Did you guys know that KMUD is offering free trainings with its multitude of news gathering techniques. This is something that should better known to aspiring journalists. They are actively engaged in community news at its best as they see, as Annie said over a year ago, that the news is what gives the station its integrity and uniqueness. But what Coate wants , Coate gets and once again, the Board went along with Coate who has decided it is more important to pay down the NPR debt than funding a news dept. A lot of platitudes were spoken at that meeting about how important the news is and it is a priority to get it back, but is anybody talking to KMUD about how to do what they are obviously doing very well? <br> Where is the investment of time and energy behind all the good intentions?<br> Only Doug McKenty had the courage to vote against the high price of NPR programming.<br> Where there is a will, there is a way. What we have here, is a profound lack of will. <br> I think this is the highest priority for the station, even greater than a Ukiah studio. But can't we have them both?<br> Recruitment, training, paying a Volunteer Coordinator so there is new energy coming in--the station has become too insular and lost its vision of community. Time for a change.<br><br>Mitch Clogg <mitchc@mcn.org> wrote:<br><br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Tim & Rick, this is thin gruel
you're offering. You say that only Annie Esposito could give an
hour's worth of news five times a week because nothing much
happens "out here in Ruralland". <br>
<br>
Nonsense! How many police departments are there in Mendocino
County? How many fire departments, government agencies, schools,
businesses? All are under-reported here. How many accomplished
people live here? What are they up to? What is the condition of
the mill site in Ft. Bragg, the Masonite in Ukiah? What's their
status? <br>
<br>
I have watched the shrinkage, nearly to invisibility, of our
fishing industry and our timber industry. Our pot industry is
facing a similar downheaval. What's the county's reaction to this
among its citizens, in its halls of government? What the hell
happens in Gualala, almost a breakaway community, for all you ever
hear of it, almost a place that isn't there? Is the Coast Hospital
solvent or insolvent? Will coast kids who want to go to a junior
college be able to, without dangerous, hours-long commutes? Is the
Navy resuming the violent killing and maiming of the life of the
ocean biosphere here? Is the wine industry an asset or a
liability? How much of its money flows through the county's veins?
<br>
<br>
This could go on and on. What's the matter with you people? This
is a unique place, with unique people. It's a subject-rich
environment and a social test tube. It has been for a long, long
time, in ways that were and are sometimes extreme and sometimes
daring and innovative. <br>
<br>
How about KZYX? Is it a nest of autocrats, visionaries, snakes?
Where's the open forum, the ONGOING open forum? How shuttered are
your minds?<br>
<br>
Mitch Clogg<br>
Mendocino<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 2/21/2014 5:01 PM, Tim Bray wrote:<br>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Rick, you're absolutely correct about
the difficulty of filling Annie's shoes. It took two full-time
news people to make it work after she retired. Annie was a
superstar.<br>
<br>
Brooksher voiced his frustration at the difficulty of filling a
half-hour with local news when he was here. It's not an easy
job, and it is made more difficult by the fractious nature of
our community.<br>
<br>
Money really is the root of the problem though; it's extremely
difficult to attract and retain someone with the expertise and
talent to fill a half-hour, much less a full hour, 5 days a
week, with non-partisan local news. <br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
Tim Bray<br>
Albion<br>
<br>
On 2/20/2014 9:48 PM, Rick wrote:<br>
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<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000">I
think the reason that KZYX can't sustain a 50-minute local
news program is simple: Not that much actually happens out
here in Ruralland. Only Annie Esposito could make a 50 minute
news program work and sadly Annie, as we all know, has
retired. (Come back Annie! Come back!). Sadly, nobody has been
able to fill Annie's shoes and those were some big shoes to
fill. But maybe the new news guys could take a page or two out
of Annie's program and emphasize local human interest stories
and the connectedness that makes Mendocino unique.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Tim, there are days out here in Ruralland where nothing,
and I mean nothing happens and that is a good thing as far
as I'm concerned. Because the squirrel that has been raiding
my birdfeeder gets run over doesn't mean that this is news.
The current program of "if it bleeds, it leads" is
interesting I suppose but not really sustainable. Just
taking police reports and reading them over the air isn't
really journalism in the Mendocino spirit if you ask me.
Maybe the story behind the story might help fill the
minutes. Hmmmmm.....</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>For instance, there was a recent story about a man being
eaten by his dogs beside the road. Yuck. But definitely
news. However, isn't there maybe a less sensational story
behind the story? Like about poverty and vicious dogs maybe?
Or maybe about how this could happen in a civilized country
like America, or maybe who the man was, or.... You know,
like journalism and an actual story that would interest
people. This would fill the minutes. Of course this would
take time, investigation, writing and would cost money. But
maybe it is more about journalism than it is about money?</div>
<div><br>
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<div>Rick</div>
<div>Little River</div>
<br>
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