philly.com watch: The Editors Actually Lead with the End of the World

Seriously. Even on April Fools’ Day. You cannot–as a news publication–lead with a picture and two stories about the prediction of the end of the world today. philly.com has truly sunk to its lowest depths.

philly.com watch: Bring Trudy Rubin Home

One of my colleagues suggested that we start a “Bring Trudy Home” campaign.

I think that’s a great idea. She has been subjected to airline delays, dirty toilets and interesting fashion designs. Today, she quotes a lot of unnamed people in Kandahar who say the real problem is Pakistan, not Afghanistan. Kinda like my neighbor doesn’t mow his grass when he should. Maybe she should go to Pakistan to see what the folks there think about Afghanistan. I think she might get the opposite view, although I am not really a fan of either country when it comes to U.S. foreign policy.

The Inquirer, which is in bankruptcy, is spending a fair amount of money to have Trudy in Kandahar. I think she really should come home to save someone’s job.

It is difficult to find emails for the top brass at the Philadelphia newspapers. You can try Linkedin to talk with the publisher, or you can write or call the Philadelphia Inquirer CEO Gregory J. Osberg at:

400 North Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA 19130
(800) 222-2765

Wendy Warren (http://twitter.com/WendyWarren) is the editor of philly.com at 215-854-2210

I would be more than happy if you emailed me at charper@temple.edu and I can hand deliver the plea: Let’s bring Trudy home!

Update: One of my intrepid former students advises the following:

I saw your “Bring Trudy Home” blog post and thought I would let you know: You can get anyone’s address at the Inquirer or Daily News by using the first five letters of his last name, followed by his first initial, joined by “@phillynews.com.” So the Larry Platt’s email address from the DN, for instance, would be plattl@phillynews.com. I’m not sure about philly.com, but I hope that helps you out. Good luck on your mission!

allmedia.com: Inky’s Trudy Rubin Misses the Target As Usual

At some point there will be a realization that the “foreign policy expert” of the Philadelphia Inquirer doesn’t have a clue what she’s writing about. In an absolutely absurd column, Rubin writes that the death of Osama bin-Laden allows the United States to put terrorism into perspective. Here is part of what she wrote in her column:

“Yes, terrorism will remain a threat in many parts of the world and reprisals for his death are likely. And al-Qaeda groups in Yemen and North Africa will still try to mount operations in Western countries. But with their corporate chief gone, and virtually irreplaceable, it is easier to combat these smaller terrorist franchises in their local or regional context. The problem becomes more manageable.”

This type of thinking is exactly what allowed al-Qaeda to rise in the first place and led to the bungling of critical intelligence before 9/11. The slippery slope of Rubin’s argument is less money for intelligence, less money for the military, and less vigilance by everyone. Bad argument and bad advice.

This is not a peaceful word today and the death of bin-Laden does not change that.

Rubin’s tripe may be found here: http://bit.ly/lSwCQX

philly.com watch: Phanatic is No. 1

Philly has a lot of things going for it, but but you can add a new one. Forbes has selected the Philly Phanatic as the No. 1 mascot in professional sports.

In a “scientific study” the Phanatic beat out all others for his “awareness, appeal, entertainment value and team identification.” He was No. 2 last year. Congratulations!

philly.com watch: Teacher Trying to Raise Money for Harvard

Zac Chase, a 30-year-old Philadelphia teacher, has been accepted to a graduate program at Harvard. Chase may be smart enough to get into the Ivy League, but he doesn’t have the $40,000 he needs to pay the tuition bill. So he’s trying to convince people to “invest” in him by contributing money at http://chasingharvard.chipin.com

The inquirer has a story about his challenge at http://bit.ly/gARxH8

He’s only raised $1,360 so far and needs to get the rest of the money in just over a week.

As an educator, I am amazed at how expensive colleges have become. Temple, where I teach, remains a good bargain, but it still costs more than $11,000 for in-state tuition. I graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1973. I realize that’s a few years ago, but it cost me $558 a year. That would be just over $2,700 a year when adjusted for inflation. Has a college education really improved that much that it costs four times as much? I doubt it.

Let’s all send our nickels and dimes to Zac to put him through Harvard!

philly.com watch: My Last Day of Screeds, but You Gotta Lead With Opening Day of the Phils!

philly.com leads with a story about two people who got stopped by police and are now suing the cops for leaving the couple in a “unfamiliar neighborhood.” C’mon! It’s opening day of the baseball seasons. It’s cold, but the Phils are in town. That’s the lead story!

philly.com watch: School Violence Solutions Get Short Shrift

The Inquirer provides its solutions on school violence. It is interesting to note that the solutions stories, which appear on Day 6, are about one-third as long as the others on Days 1 through 5, which pummel the School District of Philadelphia in a variety of ways. You can read the stories at http://bit.ly/fjYPaU

Simply put, journalists are a lot better at finding problems than providing solutions. The same might well be said about me and my analysis of philly.com. Guilty as charged!

I don’t see much hope for philly.com and its partners. The choice of lead stories and their emphasis on particular items confuse me to no end. That’s why I work in community journalism, overseeing street-by-street stories at www.philadelphianeighborhoods.com. I think that hyperlocal journalism, as it’s called, has a far better future in remaking journalism than legacy media like those associated with philly.com

I don’t think legacy journalism understands its role in the communities, which are the true basis for good journalism and greater civic participation.

I may return to analyze philly.com in the future, but this is my last day of screeds on a continuing basis of this news organization. I plan to turn my attention to other issues in the news.

allmediawatch.com: Philadelphia Neighborhoods Follows Up on Housing Scam

I am co-director of philadelphianeighborhoods.com, which is a local website in Philadelphia. We cover the neighborhoods that the legacy media really don’t. What was really impressive today was a story we had in Kensington, a neighborhood in North Philly, where a housing scam has occurred that targeted non-English speakers. The reporter, John Titlow, did a great job of reporting the story, which appears at http://bit.ly/ebFHTv. The story focuses on how many people apparently were cheated, including a number of Hispanics. The story also includes the original story on the scam.

The Philadelphia Daily News did a solid investigation in 2009, but the last update was in January. See the story here at http://bit.ly/e1Weaa

I contacted one of our partners, Al Dia, a prominent Hispanic newspaper, which alerted its Hispanic readers to the issue at http://bit.ly/foU7oA

This cooperation and this story are why I became a journalist. I am proud of John, Al Dia and the Temple University Department of Journalism. It was a good day!

philly.com watch: Cape May vs. Criminals

The lead story for much of the day on philly.com has been how Cape May may lose its status at a National Historic Landmark City.

But the key story today is that the City Council passed a law that removes a question about criminal history from an employment application. At the same time as the Inquirer is questioning why records of school violence perps are not made available to all agencies, philly.com doesn’t lead with a significant change in employing criminals. If you do the crime, you pay the time, and there are other consequences.

The message sent by this new law is odd. Sure, criminals should be given a second chance, but it is hardly discriminatory that an employer should know that someone has done time.

Here is the far more important story at http://bit.ly/hMkgJj:

It is interesting that the Donna Reed Miller, who is retiring from her position in the 8th District and may face some legal problems of her own as a result of a housing scandal in Germantown, was the sponsor of the legislation.

philly.com watch: The School District’s Response

The School District of Philadelphia responded to the Inquirer’s series on school violence with some important words of wisdom:

As we go through this week, the intention is not to pass blame, but more to point out that this issue is bigger than, “the District is failing” to do this or to do that.  It is about the greater problem affecting not only the students in our schools, but those affecting their parents, grandparents, siblings, neighbors, and anyone else who has had the misfortune to be swept up into a cycle of poverty that has laid waste to the hopes and dreams of countless Philadelphians over the decades.  As a community, we have to do better by our young people and we have to put our heads together to focus on solutions to the problems that exist instead of this constant finger-pointing.  Their future, and our own, demands that we do this.

You can read the complete response at http://bit.ly/ghHH9K

I look forward to the Inquirer’s suggestions to improve the schools. That story is supposed to run tomorrow.