First up, a first-hand account of a new round of layoffs from The Albuquerque Journal.

So far I’ve somehow kept it together, despite losing my job as of an hour & 1/2 ago. I’ve not turned into a screaming crying 2-year old as in the past 3 layoffs. But it’s just below the surface and is growing with each minute. My hands and body are shaking, my neck hurts. I need that shoulder to cry on now for a day or so and then I’ve got to pick myself up and figure out what the hell I’m going to do.

In happier news, Democracy for New Mexico spoke to Rep. Ben Ray Lujan. No more suffix “-elect” for any of those elected in November; it can now hibernate with the word “presumptive”.
Kate Nash wonders if all the FBI agents in Santa Fe researching Bill Richardson (we couldn’t ignore him completely!) will help with hotels in the area.

Nash concludes, “Let’s hope, because we haven’t seen many tourists lately.”

Talking Points Memo notes that a conservative blogging service has hired Joe the Plumber as a war correspondent in the Gaza conflict. No joke.

Albuquerque Journal science writer John Fleck looks at newspapers online. “This is not about doing a good job of delivering news on the web,” Fleck writes. “It’s about the fact that in so doing, there is not enough money to be made to support the people doing it.”

Finally, Avelino Maestas needs some help in entering a photography contest with the Washington, D.C., blog the DCist. Sure, Maestas abandoned us for Washington, D.C., but we won’t hold that against him, right?

Especially since he’s bribing us with a potential free print of one of his great photos. The deadline is tonight at 9:00 p.m. local time.

Leslie Linthicum, in the Journal’s Up Front column on Sunday, used the large soapbox to tell everyone, in paragraphs of 140 characters or less, that she doesn’t like Twitter.

In 140 characters, you can update your Twitter followers on your mood, what you’re doing at work that day or what you’re having for lunch.
Let’s try it and see how it goes: I’m OK, not great. I’m writing a column about Twitter. And I’m having provolone on whole wheat. With mayo.

Do you find that interesting? I doubt it. I don’t either, and it’s happening to me. Could it wait until later? Couldn’t we skip it entirely?

She also mentions that her colleague and co-worker John Fleck has his own Twitter account. She tells readers to “Tweet Journal science writer John Fleck about something. HE WILL LOVE YOU FOR IT.”

For his part, Fleck tweeted, “I loved Leslie’s column. She’s been teasing me about twittering for ages.”

Exhibit A: a post from Mark Halperin, a political blogger for Time magazine. The headline blares, “Obama visits high school friend in Hawaii” while a link in the post links to a pool report, which covers a bathroom stop. The pool reporter obviously has a sense of humor about the situation, though.

We arrived at 1141am, but were told this was likely just a restroom stop at what appears to be a rather well-appointed resort. At least that was the view from where we were held, inside the van, which sadly does not have a bathroom.

Sure enough, we were back underway at 1153am.

Bladders still full, your pool was able to confirm that Michelle is along for this Sunday drive, as are the girls, Eric Whitaker and Marty Nesbitt.

A few of the rustic sights from the window of the press van included a cow, a ranch and some stunning beach and lush green mountain views.

For those who have not yet been to the North Shore, the waves are much bigger up here than the wimpy Waikiki ones you have seen from your fancy press encampment. More sharks, too, we are told by locals on the bus.

We also drove by the apparently closed-on-Sundays Polynesian Cultural Center.

The Sunday drive keeps rolling to an unknown destination.

In case you didn’t know, local freelance photographer Mark Bralley <a href=”http://mgbralley-whatswrongwiththispicture.blogspot.com/2008/09/politics-from-weirdsville.html”>describes</a> what a press pool is:

The basic concept of a pool, whether national or local, is that a select group of represented media accompanies the candidate. There normally is a member from each kind of medium: reporters from printed press, radio, and television; in addition there is a video and still photographer to round out the pool.

The pool reporters must share all their information with every other reporter. This is a way to get many places access to the president-elect without attracting a huge crowd.

Familiar, yes, but with variations — the Rocky is losing money and some Rocky staffers have created a web site (iwantmyrocky.com) to rouse reader support.

Where they’re not dying, many American newspapers are retrenching. Even as I was noodling this comment, there came breaking news -– the Washington Post will share content with its nearby competitor, the Baltimore Sun, owned by the bankrupt Tribune Company. (Tribune is teetering partly because real estate magnate Sam Zell bought it with little cash and big debt.)

Readership is down as young people gravitate to the Internet (where they often read newspapers or opinion based on papers). Newspaper advertising revenue was eroding even before the financial crisis; now it’s plunging. Newspapers’ old business strategies are dying; new rationales are unborn or infantile.

To prolong life, some newspapers mutilate themselves. In Silicon Valley, the Mercury News cut news staff from 400-plus to below 150, dropped its movie reviews, science and book sections and chopped two-thirds of its business section.

It’s in that context that I read and evaluate the Albuquerque Journal. I have no reason to believe it’s in imminent danger, but the local economy is slowing. Mervyn’s and Linens ’n Things are leaving town. American Furniture will close all but one Albuquerque location. Jackalope just vacated its Old Town outlet. And rumors say the Journal contemplates layoffs.

I would be devastated were the Journal to falter, relying as I do on Roll Call (how our Senators and Representatives voted), the New York Times crossword, comics (thanks, Dan Herrera, for Frazz’s sweetness and Non Sequitur’s cynicism), David Steinberg’s Stakhanovite labor on books and music, Dan Mayfield’s tracking of Tortillawood, the frustrating Trivia feature, editorials (so reasonable most days in contrast to adjacent Op-Ed ravings); reviews of plays, music, dance and art; Gene Grant’s complexity, gardening advice and more.

This doesn’t mean the Journal should be forgiven its Op-Ed narrowness or Republican partisanship. Nor its sloppy editing –- there’s no need, really, to attribute the morning sunrise. It’s “fewer” drunk drivers, not “less,” even in New Mexico.

And there’s no excuse for what looks like bias. The headline on an AP report on the VP debate (October 4, page A4) provides a not- isolated example. The lead of the five-paragraph piece said John McCain and Sarah Palin “played up” her performance as polls showed voters judged Biden the winner. The headline ignored both those ideas. It read, “Polling: Winner Biden less likeable.” Finding Palin’s likeability edge required going to the last graph, three lines from the bottom. Sad.

Thanks to recent outbursts of energy, the Journal is a better newspaper overall than it was, say, two years ago. But, as noted above, it’s still hobbled by old, complacent habits.

That’s why, mindful that newspapers are an endangered species, we owe Journal management the gift of criticism, positive and adverse. Here’s to their choosing excellence as part of a strategy for prosperity in the New Year and beyond.

But local media have also been using Twitter to reach out to readers, as shown in the flurry of “tweets” that followed the recent appointment of Gov. Bill Richardson to Barack Obama’s cabinet.

A number of New Mexico print and broadcast outlets have jumped on the Twitter wagon. The Albuquerque Journal has a Twitter feed (ABQJournal), as does KOAT, and KRQE has one, though it’s only been updated once since Election Day.

Local radio reporter and blogger Peter St. Cyr began using Twitter as a tool several weeks ago and says the service’s trademark 140-character limit per tweet is anything but limiting.

“Radio reporters are the best writers in the world,” St. Cyr said. In radio, he says, reporters are used to fitting a lot of information in a small amount of space.

He finds several ways to use Twitter, he added: “You can do a headline of a story, or you can do a little part of one story.”

St. Cyr, who Twitters at radio_news, cited as an example the announcement that University of New Mexico football head coach Rocky Long was resigning. A simple tweet at 5:11 p.m. on Nov. 17 said, “Rocky Long quits after 11 years. AD says ‘it’s a sad day.’”

He also uses it to add “color” to certain stories. After the announcement of Bill Richardson as Barack Obama’s choice for secretary of commerce, St. Cyr tweeted:

DJIA up 40pts since start of Richardson news conf

St. Cyr uses Twitterberry on his Blackberry to send tweets from events. In the past, he said, the fastest way to cover breaking news was to call up the radio station and interrupt live programming. Now his breaking news from Twitter appears immediately on his blog, What’s the Word.

But for St. Cyr, tweeting is also a way to get to know people. For instance, he says, he didn’t know John Fleck, science writer for The Albuquerque Journal, was a birdwatcher until he started following Fleck’s Twitter feed.

When not remarking on roadrunners and ruby-crowned kinglets seen in his yard, Fleck (jfleck) uses Twitter to highlight stories he writes for the Journal as well as his blog, Inkstain.

He learned about Twitter when researching “all kinds of social media,” he says, and his interest has endured because of the “minimalism” of the 140-character updates. And, he adds, “it allows you to have the same conversations that you would have in a room — only around the country and the world.”

During the snowstorm last week, New Mexico Twitter users tagged their posts with #NMSnow (I have to admit, I initiated that particular “hashtag,” as it is called) to report on the effects of the blizzard throughout the state. Fleck joined in as did a few others. After the snowstorm that never materialized later in the week, Fleck began the tag #ABQNotSnow.

Of course, those of us in the so-called new media have also been taking advantage of the service. The local progressive blog Democracy for New Mexico has a Twitter account to broadcast its latest posts as well as comments by users on recent developments.

And the New Mexico Independent has a feed to keep readers keyed into its latest stories and blog posts.

Barbara Wold, who writes Democracy for New Mexico, says the service “is great for keeping up to the minute on news from a variety of traditional and new media sources and spotting breaking news as it happens.”

Wold also uses her RSS feed to post headlines and links to her new blog posts on Twitter. But she notes that the service is not just — or perhaps not even primarily — for work.

“Reading the often snarky and clever personal Twitters are the icing on the cake,” Wold says.

In fairness, we shouldn’t judge the newspaper on its Op-Ed pages alone. And the Albuquerque Journal has many virtues. Let’s begin, arbitrarily, with the front page to which the Journal recently added columnists. Good move. Permitted to say “I,” liberated from certain protocols, a columnist can communicate humanly, write stories about people rather than issues (or arrive at issues by way of individuals). So columns are easier to read than conventional reports.

Cheers, then, for veteran reporter Leslie Linthicum, former Tribune stalwart Joline Gutierrez Krueger, investigative reporter Thomas J. Cole and Jim Belshaw, whose work comes forward from the inside pages. Belshaw’s diffident, civilized take is familiar; I pray the Journal will give each newbie time to refine his or her unique voice. Also, that the editors do not devalue “UpFront” by slapping that logo on any old feature.

Mentioning Mr. Cole reminds me the Albuquerque Journal invests in three full-time investigative reporters –- Mike Gallagher, Colleen Heild and Cole. While general assignment reporters routinely produce reams of copy to fill the news hole, investigative specialists can spend months producing zero, zilch, nada. There’s always the risk, too, that their probes will come up with still more nada.

Of course, the exposés they regularly produce serve the public interest.

This financial investment in investigations looks even more impressive juxtaposed against the Journal’s trimming of news pages, adjustments (I presume) to diminishing advertising revenue. Critics may say this is justice, that the newspaper is reaping what it has sowed by advocating the very economic doctrines that undermined the economy. Maybe. The publisher deserves applause, nevertheless, for funding the diggers.

Consider, too, some outstanding beat reporters. Winthrop Quigley writes about business generally, the health industry in particular. I learned enough covering Wall Street to see that he understands his beat; as businessmen will tell you, that’s uncommon. He navigates the complexities of New Mexico’s health industry easily — an intellectual feat. More admirable yet, he reveals the assumptions on which he erects analyses.

(Confession: I suffered writing that last paragraph. Mr. Quigley approaches healthcare as an industry. He’s right. It is. I remember, however, when doctors were neither entrepreneurs nor employees but professionals organized in guilds. When hospitals were non-profit. When health care was a social good, not the product of corporate enterprise-on-welfare.)

As for the Journal’s science guy, John Fleck, he writes so well that I get most of his stories, despite my scientific ignorance and density. Happily, he has zeroed in on energy, a most timely focus; witness a recent lucid takeout on New Mexico’s coal industry in “Business Outlook.”

And can there exist a more useful, fact-filled column in our auto-dependent state than “Road Warrior”? Could anyone steer that column better than D’Val Westphal? Not likely.

Mentioning Ms. Westphal, whom I have never met, prompts me to disclose that I am friendly with several reporters and an editor or two at the Journal, something you should know.
I plan to highlight other positive contributions by New Mexico’s only statewide newspaper, as well as some negatives, soon. As always, your comments are appreciated.

“Richardson’s abrupt departure was out of character for a governor who usually lingers at the end of news conferences to shake hands and mingle with individuals in the room,” Jennings said. “But on Tuesday he never made eye contact with the reporters.”

As it turns out, Channel 13 KRQE caught the moment on film and aired it on their evening telecast. Yesterday, they had a rather intense interaction with Richardson’s spokesperson, Gilbert Gallegos. In a lengthy e-mail dispute, Gallegos said the station was unprofessional and dishonest because it aired footage of Gallegos that Gallegos claimed was gained by reporters who were attempting to hide their microphone and the fact that their camera was rolling.

The station’s news director said the reporters were simply doing their jobs and never tried to hide anything, and in the process takes Gallegos to task for the fact that Richardson refused to answer legitimate questions about the “public’s business.”

Here are excerpts of the exchange, which you can see in its entirety here.

From: Gallegos, Gilbert, GOV [mailto:Gilbert.Gallegos@state.nm.us]
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 11:28 AM
To: Forrest Carr
Cc: Paul Burt; Dave Bohman
Subject: Complaint about story

Mr. Carr,

I want to register a complaint about Dave Bohman’s story and the deceitful tactics he used at the Governor’s news conference yesterday.

… it was dishonest to portray the story the way you did. After taking several questions about the subject of the news conference, the Governor chose to end it. As he left, two reporters — not Dave Bohman — shouted out questions on another issue. Dave had a hand-held microphone, and he may have spoken into that. But he did not make an effort to get the Governor’s attention following the news conference, contrary to your news report.

In any case, the Governor chose not to answer questions other than those related to the news conference. When Dave and another reporter requested a one-on-one interview with the Governor, I told both reporters that the Governor would not comment on the issue. I said that I released a statement in August on this issue, and that nothing has changed since I first released that statement. I told them I was happy to provide that statement to them. They agreed. When I returned and handed the statement to both reporters, Dave asked me why nobody would go on camera to address this issue. I noticed that he was hiding the hand-held microphone, so rather than answer his question, I turned and walked away. Obviously, I did not know that his colleague, who acted like he was putting his camera away, actually had it rolling on me. It’s your prerogative to use that footage and call it news. But it is unprofessional and dishonest.

Several media outlets reported that the Governor refused to answer questions about this issue. That’s fine. But they were not dishonest about their news gathering.

Gilbert Gallegos
Deputy Chief of Staff
Office of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson

From: Forrest Carr [mailto:Forrest.Carr@krqe.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 11:59 AM
To: Gallegos, Gilbert, GOV
Cc: Paul Burt; Dave Bohman; Bill Anderson; Dick Knipfing; Iain Munro
Subject: RE: Complaint about story

Dear Mr. Gallegos:

Based on what you are telling me here, I don’t see any proof or even a hint of anything deceptive. You imply in one sentence that the Governor didn’t hear Dave’s question. If that were true and it were simply a matter of the Governor not hearing the question, then it would be easy to make amends, apologize, and give him another opportunity to speak with us and address this issue. But then you immediately follow up with a statement that the Governor deliberately chose not to answer questions of the nature Mr. Bohman was trying to ask. And you further follow up by saying that the Governor will not be granting one on one interviews on this subject, either. Ipso facto, the Governor is ignoring interview questions on this issue, exactly as we reported. I don’t see that any retraction, correction or apology is necessary. If I’m missing something, I’d be happy to discuss this further.

Nor do I see that an apology is necessary for having our camera rolling during Mr. Bohman’s attempt to question you on this issue. I don’t see that your accusation of dishonesty is supported by the facts. The camera was not hidden, nor was the microphone. I assure you we were attempting no deception. You state yourself that you spotted both the camera and the microphone and walked away for that specific reason. That is your choice. However, I would remind you that you are a public official, and that this was a public event to which the media were invited. You may assume in the future that if our cameras and microphones are present, they will be in use. Our purpose is not to embarrass you. However, as a matter of philosophy, we believe public officials have a duty to speak publicly about the public’s business. The level of access we get in pursuit of a response from those in power will be a feature of our reporting, as it was last night. And as a practical matter, what would have been the harm of answering Mr. Bohman’s question? I believe our viewers would like to hear from the Governor, or at very least from his staff, face to face, that nothing inappropriate is going on or has gone on. A short, two-month-old written statement is a cold substitute for that.

…

Sincerely,

Forrest Carr
News Director
KRQE/KASA
13 Broadcast Plaza SW
Albuquerque, NM 87104
(505) 764-5296

In his relatively brief reply, Gallegos stuck to pressing his case that the station was unprofessional, with Carr replying that had the reporter wanted to hide his camera he would have done so successfully, and that the station’s reporting is always on the record, including any forms of communication it uses to gather information — such as this particular e-mail exchange.

Seems like the perfect time for newspapers to focus on the decisions coming out of Washington, D.C., right? Wrong, at least from a monetary perspective.

The New York Times had a story yesterday that enumerates how the disastrous U.S. economy, combined with the particular financial problems of the newspaper industry, is ravaging the Washington press corps by winnowing down the number of Washington bureaus.

As the Times reporter writes:

The times may be news-rich, but newspapers are cash-poor, facing their direst financial straits since the Depression. Racing to cut costs as they lose revenue, most have decided that their future lies in local news, not national or international events. That has put a bull’s-eye on expensive Washington bureaus.

Albert R. Hunt, Washington executive editor at Bloomberg News, said he was taken aback by the mood Saturday night at a dinner of the Washington press corps’ Gridiron Club. “It was like being at a wake,” he said. “Every time you turned around, someone was talking about their bureau being closed or downsized.”

A few years ago, after much debate, the club began to admit magazine and television reporters. Now, without them, “there couldn’t be a Gridiron Club,” Mr. Hunt said. “You couldn’t get enough newspaper people.”

The Tribune Company, which filed for bankruptcy protection last week, recently merged the once-formidable bureaus of The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun and other papers. The combined bureau has about 32 people, compared with the more than 70 the papers had there a year ago, and well over 100 early in this decade.

For a newspaper veteran like myself, this story stings because important news comes out of Washington. Add to that the fact that Washington bureaus are usually the home to a newspaper’s most veteran, aggressive reporters who are experienced in investigative and governmental reporting, which is no easy feat.

The Albuquerque Journal, of course, has Washington-based reporter Michael Coleman. So one New Mexico newspaper maintains a Washington presence. But the winnowing down of Washington bureaus is a bad sign for those of us who think the powerful need to be watched, regardless of party affiliation. Fewer Washington bureaus mean fewer watchdogs, which means the powerful get a pass to do business unwatched.

"Gwyneth Doland is a dangerous radical," Hannity looks to be saying.

Fox News talking head Sean Hannity has been named 2008 Misinformer of the Year by Media Matters, a left-leaning media watchdog group.

Hannity has been a prolific and influential purveyor of conservative misinformation. But never has he so enthusiastically applied his talents for spreading misinformation as he did to the 2008 presidential race, focusing his energies primarily on President-elect Barack Obama. Day after day, Hannity devoted his two Fox News shows and his three-hour ABC Radio Networks program to “demonizing” the Democratic presidential candidates, starkly explaining in August: “That’s my job. … I led the ‘Stop Hillary Express.’ By the way, now it’s the ‘Stop Obama Express.’

Hannity’s “Stop Obama Express” promoted and embellished a vast array of misleading attacks and false claims about Obama. Along the way, he uncritically adopted and promoted countless Republican talking points and played host to numerous credibility-challenged smear artists who painted Obama as a dangerous radical. When he was not going after Obama, Hannity attacked members of Obama’s family, as well as Sen. Hillary Clinton and other progressives, and denied all the while that he had unfairly attacked anyone.

Read the entire 800,000-word (roughly) excoriation of Hannity here.

Fox News defended Hannity by saying he is a conservative commentator, not a journalist. (Meaning what? It’s OK for commentators, but not journalists, to lie mislead on TV?) Anyway, the distinction between commentator and journalist is lost on many television viewers.

First up: Snow!

The Albuquerque Journal’s ABQNews Seeker highlights an area forecast discussion from the National Weather Service that says there may be as much as 30 inches of snow in higher elevations in the central and northern mountains. So wax up your skis and snowboards, kids. It’s ski season!

If you miss the observations and Jerome Block Jr.’s fact-checking of Swing State of Mind, never fear. The Santa Fe Reporter is out with a new blog — SFReeper.com. If you don’t like the blog’s look, don’t worry. From its About section:

Welcome to the very early stage testing of SFReeper.com, the Santa Fe Reporter’s forthcoming culture and news blog. It is currently unfinished, but feel free to test it out as we progress and let us know of if you encounter any bugs. That’s it.

John Fleck, at the Albuquerque Journal NM-Science blog, looked at the history of UFOs in Roswell, through the view of the skeptical inquirer.

Once such an event, fictionalized or not, becomes embedded in popular culture, it doesn’t matter at all if the “evidence” is proven to be exaggerated, distorted, and/or fabricated. The Roswell legend will live on as long as there are claims of UFOs.

The prolific blogger NewMexiKen lamented that no one noticed he didn’t post in eight days. Ken, I noticed, don’t worry! Mainly because of stuff like this.

And Avelino, no longer live from Silver City, shows us his Christmas tree and how to make a pine cone Christmas wreath.