Austin American-Statesman Claims Speaker Pelosi is from Beijing

Lazy Journalism (4.50 / 4)

The contorted coverage from Statesman of this past weekend's events is just sad. Thousands of progressive activists converged on the convention center, filled up the Hilton and most of the Courtyard Marriott, held countless parties, stuffed over 100 troop care packages, and met dozens of Congressional candidates.

Yet somehow the Statesman needs to give equal weight to maybe 100 conservatives who gather in a corner somewhere else in Austin. Even their own keynote speaker, Bob Barr, came down to Netroots Nation to check out the action. That says a lot about the excitement and prestige of the conservative online movement.

Statesman editors, stop being so afraid of being labeled "liberal." Trust me, you've got a long way to go before that could ever happen. In the meantime, just try to get the facts  straight.  

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by: kath25 @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 08:09:17 AM CDT

A Joke and an Apology (5.00 / 1)

Come on guys.  Patrick is obviously a progressive friend and attempted a joke (I read it as such).  According to a previous post, Fred's acknowledged a mistake.  Good gosh, we all make plenty.  

Obamanos!

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by: EugeneS @ Tue Jul 22, 2008 at 06:40:38 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Normally, Beach is an excellent writer... (0.00 / 0)

and I am told his politics are progressive.  I think this may have been a poorly placed and poorly executed attempt at sarcasm.

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by: J. Crosby @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 09:06:55 AM CDT

It (0.00 / 0)

obviously was sarcastic.

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by: Grubejs @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 09:11:16 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Also (3.00 / 1)

Equally obvious that it was inappropriate and in poor taste.

I'm increasingly pessimistic that the management changes at the Statesman will result in a better paper.

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by: Jeb @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 10:31:31 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

How many times does BOR (0.00 / 0)

take a jab at people?  All the time.  It goes after every Republican it can think of and tried to lampoon all the Craddick D's.  Heaven forbid that the statesman take a jab at one of the most left leaning liberals in the United States Congress.  Heaven forbid that someone take a shot at a Democrat, one that many of us cannot stand.  Heaven forbid that the Statesman does not pucker up and kiss every liberal butt it sees.  

Let it go.  You cannot expect that a a large group of left leaning bloggers being lectured to by a far left wing leader (who stands at the helm as congressional approval numbers continue to dramatically slide)isnt going to have a shot taken at them.  

I waint in anticipation for the written assult coming my way.  Thats what seems to happen when we dont all fall in line.  

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by: Grubejs @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 09:09:45 AM CDT

I would suggest (0.00 / 0)

Journalism 101 for you.

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by: Triangulation of Death @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 09:22:04 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Snark Does Not Belong on Page 1! (3.00 / 3)

The Statesman story and it's placement was a horrible screw up. They obviously have little understanding of today's news consumer. When in the mood for a little attitude and opinion mixed with our news - we go to the Burnt Orange Report or watch the Daily Show, etc...That doesn't mean we want the same from our daily newspapers!

If Beach's story was some misguided attempt at "New Yorker" style sarcasm - the decision to run that on page 1 as the paper's only coverage of a nobel prize winning former vice president's surprise visit to Austin was a disgrace. It was so misguided I can't help but think it was a desperate stunt to appear "hip" and generate controversy.

Frankly, I don't have time for that. It's more insulting when you consider the quality of the Statesman has been in free fall for the past year. First came the gradual cuts in size and column inches (and the "snazzy" new format designed to hide those cuts), followed by the drop in writing quality and the heavy handed price increase.

With stunt's like this one, the Statesman seems to be embracing its growing irrelevance.  

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by: mrcarter1 @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 10:12:48 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Exactly! (3.00 / 2)

This was more of an opinion piece especially if it was meant to be satire.  It had no business being on the front page parading as "mainstream" story coverage of a any conference.

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by: sonia @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 11:20:55 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Not an assault, but (3.00 / 3)

an appeal to common sense. There's a big difference between a daily newspaper and a blog whose stated purpose is partisan politics.

That daily newspaper has every right to "take a jab at one of the 'most left leaning liberals' in the United States Congress," but the place to do it is on the Op-Ed page, most assuredly not on the news pages.

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by: davew @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 09:56:36 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

We are not asking (0.00 / 0)

for special treatment by the Statesman. We are asking for fair treatment.

On BOR, we say who we are: Democrats who are interested in electing Democrats.

The Statesman sells itself as an unbiased newspaper. Of course, calling Pelosi a Communist is NOT non-biased.

It is hard to imagine how someone could not understand this.

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by: David Mauro @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 19:06:08 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I was floored. (3.40 / 5)

The comment did not appear in a blog, in the "comments" section of the online version of a traditional newspaper, or on the editorial page of the hard copy of the paper.  It was front page, above the fold.  Whether it was meant to be cute, sarcastic, or was a pitiable attmept to use style more aggresively to generate interest in the face of competition from online news outlets, the comment did not belong in the story.  

I often wonder if the Statesman  editorial process is more rigorous than  pressing "spell check."

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by: JUICE @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 09:45:02 AM CDT

Response to my Letter (3.00 / 1)

"Thanks for reading the piece and taking time to write. Humor - or attempted humor, as I suspect you would call it - is subjective and I'm sorry it didn't work for you.

Best,

PB"

While I agree this was a sarcastic jab (and a piece of attempted humor), I feel as though this sort of humor has no place in a news headline of any paper anywhere. Editorials should be left in the editorial section.

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by: tbobmccoy @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 10:30:51 AM CDT

Well, not exactly... (3.00 / 1)

I did go to J-School at UT, and there is a thing called an "analysis piece," which incorporates reporting and author opinion.  The NY Times and WaPo routinely run such stories on Page 1, and they're often great pieces because they fill in gaps.

Sometimes, these pieces can can contain humor/sarcasm if the editors think its warranted.  Here, I think the Statesman editors wanted a humorous shot taken, but they sent a writer who was out of his element.  I don't recall Beach ever having written a political story, and I think his lack of experience hurt him here.

In any event, remember this about the media: if they criticize you or mock you, then you're moving up in the world.  Take it as a badge of honor.

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by: J. Crosby @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 12:00:44 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Not analysis. (3.00 / 1)

An analysis piece includes author opinion to the extent where it meets the end of furthering the point of the story.  It only contains humor to the extent any piece can contain humor -- it is not a necessity, and should remain "only if its editors think it's warranted," and that judgment should be made with an eye to relevancy, propriety, and the tone of the publication.

This wasn't even remotely germane.  It was a snipe, pure and simple.  If that's the tone they're going for, that's fine -- but that probably moves the Chron to the slot of Austin's newspaper of record.  And that's saying something.

Phillip's analogy is correct.  There is little distinction between labeling someone D-Beijing and R-Deustchereich.

The Texas Blue: http://www.thetexasblue.com

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by: George Nassar @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 12:42:18 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

AAS Quality (3.00 / 1)

There is none.  If the Dallas Morning News hired two beat writers to cover local Austin news, it would supplant the Statesman in seconds in terms of quality local coverage.  Very sad.

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by: TeamTexas @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 13:09:17 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

And those pieces in the Times and Post (3.00 / 1)

are clearly labeled as analysis. This piece was not. Again, the Statesman has every right to criticize, mock, or do whatever it wants, but to pass this off as a straight news story was irresponsible and it was shoddy journalism. I don't think your professors at the UT J-School would disagree with that.

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by: davew @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 13:28:44 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Times/Post >>>>> AAS in every way. (0.00 / 0)

Quoted for Truth.

Beach had been listed simply as a news story. This would be a non-issue (well, I would have taken offense either way) if it had been labeled correctly. In the end, it was an editorial decision that was at fault; I don't necessarily blame Beach, but on the same hand, I don't think I'll be purchasing an AAS for a while.

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by: tbobmccoy @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 13:44:44 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

You're right (0.00 / 0)

but in the NY Times each analysis piece is clearly labeled "News Analysis" and is usually accompanied by a straight news take on the story.

While I haven't seen the hard copy of the Statesman issue in question, I doubt it was presented as such.

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by: David Mauro @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 19:07:37 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

The e-mail I sent to Beach, (0.00 / 0)

under the subject line, "Nancy Pelosi a leftist?:

In the old days, Austinites would be asking you, 'What are you on, and where can we get some?'
Nancy Pelosi did not become Speaker of the House because she is a leftist. Just because she is from San Francisco does not mean that she is a leftist. You should have checked out her background before including the throwaway line in your piece on Netroots Nation.

Beach replied saying that "it was obviously a joke" and that he was "sorry that it did not work for [me]."
Lame.

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by: ikoikoaustin @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 13:35:18 PM CDT

Maybe the worst part of this . . . (3.00 / 1)

Is that we had to learn what a poor sense of humor Beach has.  

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by: Triangulation of Death @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 14:26:43 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Beach IS funny. (0.00 / 0)

He wrote a hysterical piece several years ago about the barbecue war between Smitty's and Kreuz.  He's written other stuff that was great, but I recall none that had anything to do with politics.

I think he got thrown into something on shortnotice that he knew nothing about and was told to write it "funny" by some editor -- who prolly was following orders from the same office whence that self-immolating editorial came from.

Here's the real irony.  The Statesman has, what, about 3 dozen blogs over there and has bragged incessantly about its strong online presence, but they devote a front page story and an editorial to mocking a convention of... bloggers.

The Japanese call it hari kari, I think.

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by: J. Crosby @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 14:54:27 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Editorial assignment was a dis-aster (3.00 / 4)

I almost blew another gasket when I first read Beach's story Sunday morning. I thought about it a while and sent Phillip an email later to make sure he saw it, knowing he'd submitted an op ed to the Statesman.

My pal Crosby notes that he can't recall Beach ever writing a political story. Yet the AAS sent this non-political reporter to cover an event featuring the Speaker of the House and a former VP and Nobel Prize winner who many believe was actually elected President in 2000 (he definitely got the most votes).

Refering to the Speaker as better suited to be called "D-Bejing" - in a catty parenthetical in a front page story no less - is out of line for that medium. The article about the right's gathering contained no such references to Bob Barr, who has wandered far from the middle, and that's as it should be. And there was no need to liken John Dean to a recovering alcoholic - just a cheap shot.

Could thousands of progressive bloggers be fair game for informed satire? Of course. In fact, I read posts and comments all the time that make me want to do just that. But one has to know the subject to write that kind of piece, and that kind of piece is not considered MSM front page reporting by any responsible MSM editor. Patrick Beach should have never been assigned the task, and this story should have never made print as written. Those are editorial decisions and that's why we have this most recent dis-aster in the approach some (not all) at the Statesman took to the Netroots Nations event.  

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by: Ed Martin @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 14:50:52 PM CDT

Reply from Statesman (0.00 / 0)

An exchange of emails between the editor of the statesman and a friend:

From: "Fred Zipp" fzipp@statesman.com
Date: July 21, 2008 4:58:06 PM CDT
To: S H
Subject: Re: Opinion piece in editorial space

Dear Mr. H,

Thanks for your letter. The sequence of events leading to our publishing the Netroots story on the front page was a broad collapse in judgment. A number of smart, principled people came to the wrong conclusion. We made a mistake, and I am acknowledging that in an editor's note in the Tuesday newspaper.

Best,

fz

On Jul 20, 2008, at 4:47 PM, S H wrote:

Fred Zipp
Editor
Austin American statesman

Dear Mr. Zipp:

This morning I went to statesman.com, clicked on News and up came "Gore's surprise visit highlights Netroots conference/ Former vice president speaks at Austin convention for liberal bloggers" by Patrick Beach, identified under his byline only as "American Statesman Staff." My eyes got wide as I read the story. When I reached "Talk that Pelosi (who is arguably so left-leaning that her parenthetical should be D-Beijing)," my jaw dropped. I read the rest of this piece with complete astonishment that it had come up when I clicked on News. I thought that a mistake had been made on statesman.com. I went to the Randalls closest to me and fetched a copy of the newsprint edition of today's American Statesman. The thing was on the front page!
Mr. Zipp, I have seen some wretched news judgment over the years, but running this strange opinion piece in editorial space at all, much less on the front page, is one of the all time winners.

What happened? Were you out of town? Was the night city editor on some strange drug?

Please enlighten me.

I am also mailing this to you as a hardcopy letter with the hope that all of it will get through to you. I would really appreciate a reply.

Yours very truly,

S H

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by: escar3 @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 19:52:27 PM CDT

Zippy apology (0.00 / 0)

AAS 7/22/08
Editor's note: Netroots Nation story

Readers expect front-page stories to speak directly and clearly about events and issues. Eliminating the possibility of misunderstanding from our work is a critical part of our daily newsroom routine. When we communicate in a way that could be misinterpreted, we fail to meet our standards.

Our front-page story Sunday about the Netroots Nation convention included doses of irony and exaggeration. It made assertions (that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi might find herself at home politically in Beijing, for example) and characterizations ("marauding liberals" was one) meant to amuse. For many readers, we failed.

Good for Fred Zipp.  Double good for bloggers who got the much deserved apology.

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by: sonia @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 21:43:46 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Tone and fact (3.00 / 1)

A couple of us in the press corps were discussing this today.
I don't think there's anything to add about the tonal issue with what was written and its placement as a news story.

But something equally worth discussion was whether  "D-Beijing" is an accurate way to describe Pelosi's political positions. Is China - which could hardly be described as liberal in its policies - Pelosi's idea of an ideal political state? I could see "D-Switzerland" or something... but "D-Beijing"?

Was that lead not only tonally - but factually - questionable?

This has been an interesting discussion in the comments. I just thought I'd throw out more points to ponder.

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by: KvueHu @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 21:41:57 PM CDT

Good call (0.00 / 0)

I agree with you. I was more shocked by the association to China than anything else. I'm still trying to remember what Pelosi said in her comments that would have driven that point. That was a stretch at best.

Regardless I really applaud the Statesman for publishing the apology today. As a San Antonian I only see the Statesman through my Internet eyes and can't relate to some of the local issues. I personally think the attacks on the Statesman were a little extreme. Call the situation out but not to the point of cancelling a subscription. That sounded like old school comments. Yea, unless you enraged the entire city subscription cancellations would have no effect.

This also highlighted a point I saw at NN08 about the power of the blogosphere. This issue came up on Sunday and received an apology by Tuesday morning. That's fast action in my mind and much should be attributed to the blogosphere. This shows the new activist power of the netrooters. Thanks to all for calling the Statesman out on the issue.

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by: RBearSAT @ Tue Jul 22, 2008 at 06:18:57 AM CDT

[ Parent ]