Posted on 02/19/2006 10:13:50 PM PST by Paleo Conservative
While the White House press corps seemed stunned that the Caller-Times broke the story on Dick Cheney's hunting accident, our local readers expected it.
And we were glad to meet their expectations. Frankly, the newsroom had some difficulty understanding what all the hubbub was about last week. As national newscasters asked repeatedly why a local newspaper first reported the story instead of the White House press, we kept asking, "Why not?"
George Gongora/Caller-Times
Reporters and photographers from all over the world
converged in city to cover the startling story that
began on the Armstrong Ranch.
We all heard our newspaper and this community falsely described as "Podunk" and "small town," clearly proving that some of the national press had failed to do their homework.
Nueces County has more than 316,000 residents, and it's just one of 12 counties we cover.
We're a consistently recognized, award-winning paper, named by the Press Club of Dallas as the best mid-sized paper in six states 13 out of the past 17 years. Our paper reaches 190,218 readers, and our Web site, Caller.com, has more than 197,319 registered users.
Out of the 1,456 daily newspapers in the United States, we rank 167th in circulation.
Our journalism is top-notch, and our work ethic is strong, as we devote resources exclusively to investigative stories and to features about your friends and neighbors.
We're a newsroom full of professional journalists who could work in larger markets, but choose to stay here. We like this community, our co-workers and the team we've built here.
We take seriously our jobs, our readers and the privilege of being journalists.
Our readers, such as Hugh Smith, know there is nothing "Podunk" about the Caller-Times.
"The National Press Corps is sitting around with egg on its face, trying to blame anyone they can think of for not 'giving' them the news," Smith wrote. "Someone needs to tell them to get off their collective rear ends and go to work and quit waiting for someone to tell them what is happening. If they don't know how to do this, have them come on down to Corpus Christi. I am sure the good folks at the Caller-Times would be happy to give them some training."
Added reader Tom Sussman: "As a long-standing and ardent critic of the current state of journalism, I found your article to be a breath of fresh air. Maybe real journalism isn't dead."
We're a newsroom committed to changing with the times, building a multi-media operation that delivers information any way you want it, through print, Web stories, Web video and e-mail alerts.
Caller.com video taken by online content creator John Metz of photographer George Gongora demonstrating a shotgun drew 10,000 viewers on the Web in just five hours. The quality was so good that both CNN and MSNBC aired it nationally.
The national press doesn't corner the market on great journalism. It can happen in any community, and as our readers here know, it frequently does.
My staff here knows that I expect them to be first in breaking news in our area, and we would have been deeply embarrassed had we not been first with the Cheney story.
Cheney told Fox News' Brit Hume Wednesday: "It strikes me that the Corpus Christi Caller-Times is just as valid a news outlet as The New York Times is, especially for covering a major story in South Texas."
Breaking what was national news last week was not a fluke for us.
As Managing Editor Shane Fitzgerald told me: "We were just doing our jobs."
Libby Averyt is editor of the Caller-Times. Phone: 886-3681. E-mail: averytl@ caller.com
They are calling themselves "journalists", but it strikes me that they are something FAR better. They are reporters in the age old tradition of reporting the facts.
I liked this clip:
Update): James Wolcott: Mary Quite Contrary "Even without the immature pouting and pissy expression, Matalin would have been a car wreck in repose: With a bad haircut topping a mistaken facelift and a ghastly floral pin that looked like spray-painted aluminum, she looked like the Beltway's Madwoman of Chaillot."
You can almost hear a million gay Wolcott readers shouting "Oh, JAMES, you BITCH!" in delight.
What does Mary call Dowd at the end of this show? "The Diva of Sophisticated Thinking" or something? It was sarcastic - and funny - whatever it was...
"Delicious hypocrisy", Mary calls Hillary's statement.
now THAT is a bitchslap!!!
Ahh... there it is: Maureen Dowd: "The Diva of the Smart Set" LOL!
Mary Matelin is a great American, She blows them all away in this roundtable. David Gregory and MoDo come off as two ass clowns that couldn't buy a clue with George Soros's money
Exactly... Mary rocks!
Yea, Matelin is doing great and I think "ass clowns" is right on the money as it relates to MoDo and Gregory.
This is great! I'm glad the Caller Times has come out swinging in this!
You should read comment #11.
LOVE finally getting to see this with you guys!
Mary Matalin was fabulous, she made her points, made Dowd look like a cold fish, and David Gregory had to concede he really was a jerk! LOL
Did you hear MoDo's stupid comments at the end of the show about VP Cheney's "sweet pink tie" and how "he told all of Wyoming about his newlywed lust"? What an irrelevant assclown she is.
I love FR. Thanks for posting this. I was able to catch it on TV just in time. This will make it easier to suffer through another week watching the MSM spin this story and beat it to death.
Thanks for the heads up on the MSNBC repeat, YaYa123. ;-)
Compared to Mo, a cold dead fish has more warmth and personality.
Her facial expressions and her voice lack any emotion whatsoever.
Maureen Dowd and David Gregory as a tag team.
It's enough to gag a maggot.
And what was that thing with the white hair and the red tie sitting next to Momo?
A potted plant? It never said anything!
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