Saturday, November 02, 2002 :::
It's apparent enough that something's not right with the Daily Cal these days.
Four stories on Chancellor Tien, three on Arnold. Only a few writers are left willing to work after Virginia and Rong made conditions so unbearable that the entire writing staff shut down their word processors for a week. Whether you want to call it-- a power struggle, a rebellion, a coup, whatever-- the paper's quality is in serious decline because of a few difficult personalities.
I hope that people begin to realize that working for the Daily Cal doesn't have to be a nightmare. There should be some sort of established bylaws, or at the very least contracts for new writers, so editors can stop running the DC offices like feudal lords. Also, the students on Berkeley campus should be aware of this. The Daily Cal represents Berkeley, the University, and the students. This representation is received nationwide- from Drudge Report to Bill O'Reilly, they're watching Berkeley as the nutty little liberal school. The Daily Cal has a crucial role to play, but right now they're slacking. They're getting their asses kicked by the Daily Planet, where I'd be surprised if some of the contributors learned to read and write at a high school level.
Here's hoping that the few who control the fate of the Daily Cal use this opportunity to step up and start making some changes. Don't look at it as losing face- just look at it as giving the Daily Cal a much needed fresh outlook. Take back the writers, begin to listen to their concerns in a roundtable forum, treat them with the respect they deserve, and encourage an honest working environment instead of this "private discussion behind closed doors" business. The quality of the paper will undoubtedly reflect favorably upon these simple and direct types of changes.
::: posted by Andrewski at 2:41 PM
Friday, November 01, 2002 :::
Evidence that the Daily Cal is having even more problems than usual: Nate Tabak's story on recent robberies of Telegraph stores on Tuesday, which may or may not be related to BAMN's bussing in of Berkeley High kids to help with the protest, was not only covered by the Berkeley Daily Planet two days ago- but at least when the Planet covered it, the entire story was published. The Daily Cal version gets as far as "The parallels between Tuesday's rally and the incident in March raise" before cutting out, to continue on page 4, yet the end of the story is not there. Rats! Just when it was getting good, too!
It was this kind of monkey business that made me leave the Daily Cal in the first place. There are power struggles, as it seems each incoming editor is just trying to get a good-looking item on their resume. Plus, there is no feeling of appreciation on the sixth floor of Eschleman; Editors care very little about their writers, and the only satisfaction comes from seeing your words printed the next day- that is, if your entire article makes it in there anyways. If it isn't cut short like Nate's piece today, it's edited to smithereens and thrown onto the press so the editors have more time to sit around and smoke crack. After all, deadlines loom over everything and everyone, and it's far easier to run a correction later than to fix the problem now.
Thank God for the columnists. Kevin's article today had me chuckling outloud, even though I happened to be in the middle of my English 45B discussion at the time. Visit the Conservative Nightmare Berkeley if you like funny stuff, and insight.
Also, I feel like I should've been checking out this blogger months ago. The site is called Too Much Logic, and the blogger is named Paul Bruno. His more recent posts focus on Measure O, as in "Oh My God, I Can't Believe They're Policing What Kind Of Coffee We Drink". Worth reading, fo' sho'.
::: posted by Andrewski at 6:01 PM
Wednesday, October 30, 2002 :::
Calstuff reports on the Daily Craptacular's wonderful implosion. I told you the editors were power-tripping sociopaths.
Well, maybe not quite that bad, but they sure are causing some problems.
::: posted by Andrewski at 6:28 PM
News from the Berkeley homepage: Former Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien dies at age 67. There will be a memorial service for Tien on Thursday, Nov 14, at Zellerbach, from 3-4pm. The full obituary is here.
::: posted by Andrewski at 6:07 PM
Monday, October 28, 2002 :::
Do you see anything wrong with this headline?
German survivors provide clue to deadly theatre gas
Does this headline have the potential to be misleading? Is there a not-so-subtle connection between "German survivors" and "deadly gas"? Is it possible that the editors or writers who created that headline were fully aware of the association to the Holocaust, where millions were slaughtered in gas chambers, and were trying to call attention to the fact that the Russian government acted in a similar fashion? What does this imply about bias in the media, adding connections that may or may not necessarily be there in the first place? Does this headline lack journalistic integrity? Or is it just a way to report the news quickly and succinctly?
If you have any thoughts on this, drop me a line at apodo@uclink.berkeley.edu. I'd be happy to post some of the responses online.
::: posted by Andrewski at 5:43 PM
Sunday, October 27, 2002 :::
"This is great talk at 2 a.m. in a dorm room, that all laws should be consistent. But the real world isn't consistent. It's ludicrous to say we have a great deal of problems from the use of alcohol so we should multiply that with marijuana."
This quote comes from Time magazine's recent interview with the U.S. Drug Czar, John Walters. Pot's creating a stir of controversy in the upcoming elections, and I for one applaud Time for their relatively unbiased and fact-driven articles. Joel Stein, a very funny man, treats the touchy subject with a good balance of humor and insight. The debate is heating up on both sides- pro-marijuana rallies abound in California, and the anti-marijuana ads will soon start dotting the airwaves:
The drug czar's latest commercial, which was actually focus-grouped with teens and their parents, shows two teens getting stoned in their father's study, talking apathetically about a bunch of stuff. One pulls out a gun from his dad's drawer, the other asks lazily if it's loaded, and the gun-toting teen shrugs and shoots the other kid.
While Nevada, and its Question 9 item on the ballot which would legalize marijuana entirely, are the focus of the article, California receives its fair amount of ink as well. DEA busts of medical marijuana clinics in Santa Cruz, San Francisco, and Oakland have made ordinary people, not just pot smokers, wonder if it's really right for the federal government to be arresting parapalegics and cancer patients.
Anyways, I highly reccomend you read Time's story on the politics, science, and history of everyone's favorite wacky tabacky.
::: posted by Andrewski at 5:59 PM
