Dear Somerville Journal

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

Before posting a story giving credit where none is due, please check your sources.

While we appreciate the coverage and the sentiment behind your article on Veteran's Day,

The City Did Not Hold This Event. The Post itself did and paid for everything out of its own pocket.

I know that the commander of The Post made attempts to contact your offices yesterday to clear this up, but I also wanted to set the record straight.

Thank you very much.

::EDIT:: For those pointing out the quality of the article in question, my S/O just noted that..."A severely ADHD rabbit could have written it better"

IAWTS 100%.

Comments

[ron_newman]

I'm not very happy with the state of Somerville Journal reporting these days. The paper tells us that Share Group is leaving Davis Square, but not why. It says that the Winter Hill Star Market is closing, but not why. The article about Progressive Democrats of Somerville last week was inaccurate enough that one of our members is drafting a letter, which may be published next week.

Meanwhile, if you want to see the public turn out for a veteran-related event, the annual Memorial Day parade is a better bet.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

What can we do about this? It's telling that someone without a major in Journalism or English can still make a better reporter/investigative reporter than those supposedly qualified to do so.

I don't like to see local newspapers go under, but with reporting like this, it's easy to see why they do.

I would like to see a huge change and help out in any way that I can with making local news a viable source of...well...local news!

[abilouise.livejournal.com]

Well, the article in question AND the article Ron mentions, as well as a terrible article about Tony LaFuente calling for a recount in the alderman race, were ALL WRITTEN BY S.H. Bagley. The Journal has never been a bastion of good writing or fact-checking, but this person clearly shouldn't have a career in journalism, or at least not where I have to read it.

[wallacestreet.livejournal.com]

S. H. Bagley (Steve (http://blogs.townonline.com/somerville/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/local.JPG), I think) is a brand new reporter; he replaced Meghann Ackerman who moved away. I think he's right out of college. It's no excuse, of course, and someone at the Journal needs to be reading his drafts much more closely instead of publishing them; not only will it make for a better paper in the short term, but it will make for a better reporter Bagley in the long term.

[jspazzer.livejournal.com]

The editor is too busy taking pictures of ties (http://blogs.townonline.com/somerville/?p=24342) and transcribing anonymous bigots on Speak Out calls to have time for such trivial tasks as editing the newspaper.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

Win.

[ron_newman]

Who blogs at shbagley.blogspot.com, by the way. His blog links to at least some, if not all, of his articles for the Journal and other publications. I think he may have written every article that I complained about above.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

I wish I could read his blog from work. Is it as well written </ snark> as his newspaper articles?

Who OWNS the Journal anyway? I can't believe they'd keep this editor on when it's clear that she doesn't even read her own publication.

[ron_newman]

Some short history of the Journal, from my memory which may not be entirely accurate:

The Somerville Journal and Cambridge Chronicle were for many years sister publications of locally-owned Dole Publishing Company. When I moved here, I recall their office being right across Summer Street from the Dilboy Post VFW.

After several mergers and acquisitions, the Chronicle and Journal became part of Community Newspaper Company (CNC), a suburban newspaper empire amassed by Fidelity Investments. CNC eventually came to own almost every suburban weekly, as well as a couple of dailies, most notably the MetroWest Daily News.

Eventually Fidelity sold the whole kit and caboodle to Herald Media (as in Boston Herald). A few years later, the Herald sold CNC again, to Gatehouse Media, who also own the daily Brockton Enterprise and Quincy Patriot Ledger.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

Oh God. CNC just recently purchased the Hanscom Newspaper (they do a weekly). They're...well...not great. And that's being nice.

It really makes me sad to know that almost none of the local papers (including the Globe and I believe the Herald) are locally owned.

[ron_newman]

The Herald is locally owned, as are the Phoenix and (I think) the Weekly Dig. I did not know that Hanscom had a newspaper.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

All DOD installations do. Even in deployed locations, military Public Affairs offices try and tend to put out either installation newlsetters or, in the case of some that are more permanent, newspapers.

I couldn't remember if the Herald had been sold...but I thought I had heard some rumor of its pending sale at some point.

I don't read the Phoenix when it comes to news - I only grab it for club/events listings. I find their news to be as horrifically biased as the Herald's, if not worse.

As to the Dig, I have never actually read a copy!

[ron_newman]

If the base newspaper is supposed to be a house organ (from the Public Affairs office), how can it be sold to a private company?

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

Well, it doesn't have to be. Overseas, it is simply due to location.

Stateside, the PA Office still writes all of the content, but ownership can be transferred elsewhere.

Basically, everything published in the paper here is for public knowledge anyway and is not sensitive, for official use only or anything like that.

I believe it was a money issue that drove them to sell it.

[ron_newman]

By the way, I just corrected him on the Journal's blog, for misspelling Lyndell's (as "Lindell's"). I know that I annoy a lot of folks with this nit-picking, but I've always considered it important to get the small stuff right. If you don't, how can anyone trust you to report more significant things correctly?

He even has a photo of a Lyndell's bag on his blog that he could have looked at.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

LOL! You rock.

I'm a nit-picker like that as well. I know I'm prone to typos in my own journal, but when it comes to statements, names, facts and the like, you're absolutely spot on.

How you communicate, whether verbally or in written form does speak volumes when it comes to credibility - and journalists, of all people, should know this.

Of course, so should editors...

[ron_newman]

I wrote for my high school newspaper, two different student newspapers at MIT, and later for the Somerville Community News, a now-defunct, all-volunteer monthly whose left-wing politics you'd probably hate. Do enough of this, and the importance of accuracy becomes evident.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

Be fair Ron. I don't like ANY politics in my news. I want news, not your opinions.

When I want opinions, I ask for them.

In my line of work, accuracy is critical.