Lumpy wants to honor veteran KNS Knox gov't reporter

Knox County Commissioner Greg "Lumpy" Lambert submitted a resolution to honor Knoxville News Sentinel reporter Rebecca Ferrar for her coverage of commission and it's antics. (I added the "antics" part. Surprisingly, it's not part of the official resolution text, but the resolution does give a nod to her coverage of Commission "during some of the County's most challenging times.") Ferrar was recently moved from the county government beat, to the city hall beat.

Commission will consider Lambert's resolution at its regular monthly meeting, Monday.

"Lambert told me he was going to do it at the Intergovernmental Committee meeting on Tuesday. I asked him not to do it," Ferrar said in an email. "As you know, reporters don't like to be in the spotlight, but like to put others in the spotlight."

She's right. KNS Editor Jack McElroy hit on an important point in his Upfront Page blog, saying, "I'm sure Rebecca appreciates the sentiment, but I suspect she and most reporters would just as soon not be saluted by the government bodies they cover." [Emphasis added]

So, if Ferrar asked Lambert not to propose the resolution, why did he?

"You guys, as the press that cover us, you're an ever-present person," he said, when reached for comment for this blog. "The job that you all do (as journalists) is every bit as important as the job that we do (as legislators)."

Lambert says journalists and lawmakers both serve--Lambert and others as legislators, members of the media as informers of the citizens. He pointed out that elected officials honor other out-going elected officials who served their community, and he thinks it's appropriate to honor journalists, especially those who, like Ferrar, have dedicated so much time to covering bodies like Knox County Commission.

"I believe in recognizing folks," he said.

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What's up with the apparently fake @Camp4u Twitter account?

Apparently someone posing as State Rep. Stacey Campfield (R-18th) is posting Twitter updates under the @camp4u username. Campfield is running for the soon-to-be vacant 7th district State Senate seat currently held by Sen. Tim Burchett, who's running for Knox County Mayor.

The postings are, at first blush, seemingly legit, considering Campfield's propensity toward snarkiness. But a closer look appears to indicate that the Tweeter isn't the colorful Campfield, after all. By the way, @camp4u really gained attention after the News Sentinel ran a front page story about Campfield being escorted from Neyland Stadium on Halloween. Other news outlets and blogs quickly picked up the story.

The @camp4u bio says (as of 1 p.m., Nov. 11, 2009):

"This couldn't be the real Stacey Campfield. There's no way he would obsessively post crazy shit loaded with errors."

Then there's this Tweet, which was actually retweeted by a Knoxville news organization that didn't realize @camp4u may be an impostor:

"Wow. About 2/3 of the comments on @knoxnews seem to support me, most of them blindly. WTF? Looks like I can do anything and still win."

I emailed UT law professor and InstaPundit.com blogger Glenn Reynolds, and asked for his insights into the situation. I posed two questions:

What sort of legal issues are at play here, if in fact this is a fake
Twitter account purporting to be Campfield?

and

What legal recourse might Campfield have in this situation?

He wrote back:

"I have the same problem -- the InstaPundit Twitter feed isn't me, although it scrapes my RSS. I don't know who set it up, and I should really get around to reclaiming it. . .

"But these are fake posts that aren't from Campfield at all? He, too, can reclaim it from Twitter. As for legal issues: It's arguably fraud; not sure what the pecuniary angle would be, but if you accumulate followers under false pretenses that *might* be sufficient to sustain a fraud action or prosecution. Not sure (I'm not really a crimlaw guy), but it seems possible."

Granted, as he stated, Reynolds isn't a criminal law guy, but he knows more about this stuff than most.

It might be important to note that Campfield, on his personal blog, said, on June 30, 2009, that he doesn't use Twitter, and probably never will. But then there's this Twitter account, @votestacey, which appears legit, albeit underutilized.

It's also worth noting that, as of this blog posting, @camp4u is listed in a dozen Twitter lists, making it seem that at least some folks still think this is really Campfield Tweeting.

In fairness, it could be him--but I doubt it. [EDIT: Recent direct messages on Twitter between me and the person posting under the @camp4u Twitter ID corroborate the assumption that the poster is not Campfield.]

Wonder what, if anything, Campfield's going to do about all this.

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Traditional TV teases obsolete?

Are traditional television news teases obsolete? You know the ones I'm talking about. They promise "great video straight ahead." But what about the Web? If that video you want me to hold over until the second block to watch is so great, then it's probably already online.

My wife and I heard a tease at the start of a newscast. It did it's job, in so much as it caught our interest. However, my wife immediately Googled the story, and found the video before the newscast had gotten halfway through weather at the top of the show. No need to to stick around to watch that video anymore. I can see it as many times as I want on YouTube.

So what does this mean for the TV news tease? It means it better change. Great video will always be a hook, but relying too heavily on just video will not hold viewers in an increasingly Web-first world. Teases need to entice viewers with something they're not likely to find with a 10 second Google search. TV news producers need to play up unique angles or information in teases, not just great video. Nowadays, if it's that good, I've probably already seen it on Facebook, or clicked onto from a Twitter link.

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Why is TV viewing on the rise?

Neielsen says TV viewing in the U.S. hit an all-time high during the 2008-2009 season, according to TVNewsCheck.

That's good news for folks like me who work in the TV industry, but understanding why viewership is up seems like an important question.

"Nielsen attributed the growth in viewership to several factors, including more TVs in homes, more channels to choose from and an increased usage of DVRs." -- TVNewsCheck

I wonder where the economy fits in? Primetime dayparts didn't grow, which is when most people are off work and settling in for then night. With unemployment in double digits, it seems like there'd be a lot more folks sitting around watching TV.

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Metro Pulse waxes interactive, talks about online commenting

Metro Pulse has a great article about online comments on news sites. It's a debate I've been involved in several times, both in my own newsroom and in public forums--real and virtual.

I thought I was going to be strung up earlier this year when I proclaimed to a filled room at the Baker Center that I think online comments should be unmoderated, because I feel it's wrong to abridge speech and expression. (By "unmoderated," I mean edited in anyway or otherwise pre-approved before being published.) This is not a Constitutional issue for me, because news organizations are private businesses, and there's nothing that says they must provide a forum for public discourse. For me, it's a matter of principal.

Allowing comments on news stories is a way to offer a venue for speech and expression. Moderating comments is subjective. Someone has to say what's appropriate and what isn't, and for me, as a journalist, I don't think news professionals should be in the business of deciding what constitutes appropriate speech, expression or point of view. It goes against that whole "objectivity" thing they teach you about in J-school. That, of course is just my opinion.

I don't think all news organizations have an obligation to offer the ability to comment on stories. I just think it should be all or nothing. Either you allow comments or you don't. Maintaining comments this way has the added benefit of limiting the liability of the news organization in question. Moderating comments increases liability, because responsibility for that comment moves from the poster to the host-er.

According to law firm Bullivant Houser Bailey PC:

"Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act shelters from liability a provider of an 'interactive computer service that merely publishes information provided by others. As such, if the interactive computer service is merely a passive repository and publisher of information, then it may not be liable under the act if the public posting is harmful or defamatory.

"On the other hand, if the interactive computer service itself posts the comment, the exemption from liability offered by the Communications Decency Act does not apply. There is no exemption under the act to the poster of a false or wrongful comment."

I'm a practitioner of free speech as a journalist. As such, I feel like I would be a hypocrite if I felt it was appropriate to deny someone that same free speech, even if it's my right to do so.

EDIT: The one exception to my "all or nothing" approach to online commenting is SPAM! Deleting SPAM is acceptable.

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Twitter, journalism and the late night "correction"

Knoxville City Council races were decided yesterday. There wasn't a lot of media coverage on TV beyond the 11:00 broadcasts, but the Internet--especially Twitter--was abuzz with election results. I was among the Tweeters frantically posting the latest returns.

Finally, when we got the last returns, I posted the following messages on my personal Twitter account, @radiomanmic:

"Final numbers are in... Della Volpe wins by 70 votes."

and

"Your official winners in Knoxville City Council races are: Dist 1 Pavlis; Dist 2 Grieve; Dist 3 Palmer; Dist 4 Della Volpe; Dist 6 Brown."

The only problem was that the numbers weren't "final" or "official," because the results haven't been certified by the Knox County Election Commission.

Soon after the posts, I got a message from Deputy Administrator of Election @ScottFrith saying, "call Mackay XXX-XXXX" -- That's odd. It was after 11 p.m.

I dialed Greg Mackay, Knox County Administrator of Elections, who pointed out my mistake. I promised him that I'd Tweet a correction, so I posted:

"Earlier, I said "Final" numbers are in for Council races. I Should have said "complete, unofficial returns" for the sake of clarity. Sorry."

It's interesting and encouraging that Mackay and Frith took the time to correct my personal Twitter feed.

I'm always intrigued by the journalism v. blogger v. social media debate that seems to be forever active. That said, I wonder if the Tweet would have been noticed were I not employed by a traditional news organization.

Frost backing Della Volpe to replace him on council

Current Knoxville City Councilman Rob Frost is backing Nick Della Volpe as his replacement on council, Frost said in an email to community members Tuesday.

Della Volpe is going up against Ray Abbas in the 4th district city council race.

Here's Frost's email to members of the 4th district:

First, I'd like to thank all of those who supported me through the years in serving you on Knoxville's City Council. I appreciate my colleagues on City Council that have been professional.

Second, in my opinion, Nick Della Volpe is the most qualified person to serve the 4th district on City Council.

Nick, for decades, has been involved as a citizen in fighting for good zoning, better City facilities and a better Knoxville. Like me, Nick is an attorney. Considering all the zoning issues, contracts and legal documents that City Council must consider, having a representative with an educational and professional background to be able to read, interpret, question and improve items on Council's agenda is a very good thing for all of us.

Over the years, Nick has also been a volunteer spokesman for his neighborhood organization at MPC as well as City Council. It is a huge benefit to citizens when their elected representatives knows what it feels like to pour their guts into a zoning dispute in front of these bodies because their representative has actually fought these same types of battles themselves. And because many zoning disputes are based on law, having a representative that has a background in the law is a great benefit.

Here's what the current edition of Metro Pulse is saying:

In the 4th District, which encompasses North Knoxville, Fountain City, and Holston Hills, you couldn't ask for a better candidate than Nick Della Volpe. Throughout the 36 years that he has practiced law in Knoxville, Della Volpe has also been civically engaged in a multiplicity of ways. He's served as president of Town Hall East, one of the city's most venerable neighborhood organizations; he's chaired the board that oversees the Civic Auditorium and Coliseum; he's been an ardent advocate of greenways; and 20 years ago he was in the forefront of efforts to forestall a costly, noxious garbage incinerator. Now that he's retiring from his law practice at age 61, he will have even more time to devote to being a worthy successor to outgoing Rob Frost and the district's illustrious predecessor Carlene Malone, both of whom support him.

(see http://tinyurl.com/mn78ul for full article on all races)

The very mass burn garbage incinerator mentioned above was considered by both City and County governments for nearby Baxter Avenue and Cement Plant Road, and it would have had very negative effects for the surrounding neighborhoods miles around it, so Nick's been out there helping neighborhoods, including ours, for decades.

Also on a City-wide basis, Nick led the charge eight years ago to ban new billboards inside the City. Nick also helped raise money to buy and plant new magnolia trees along Magnolia and to remove a dilapidated parking lot and tall chain link fences around Holston Middle School and add a gazebo to improve the school's appearance. A tireless advocate for greenways and a fundraiser for parks and libraries, Nick has been helping us out decades before running for City Council.

That's why I'm supporting Nick Della Volpe for City Council, 4th District.

Thanks,

Rob Frost

Knoxville City Council, 4th District

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They're serious about health care in Cali

So much for finger pointing when it comes to the health care debate in California...

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