September 16th, 2009 07:48am
Linda Grist Cunningham
Last week we got a so-called “tip” on a news story about another conflict between Faith Center and Legacy, the charter school. The tipster wouldn’t give us the information unless we promised him anonoymity. We said no, and then we filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the information because it was public record.
We eventually got the information we needed — on the record and with no agreement of confidentiality — and we published a story. Our story appeared after the television stations broadcast their versions.
I guess the tipster didn’t like our “no,” so he shopped his tip elsewhere. We don’t use confidential sources as the single source for a news story. I cannot remember a time since 1991 when we have used a single anonymous source as the foundation for publishing.
And, when the demand to be confidential comes, I have to know who the source is. Period. We don’t take the information and we certainly don’t publish it unless I know the source and, in some cases, I will have met with him or her. In the situation last week, I figured out pretty quickly who the source was and said “absolutely not.” We’re not here to be manipulated or have the news manipulated by sources like that one. We’ll do our own reporting — on the record. It’s best to get it right and get it first. But if I must choose between right and first, I’ll take right every time.
It’s your choice whom you believe. But there’s a lot of junk floating out there these days that’s passing itself off as fact. You might want to do as we do — consider the source — before you decide to believe.
Here are a handful of links to other stories this past week or so in which separating fact from fiction from agenda was the order of the day. Why would journalists make up news? How many WEREÂ at the tea party? Was CNN right about the gun shots?
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September 14th, 2009 03:34pm
Linda Grist Cunningham
For any of us cynical enough to believe that the deals among the feds, Bank of America’s corporate folks and the old Merrill Lynch just have that “off” smell, today’s decision by a U.S. District court judge ought to make us applaud.
Someone, it appears, might be looking out for justice. Here’s a quote from the Associated Press story just posted:
“U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff held up his approval of the settlement, however, and ordered the SEC last month to explain why it didn’t pursue charges against specific executives at Bank of America over the accusations.
“Rakoff, in his ruling, found that the settlement “suggests a rather cynical relationship between the parties: the SEC gets to claim that it is exposing wrongdoing on the part of the Bank of America in a high-profile merger, the bank’s management gets to claim that they have been coerced into an onerous settlement by overzealous regulators. And all this is done at the expense, not only of the shareholders, but also of the truth.”
And, so now, it’s off to court. Rakoff did what no one else appears to have been willing to do: Make the “suits” account for what they’ve been doing. Sure, it’ll take forever to wind through the court system, but at least, this time, someone with some power said: Explain yourself.
September 10th, 2009 09:57am
Linda Grist Cunningham
You don’t spit into the wind, and you definitely do not call the president of the United States a liar when he is addressing a joint session of Congress.
Bless his little, pea-picking heart, as we said down South when I was a kid, poor, ol’ Joe Wilson, done dug himself a mighty hole with that outburst during last night’s presidential speech on health care. The South Carolina Republican Congressman’s mouth got the better of him when he yelled “you lie” as President Obama said his health care reform would not cover illegal immigrants.
Wilson, who has made no bones about his opposition to reform plans on the table, apologized for the outburst, but at the moment neither his Republican nor Democratic cohorts want to take him out for a drink and a chat. More like a visit to the woodshed.
Yelling at the president just isn’t the done thing these days. It’s considered disrespectful and, well, low brow. Congress sits respectfully. It registers its approval or disapproval by standing or sitting, applauding or not.
A joint session is not a campaign rally. Men wear suits, ties and hard shoes. Women wear red. A joint session is the last bastion of good manners and tasteful, albeit stuffy and understated dress codes. (History would show that back in the really old days, things were a bit less formal, but that’s a story for another day.)
Wilson’s motor mouth will do him no favors. He will be remembered forever — true or not — as the dumb, disrespectful redneck who couldn’t control himself. He looked rude, crude and socially unacceptable. His loss of control just proved that incivility is condoned by those in power, that yelling beats finding solutions, that confrontation trumps collaboration. That’s sad.
So, was he right? No. Is Obama lying when he says illegal immigrants will not be covered? No. There is no provision in the primary legislation to cover illegal immigrants. None. In fact, it’s explicitly barred.
Language in House Bill 3200 Section 246 “No federal payment for undocumented aliens” says: “Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.”
Poor Joe Wilson. Must not have read that far.
September 9th, 2009 08:31am
Linda Grist Cunningham
This is the time for evolution, for close-to-home improvements that make a difference and lay the ground work for sweeping revolution in the next decade. This country needs, not tweaking and a repair job, but a complete replacing of the systems that support finance, infrastructure, education, immigration, health care, environmental security and defense.
The temptation is to upend and replace them all — right now. It is the agenda promised with the election of Barak Obama, and it is the agenda that most Americans want. We know there must be changes — and soon. We want them now. So, if we want them and support them, why in the world are we so divided? Why can’t we get the players to the table and work through the obstacles that will do the most good for the most people?
Because, simply put, we are not ready. Since they were first born right after World War II, the baby boomers have been the centers of their universes. We were taught by our parents that the one was greater than the whole. The mantra of the generation has always been: It’s all about ME. What’s in it for ME? It’s OK if you have to give it up, but not ME.
And thus is framed every argument against those seven crucial reforms. Eventually the mood will shift, somewhere in the next decade. When the Millennials, who are just now entering their power years take over and they will, the discussion will be shaped differently. It will be what’s best for the group, even if the individual must give it up.And, when that happens, we will get reform — reform that looks almost identical to the plans setting today’s tables.
Keep listening. Know what’s in the reform plans and make your plans accordingly. They will happen. Most likely not now, or not well now. But come 2015-2020? Sure. All done. And it will look easy.
September 3rd, 2009 05:41pm
Linda Grist Cunningham
For four weeks, Rockford has been on hyper-alert. We need to stop, take a deep breath, walk around some and get back to work on Tuesday.
Not for a minute am I diminishing the importance of the news of the past weeks. The city is tense and stressed. Every new headline mires itself in accusations and conclusion-drawing.
The ease with which we can all express our opinions — from rrstar.com comments, interviews and letters to the editor, to radio call-ins and television reports — adds to the hyper-alert sense that things are spinning out of control.
As I have written in earlier posts and in last week’s column, we are a scared people. We are scared for a variety of very real reasons and it causes us to lash out. That fear makes us far less likely to seek consensus and solution.
Today, we are tired, too. Too much news. Too much information. Too many opinions. Too much chaos. Too many headlines that we don’t want to read. Too much to ponder and sort through. We will make bad decisions if we act now.
Instead, now is the time to pull back. To put aside for a few days the finger-pointing and the action-taking. No, it’s not going to go away. Yes, we feel like we must do something, anything, right now. No, it is not easy to slow down and think, when running fast and doing stuff feels so much better.
Go downtown to Waterfront. Listen to some music. Eat a pork chop. Hug your kids. Hold hands with your partner. Sit on the porch and watch the neighborhood kids. Say a prayer. Sing a song. Walk along the bike path. Stare at the moon (it’s full; did you know?). Ponder all these things in your heart and head.
We will make better decisions and find better solutions if we do.
September 2nd, 2009 08:36am
Linda Grist Cunningham
The Rev. Jesse Jackson comes back to Rockford today to do five guest appearances, one of which is this afternoon with the Register Star’s Editorial Board. There are ten of us on the Editorial Board. We include journalists, the general manager, the publisher and community members.
We cover the political spectrum from left to right, though most of us are in the middle. We do one-person-one-vote on our positions and the majority opinion is published. I don’t always agree with the board’s position, but you won’t know that because our bylaws state that we do not disagree in public.
Several times a month, guests meet with the board: Politicians in search of support, organizations wanting endorsement or funding, newsmakers who help us understand what’s going on. We are a tough bunch and we make no apologies for the hard, pointed, sometimes confrontational questions we pose. We ask the questions no one else will.
So today these are among the questions we’ll ask Jackson: Why in the world would you do that theatrical reenactment when you don’t know the facts? What will you do to ensure that Rockford’s own leaders can bring the community together? Afterall, when you take the show home, we’re still here. This was the board’s editorial this morning.
The challenge, however, is that Jackson likes the stage. Based on what other editorial boards have encountered, to get a question in, we’re likely to have to be rude. To keep him on point, we’ll have to be even more insistant. We’ll be courteous, but we won’t back down. Rockford deserves his answers not just his inspiring rhetoric.
August 30th, 2009 07:21pm
Linda Grist Cunningham
Last Monday, just after two cops shot and killed Mark Anthony Barmore, the newsroom was warned: You’d better get over to the daycare center. There’s been a shooting. It’s bad.
We thought: Gunman kills little kids. Later that afternoon as we learned more, as we heard the names of the cops involved, as we pieced together the differences between the eyewitness accounts and the police accounts, we thought: This has the potential to rip this city apart.
Over the next three days, newsroom leaders reached out to sources, community leaders and acquaintances, asking one question and offering one piece of advice: We are deeply concerned about the potential for black-white confrontation on over this shooting. What are you doing to get out ahead of it? If you are not already planning to, then you must and fast.
And then we made these decisions internally. Our roles will be two-fold: (1) We will aggressively cover the news of the day, in fact and in context; and, (2) we will connect those who have power with those who do not by giving voice to those who have neither power or voice.
On Sunday, we made a third decision: We cannot become part of the news. That means neither our news journalists nor our Editorial Board journalists will stand “side-by-side” at the various press conferences or photo opportunities.
In part, I wish we could. In other instances, we have, especially among Editorial Board members. Being “in the know” gives us insights that add context and accuracy to our reporting and to our editorials.
Not this time. For us to appear at a press conference with one “side” or another would undermine our credibility and would add fuel to the factions that already believe we have taken sides. We believe we can do our best work by staying one step removed from becoming part of the news.
August 27th, 2009 04:36pm
Linda Grist Cunningham
We are scared people. We are scared because the world we expected ended the third week of September 2008 and we have no idea what is taking its place.
We are scared people. Asked how we’re doing and we grimace and say “well, as good as can be expected since I lost my job.” Or we shrug and sad-smile “well, I’m employed but who knows what the next e-mail will bring.”
We are scared people. When we are scared we fight. We look for conspiracies. We point fingers and blame others. We pull back to a corner and pull the corner in with us.
We are in danger of letting our fear turn us into polarized, paralyzed people. If the Rock River Valley is to find its footing in today’s frightening world and position itself to move forward after the Great Recession, we cannot continue the divisive arguing that has marred the past weeks.
We must find another way of talking. We cannot use the traditional, fall-back models. They are not working.
There are five local news stories, unrelated, except for a common undercurrent. Black versus white has become a steady part of the conversation in these five: the closing of the Lewis Lemon branch library; the investigation of a ranking firefighter; the shooting of a black man by two white police officers; the first-time jitters at Legacy charter school; and, the announced shuttering of Rock Valley College’s football program.
Add in divisive health care reform and there are six news stories. We are scared people. We don’t understand. We have no control. We see no resolution, no vision for a better way.
I have wrestled all week with the black-and-white anger spilling into our community. Ensuring accuracy of fact and of context is difficult when there is anger, fear and powerlessness.
To two who shared thoughts with me I am particularly grateful. This is what one asked: Is this really about black-and-white? Or is it about green, as in money and power?
An important question that I had not considered so clearly. Race is our fall-back argument; it’s what we know how to say and use. We don’t know how to argue about money and power — especially when we have none and when we are afraid that what we might have will disappear.
The second message was one of hope. We must craft a new model, he said, for talking. We are in the middle of the final transitions from old to new and we are frightened. Our leaders must show us the wonderful ways we could be, the ways we must become. We must hear from them their daily messages of hope and transformation. We must step up to share them and to shape them.
That will be hard, because we feel the unraveling; we feel the loss of power, control, money. We will be tempted to fight; to flee. Yet, I know it can find these new ways because those were the messages repeated again and again by men and women of all ages and all colors as I listened to them this week.
I can end the week in a very different place than I began. Have faith; do not despair.
August 25th, 2009 05:56pm
Linda Grist Cunningham
Over three decades of writing newspaper columns, I’ve learned three lessons: (1) keep it local and if it’s not local make it personal; (2) be respectful and go full out, straight on, or in slang language, “tell it like it is”; and, (3) never attempt humor or satire; no one gets it.
And, there’s lesson number four, learned over a decade of posting online: What passes for “respectful but straight on” online does not work in print. And, I have casually resorted to oh-too-clever, antagonistic, short-hand asides in some blog posts that flat out did not translate well to print.
Posting online is fast, quick and often off-the-cuff. That’s not what we expect from newspaper columnists. We expect them to be thought-provoking, not simply provoking. I forgot that and it got me in trouble with police and firefighters. It got me in trouble with the tax collectors. It got me in trouble with the PETA people.
I never intended to insult cops and firefighters when I said we need two-tier pension reforms in Illinois. But, the way I phrased it did. I never intended to insult property tax assessors, but the way I phrased my annoyance at my assessment increase did.
The anger, frustration and disconnect that underlies our community conversations today — from health care reform to library closings — will push us into hard-line camps from which nothing good can come. When I fall into the trap of using “fighting words” just for effect, I contribute to the hyperbole and hyperventilating that I so abhor.
Hence, my apology. Now the promise: I will remember that the words we choose to come from the News Tower have the power to do great good and the power to do great harm. We will chose well. I promise.
August 20th, 2009 08:55am
Linda Grist Cunningham
Those of us who work downtown rarely curse the traffic. Might have to wait a couple turns of a stoplight occasionally or rely of the kindness of strangers to let you cross an intersection, but traffic jams during the work week are not normal.
We swear during the June high school graduations. We swear during On the Waterfront. But, most week days, downtown traffic is fine, even with the construction going on.
So we get really testy when traffic jams do happen. As they did this morning. There’s a leadership conference at the MetroCentre today and for 90 minutes or so traffic in downtown was all but gridlocked.
I’m all for developing downtown and making it and its venues happenin’ places, but if that happens, the city’s going to have to figure out WAY better ways of managing traffic. No signs, no alternatives, not much visible sign of anyone directing traffic. Just cars pushing and proding, inch by inch, and tempers clearly frayed. Not good. Not good for those who work downtown. And, definitely not good for those who visit.
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