Breaking News: Grand Forks Herald Agrees to Cede Coverage of Alerus Center to Say Anything

• March 14, 2009

The Grand Forks Alerus Center

Financial Disaster on the Prairie
Say Anything Blog (Grand Forks Division) and the Grand Forks Herald have come to an agreement on coverage of certain stories. Say Anything is not going to try to duplicate the Herald’s obituary page nor with their cutting edge coverage of defunct water towers. In exchange Say Anything Blog is taking exclusive responsibility for covering the internal affairs of the Alerus Center.
I think this makes sense for both parties in that while we have provided the best coverage of news on the failed events center we just can’t match their expertise in some areas that they are strong in like water towers.
The reporter at the City Bent was asked for a comment and he said “This is a good thing. With the cutbacks in the Herald news room I haven’t been able to spend enough time transcribing the talking points that the Alerus Commission comes out with. That’s been a big task with them one day saying they made money and on the same day running an ad that they lost money. And frankly covering all of this spin is making me dizzy.
This will definitely allow me to expand my cutting edge water tower work. There are water towers in the city that I haven’t been able to make time to write about.”
The Publisher and Editor also issued a statement.
“This fits into our strategic plan of taking the news value out of the news. Running hard news stories costs money and with our declining subscriber base that’s a luxury we no longer can afford.”
“Market research has found that the Grand Forks newspaper readers don’t want to hear controversial stories. People want to hear what the cabal that runs this town wants them to hear. Did you know we won a the Pulitzer prize for being here when there was a flood?”
Editorial page editor Denny Thomas had this advice for the upstarts. “People don’t want to be bothered with the facts. They want to hear about how much we are like Fargo, where they don’t want to live. They’re concerned about how we think the Alerus has improved quality of life rather than wasting ink on how the Alerus Commission can’t remember which set of books they’re supposed to use.”
Relations between the Herald and Say Anything are expected to improve quite a bit. All parties seem to agree, “With the way things are going at the Herald, I’ll probably be going to work for SayAnything sooner than later,” said the City Bent Reporter. “Those guys at Say Anything need my expertise. That Whistler guy still doesn’t know how to code tables and couldn’t do a water tower story to save his life. Having a real pro like me on board is would really help their spelling and grammar.”
Denny Thomas also had this to say, “This is a big step for those guys taking over exclusive coverage of the Al. But they’ve certainly put in the investment in time and money to make this thing go. They’ve even created their exclusive dead white elephant logo for the center something that we were without the resources to do.”

Tags: Humor, North Dakota News

http://boyddrivefollies.blogspot.com/ Good Ol Boy

No more of this “we’re oh-so-objective” garbage. Let the reporters wear their biases and agendas on their sleeves. The good ones will get read, the bad ones won’t

That’s uhh.. kinda my point. Their lack of objectivity is apparent, and has affected their circulation numbers. But they show no sign of caring, even as their livlihood is swirling around the toilet.
Brent

It’s funny, but you assume The Herald knows what a hard news is. Maybe someone does at The Herald, but he or she was probably the first to be let go.
docdave

Let the reporters wear their biases and agendas on their sleeves. The good ones will get read, the bad ones won’t.

Exactly. It’s almost impossible for a reporter to write a story without some personal bias for everything we know comes from our own prespective. A good reporter will recognize and say where their bias may slant the news.
http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

I wonder if Whistler and Tu (or Jacobs or Dennis) are the same person.

Man, I didn’t tell you to think that.
http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

Brent hits on the topic of an upcoming post.

But I’m glad you thought it was funny. I was hoping people would.
Anon

Love it! So true!
ec99

“It’d be better if everyone just blindly thinks what I want them to think.”

I wonder if Whistler and Tu (or Jacobs or Dennis) are the same person.
jimmypop

ok…… i will defend the gf paper…. the problem is they people assigned to things often dont know a thing about what they are covering. additionally, they spend 15 minutes at a meeting (while texting their gf or bf) and then write about what they learned. THATS the problem.

they want to cover the drew murder as soon as they get out of school…. and they think they DESERVE to do it. what these kids dont realize is, that if they cant see all the holes in a simple city council meeting, how do they think a well publicized story will turn out?

summary; thats why ‘paid’ publications nation wide are losing to blogs. the people that write just dont care about the subject enough. whereas, the bloggers REALLY DO or they would be blogging about it. papers will continue to lose readership until the reporters come back to what they used to be….. and i, for one, dont think thats possible.
http://boyddrivefollies.blogspot.com/ Good Ol Boy

I had been under the impression this happened some time ago. So now I have to ask, “What did Whistler know, and when did he know it?” Has there been a cover up of the coverage? What is he hiding?
Brent

Jimmypop hits it on the head. The age of journalists who actually knew something (independent of what they are spoon fed by government officials and their selected “experts”) about the subject they are writing has long since passed us by. The media firms got lazy… competition will eventually make them pay for that and, of course, that is exactly what we’ve witnessed in recent years.
tom

Thats quality chuckle commentary.
http://boyddrivefollies.blogspot.com/ Good Ol Boy

Unless and until the owner/ editorial board’s desire to advance an agenda is overcome by their need to sell papers we may never see the kind of responsible reporting and coverage we look for. It doesn’t seem to me like there is any LESS news to report today, or any fewer scandals to cover than there ever was, but their desire to do so has certainly flagged over the years.
Forum Communications does not seem to be able to connect the dots between scandal (on whatever side of the aisle), selling papers, profitability, and longevity. A profitable paper does not lay off people and cut back on publications.
ConservativeEgghead

Did you know we won a the Pulitzer prize for being here when there was a flood?

This is the money line in the whole piece. Nicely done, Whistler. I needed a good laugh today.
ec99

Under the guise of becoming a local paper, the Herald has morphed into a joke in terms of journalistic measurements. Look at the nonsense which passes for news which gets plastered on the front page every day. The irony is, in refusing to run negative stories on issues such as the Alerus, it isn’t even a local paper. Rather, it’s a propaganda sheet for the Chamber of Commerce and a delivery mechanism for store fliers.
jimmypop

Forum Communications does not seem to be able to connect the dots between scandal (on whatever side of the aisle), selling papers, profitability, and longevity.

no, i think in many cases they CHOOSE not to do anything. The tax payer funded hockey rink that was just built in fargo is a PERFECT example of that. there was sooooo much collusion behind the scene to get this thing done it was amazing, but nobody wants to REALLY KNOW what happened because youd offend some VERY BIG NAMES in town that want a) their kids to play hockey like up in grand forks and b) to make lots of money as south fargo is developed.

now they want two more sheets and continue by saying rehabbing our other rinks (the coliseum) will cost millions more than it really will so they can build a new rink up north as well…….. but nobody at the forum is asking the most basic of questions; ‘where so the estimates come from and can we see the report? we like to ask our own experts to validate your findings.’

guess what; last time I asked… there are no reports. its just a couple old white guys in a room trying to get their part of government just a bit bigger.
http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

Better start a blog and keep whistler honest.

I don’t think any Johnny-come-lately blogger has the experience to judge my work. It’d be better if everyone just blindly thinks what I want them to think.

(That was a joke!)
Anon

Huh, what a coincidence. This blogs coverage of The Aerus has caused The Herald to get off their ass and actually cover The Alerus.

Nice work.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

Nah he’s writing the obituaries.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

Better start a blog and keep whistler honest.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

But they show no sign of caring, even as their livlihood is swirling around the toilet.

I think most of them are still trying to come to terms with the fact that they aren’t the gatekeepers to information any more.

But it’ll all work out. The way we get our news will change, and it’ll be for the better. Because for all the stories about journalistic saints like Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite, the truth is that we weren’t served by the old way.

It’s almost impossible for a reporter to write a story without some personal bias for everything we know comes from our own prespective. A good reporter will recognize and say where their bias may slant the news.

Sure. Just admit it. Go with it. The public isn’t dumb.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

That’s kind of how journalists feel about bloggers. Shut up and let us spoon feed you our version of he news.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

It’s not a joke Tom. This is really happening.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

Unless and until the owner/ editorial board’s desire to advance an agenda is overcome by their need to sell papers we may never see the kind of responsible reporting and coverage we look for. It doesn’t seem to me like there is any LESS news to report today, or any fewer scandals to cover than there ever was, but their desire to do so has certainly flagged over the years.

I don’t know if it’s so much about advancing an agenda as its just plain being interesting. As someone who, while no journalist, does know a thing or to about attracting an audience I think the newspapers just need to start being more interesting.

No more of this “we’re oh-so-objective” garbage. Let the reporters wear their biases and agendas on their sleeves. The good ones will get read, the bad ones won’t.

SayAnythingBlog.com

Breaking News: Grand Forks Herald Agrees to Cede Coverage of Alerus Center to Say Anything

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