ongoing massive subsidization of his pet newspaper was no longer worth the hoped-for public relations benefits to its sponsor.
Xandra, Does running for council knowing, you didn’t have a chance, and that your action would knock out the best person for the job count as ‘doing the right thing”? You didn’t even try to get in the race. What was that all about Miss Right? You left us with a totally unbalanced council. Nice going, and don’t mind me if I pay no attention to what you say.
The newspaper business walks on eggs. Look what happened
to Knight-Ridder Investigative reporters can be slapped down when important people get unfavorably
featured. And ye//t// we still have exposees in spiteof pressure of “No Need to Know”
Anyone can write a Letter to the Editor
Support what you believe in–subscribe and share with others–BELIEVE!!!
The spam storm has increased at the NCJ.
Worse than ever.