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
After seeing that interview, I realized that IS Maureen Dowd's smile in the pic.........she showed NO emotion in either her voice or her face. She spoke and acted like a robot. She really is a cold fish.
Before she appears on air, Dowd sucks a lemon..
Good morning..up very early or very late?...The show was exquisite, especially the "jihad" crack...It was hard to hear, but after Mary said it..Gregory whimpered some lame line about " how bad it was to use that word"..Mary said something like "I'll bet you've been practising that line all week David."..Rush should have a field day with this stuff today
Tim, can I just speak up on a point that Paul made that I think is a good one, which is I think for the moment I’m the only one here representing the White House press corps. I think one of the things we may have missed this week is a little bit more empathy for the vice president, given what he went through. This is a terrible incident for two people, one of whom happened to be the vice president. I think we missed that a little bit in all of this questioning. I do think the vice president gave voice to that personal pain extremely well this week, which is why, I for one, was so pleased to see him speak publicly about it and, you know, why I think it would have been useful to speak about it more quickly.
Yeah right! I am sure the WHPC would have been a lot more sympathetic if Cheney had just talked to them personally.
Another video link:
http://www.exposetheleft.com/
February 19, 2006
Mary Matalin: “You [The Press] Went on a Jihad” (VIDEO)
On Meet the Press this morning, the roundtable that included Mary Matalin, David Gregory, Maureen Dowd, and Paul Gigot, discussed the importance, or lack of importance, of the Cheney hunting incident. David Gregory, the White House Press correspondent, apologized for the on and off camera fit he threw with Scott McCllelan, noting his wife made him do it. Matalin duked it out with both Gregory and Dowd at several points because the former noted the bias the press has towards this administration. Dowd kept trying to excuse that because they are so secretive, and David hid behind the “it’s my job” argument. Matalin, who finally got fed up with Gregory and the press hiding their bias, said that “you [the press] went on a jihad”. Thank you, somebody had to say it, and I am glad it was Mary Matalin.
can't figure out, early or late, but oh what fun to be up to catch MSNBC just a few seconds go, replay David Gregory's first comments on Meet The Press, apologizing. MSNBC's John Seigenthalter (sp) called the Cheney shooting their "cover story" and presidential historian Beschloss said events like this are often what's remembered about our leaders.
Mo Dowd has a wonderful plastic surgeon.
Even if you look closely, you cannot see the clothes pin she has on her nose while she speaks.
Thumb in the eye anyone? LOL
The Caller-Times sticks it to the WHPC, you've got to love this.
The question that really needs to be asked...
Can a reporter married to a Clintonista ethically provide fair coverage of the Administration? David Gregory proves he cannot and needs reassignment.
I wouldn't exactly call her hot, but I do find her attractive, and I don't agree that she has evil in her eyes or anything like that. I think she's a sad case. She reminds me of certain smart girls I remember from my youth; on the borderline between really smart and just pseudo-intellectual, very much wanting to be taken seriously but lacking a big-picture view that would make their observations interesting.
I think she's so hung up on her worship of all things iconoclastic that she's turned her back on her own humanity. Now she's in her mid fifties and all she has to show for it is lots of money and a circle of glamorous, powerful, interesting friends. In short, she has the life she always dreamed of, she's the victim of answered prayers.
I mostly find her a tragic figure, and I confess to feeling a certain degree of sympathy for her. She's a pseudo-intellectual who's succeeded in building a pseudo-life for herself, while her friends have families, and her friend's dogs have families (borrowed that line from the movie Me and You and Everyone We Know).
(steely)
My Greataunt worked for the Caller. It is a very good newspaper.
Maybe when Howard Gregory grows up, he can land a job at the Caller-Times.
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