Trial or Hearing?

Josh Marshall raises a good semantics question: Are the sessions two veteran members of Congress face legitimately called "trials" or are they hearings? I thought hearings, too. Here's CQ's description, and doesn't mention the word trial. But The New York Times likes it. "Trial" certainly seems to have some extra weight to it.

The Autism Job Market

Oh, this is interesting. In an article about jobs for people with autism/Asperger's, journalism and copy editing come up.  I've always wondered about quirks and obsessions (I know that isn't limited to autism).

We've all seen reporters and editors with strong likes and dislikes about how they work. When I was first starting out in the business and using a typewriter, I would and could not turn in a story with a typo in the lede, even if I'd XX'ed it out. The lede graf had to be clean or I'd type it 40 times until it was right. (I accidentally just wrote "write." Computers make everything so easy!)

I have no idea how much time I wasted after late-night Vermilion Town Council meetings trying to type the lede correctly.

Time Takes Sides

The problem with this cover is not the stark image--it shows the brutality that women face in Afghanistan. The issue is the headline: it suggests this imagery is what we can expect should American forces leave after nine years. The problem is, it's what is happening NOW, with us in the country.

I am not naive. Things will not go well for a lot of people when American forces leave.  Women, in particular, face a very rough road. We have examples from our prior wars to learn from, including Vietnam and Cambodia, Somalia and others. And I have no idea if we have a plan to rescue some people, to bring out the schoolteachers, translators and aid workers who most helped the American side. But the cost the people of Afghanistan will pay has to be weighed against what they are paying now for our presence, including bombings, raids, etc.

Time magazine may not have intended to make a political statement with its choice of images, but it certainly did with its words.

Greg Mitchell's thoughts.

Award to Rich Holden

ACES stalwart Richard S. Holden gets the hometown-newspaper treatment.

Top award goes to Madison man for encouraging young journalists

Richard Holden cited for his years as 'tireless advocate' for education, workshops, internships and scholarships

Published: Jul 28th, 5:56 PM

   MADISON ‑ Richard S. Holden of Grove Street, husband of Mayor Mary-Anna Holden and a frequent columnist on borough history in the Madison Eagle, will receive the 2010 Gerald Sass Award for Distinguished Service to Journalism and Mass Communication, presented by the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication (ASJMC).

   The Holdens have lived in Madison for 23 years.

   Executive director of the Dow Jones News Fund, Holden will receive the award, ASJMC’s highest honor, at the organization’s annual dinner Friday, Aug. 6, in Denver, Colo.

   The award, named after a retired executive of the Gannett Company and the Freedom Forum, has been presented annually since 1946.

Check the Calendar

Oh, sorry, bad link because it goes to a story behind a paywall. Anyway, this story is about a politician and former firefighter who is collecting a big disability pension while still running marathons and Triathlons. Here's the link if you can get to it:

Kind of hard to have spent "several months" on Ground Zero cleanup dutyif he retired in November 2001 when the attacks occurred Sept.11, 2001.

And FDNY members are famously not paid all that well, though pensions get bulked up by those who add tons of overtime hours in their last year of work. He's receiving "an $86,000 disability pension from the New York Fire Department," a three-quarters salary pension, which is a lot of money. Something about this doesn't add up.

From the Language Front

How long will it take for "refudiate" to make it into some Top Ten new words list?

It's nice to see an old journalism major handle the language so well. I confess, I sort of like the word, but somehow, I think its invention was an accident. Refute? Often misused. Repudiate? Probably not understood.

It's no wonder we can't get anything done in this country. There's so much to mock (and I approve, in this case.) There's a whole new hashtag over at Twitter, mocking Palin's usage. See the tag  famousmovielinesviaPalin

Maybe the Plan Doesn't Stink

David Sullivan takes a sober, thoughtful look at Gannett's plan to create designer hubs for its newspapers.

From the Department of Ambiguity

Surveys should clarify, not further muddy, the picture. Pay attention to the reporting when results from this survey come in.


The military is, according to CNN, asking soldiers these questions about the possible repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

-Would a repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell" prompt a soldier to reconsider serving in the military?
-Would serving under an openly gay commander adversely affect morale?
-How would troops feel about sharing a bathroom or open-air shower with an openly gay comrade in a war zone?

The first question could result in ambiguous results. Presumably, a gay soldier might reconsider serving precisely because DADT has been repealed--in other words, he or she would feel safe remaining in service. But watch for interpretation that assumes that anyone who says he'd reconsider service means that the respondent is opposed to repeal.

 On the second, "openly gay." Well, let's turn that around. If someone is obnoxious about his sexuality, hetero or gay, that could be enough to affect morale.

 On the third, why limit it the question to the war zone? Soldiers have little or no privacy from day one of basic training.

 And why, honestly, are we asking soldiers this? Were soldiers surveyed before President Truman ordered the integration of the military? Don't think so. I wish someone would ask questions about this.  And dear gay friends, I respect your fears about soldiers outing themselves, but if you take yourselves out of the process, the results will be skewed.