“A Classic Method of Wrapping Fresh Fish” And Other Uses For A Local Newspaper, Courtesy Of A Local Politician

The prolonged battle between Aberdeen City Councilman Mike Hiob and local newspaper The Record continued this week with the politician getting in the latest jab - a list of the top “uses” for the newspaper he read during Monday night’s city council meeting, which include wrapping fish, washing windows and checking to see how many headlines were ripped from The Dagger.

This war of attrition has been going on nearly since Hiob took office in November 2003 and was likely fueled by Hiob’s dislike for what he has called “sensational headlines” and “wrong information” in the paper and the newspaper’s dislike of Hiob’s propensity for verbose, minute and typically unwarranted/unjustified criticism - or nitpicking. Continue reading “A Classic Method of Wrapping Fresh Fish” And Other Uses For A Local Newspaper, Courtesy Of A Local Politician

Aegis Launches Ink-Saving Campaign - Truncates Week-Old Letter

Homestead Publishing Company, parent of the Aegis and Record newspapers, announced Friday morning that, in order to save ink, letters to the editor would be arbitrarily truncated – particularly if those letters make mention of a certain local news and commentary website peopled largely by ex-Homesteaders.

In order to save costs at the printing press, The Aegis today cut a few words from a letter to the editor written by former legislative aide and former District C county council candidate Brian Young. The (almost) same letter was published here February 19.

Here’s the closing paragraph from Young’s letter, as posted on The Dagger:
Continue reading Aegis Launches Ink-Saving Campaign - Truncates Week-Old Letter

The Liberal Press: More myth than fact

The MoBseen: Observations as seen through the eyes of Mark

The Liberal Press.  A moniker used to describe America’s media.  Media of all sorts; radio, print media, and TV and the Internet.  For years I’ve wondered how this term came to describe the media and reporting in the United States.

In my mind, it flew in the face of what I saw and heard and read on a daily basis.  The likes of Rush Limbaugh, Anne Coulter, Imus, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Martha Zoller, Pat Buchanan, Laura Ingraham, Glenn Beck and a laundry list of other talk show hosts are widely syndicated, very popular and all very conservative.

Many, such as Limbaugh, Imus and Coulter, to name a few,  have become media icons. Very recognizable, syndicated in dozens of cities and consequently very rich.  Many of these conservative talk show hosts also write columns in major market newspapers, are guests on TV news shows, are active in the world of blogging and all have their own web sites devoted to their point of view. They all have access to worldwide media that allows them to state their point of view. Continue reading The Liberal Press: More myth than fact

Citizen Reports - Welcome to the future of Journalism

We are happy to announce a new feature to our site, a forum we are calling Citizen Reports. This newest extension of The Dagger aims to bring more relevant news, information and discussion to you by opening up the reporting to those who are most interested and impacted directly by the issues - you.

The future of journalism is on the Internet and will involve the integration of multimedia elements (words, photographs, audio and video), reported and relayed in real time around the clock - 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

New Journalism will also rely heavily on the participation of citizen reporters. These are the everyday men and women who are armed with cameras, cell phones and laptops, but more importantly their eyes and ears and minds, as they go about their daily lives. Turn on the television news any night of the week and look at how many of the pictures and videos are taken by passing observers. These are the new journalists. Unpaid citizens volunteering to pass on information relevant to themselves and their neighbors.

Continue reading Citizen Reports - Welcome to the future of Journalism

An Offer They Couldn’t Refuse?

Speaking of benefactors, could The Aegis newspaper, Harford County’s community newspaper of record, have been helping the cause of an Aberdeen annexation opposition group behind the scenes last year?

More disturbing details from the testimony of a member of the annexation opposition, as part of the lawsuit that group filed against the City of Aberdeen, indicate the group, formerly known as Say No Annex or unofficially as ‘the redshirts,’ may have had an anonymous “Godfather” pampering them with services, support and cold hard cash – everything the group needed to take on the Wetlands annexation proposal.

It was long speculated such a “Godfather” existed, especially when the opposition group, which consists of Aberdeen and non-Aberdeen resident volunteers, was suddenly outfitted with matching shirts and signs, began distributing information pamphlets and mailers and purchased expensive advertisements in local newspapers. Continue reading An Offer They Couldn’t Refuse?