On the podcast today state Rep. Matt Eidson told me he’s going to do his best to do a good job both as an elected member of North Dakota’s legislature and a working journalist for the Grand Forks Herald and Prairie Public. I’m not convinced he can do it. I say that not to besmirch Eidson’s…
Plain Talk: Can You Be an Elected Official and a Reporter at the Same Time?
On this episode of Plain Talk, state Rep. Matt Eidson (D-Grand Forks) talks about how he plans to manage being an elected official as well as a reporter. Eidson has taken internships with Prairie Public and the Grand Forks Herald (owned by Forum Communications Company which also employs me), and says he’ll work hard to…
Print Column: The Quickest Way to Reduce DUI’s in North Dakota Would Be to Stop Enforcing the Law
MINOT, N.D. — “North Dakota tops list in study for percentage of drivers with a DUI history.” That recent headline was over an article describing research done by an insurance quotes website. Which is often the case with these sort of articles. Companies hawking things like insurance or credit cards produce these “studies” ranking states…
What a Miserable Week for American Journalism
American journalists are fond of blaming the politicians, and these days President Donald “fake news” Trump in particular, for declining public trust in journalistic institutions. This last week, though, the journalists really had nobody to blame but themselves. It started last week with Buzzfeed promoting a story, based on anonymous sources, which purported that President…
Alternatively, More Conservatives Should Join the News Media
Yesterday, in response to consternation among media types over the demise of conservative news and opinion magazine The Weekly Standard, I argued that if “mainstream” media types were so concerned about it they ought to try hiring more conservatives. I received a lot of feedback on that post through various mediums, and one consistent and well-made…
We Should Pay More Attention to Local Journalists, and Less to National Media Outlets
Conservative columnist Eric Erickson makes an insightful point in this piece where he argues, using the Georgia gubernatorial race as a starting point, that local journalists are better at getting stories right than national journalists. I work for a local media company, which employs a lot of local journalists, so maybe I’m just biased in…
Twitter Isn’t Harming Journalism, Journalists on Twitter Are
John Ziegler, writing at Mediate, has an interesting piece today headlined “The Top Ten Ways That Twitter Has Greatly Harmed Journalism and Destroyed Our Public Discourse.” An excerpt: I have written before about some of the many problems which exist with Twitter, the platform which now, partly because of President Trump’s love of the outlet,…
Hiring Comedians to Insult Republicans Is Not How Journalists Will Regain the Trust of Americans
In January of this year Gallup released a poll showing 84 percent of Americans thinking the press is very important to the health of our democracy, but 43 percent saying journalists were doing a very poor job of supporting it. Flash forward to last night’s White House Correspondents Association dinner where comedian Michelle Wolf berated…
Ladd Erickson: Social Media and the Human Race: A DAPL Protest Postscript
This guest post was submitted by McLean County State’s Attorney Ladd Erickson. Oil pipeline protests are a possibility in Minnesota and South Dakota this summer. I helped Morton County prosecute DAPL cases and thought better about posting about it at the time. I no longer have that constraint, and will example how social media fueled…
Objectivity Is a Lie the Journalism Industry Tells Itself
Americans are living through a chaotic time, and a lack of trust is at the heart of the chaos. But it’s not just a lack of trust in the politicians which is driving American angst. It’s a lack of trust in the news media as well. A lack of trust the folks in the news…