Twenty-Four Hours At The Mercury News
6:50 AM - Link to this article.
While you were whiling your weekend away, pining for an accurate corn casserole recipe, the Mercury News was busy upholding the strong journalistic standards we've come to expect.
- Yesterday, Scott Herhold questioned why Dolores Carr is standing behind Ben Field, after sweeping into office in part by attacking prosecutorial behavior like his. But the interesting comment comes here, emphasis added:
...it makes huge sense for a district attorney to stand up for one of her own, particularly someone with Field's résumé: ex-Marine, Boalt Hall graduate, Ph.D. in history, and aide to ex-Mayor Susan Hammer. (I can tell you about the value of loyalty from personal experience: When I was sued years ago, I was very glad my editor, Bob Ingle, stood by me.)
Quick background for those not familiar with Mr. Herhold - he has been a Reed booster nearly from the get-go, beating the same open, honest government drum. And the quote above may explain why.
You see, Mr. Ingle, the man to whom Scott feels so indebted, is married. To Chuck Reed's sister. This is the kind of interrelatedness that we love in San Jose politics, adding just a touch of small-town nepotism to our big city. - Then Barry Witt appears this morning with his front page wrist-slap of Tom McEnery. Now don't get me wrong, I'm glad to see the issues that we've been raising for months appear on the front page of the paper and, in fact, feel that we can take a little credit - but is this the best Witt could do? Barry Witt enjoys making grown men cry, and yet I bet this article goes in McEnery's clip book.
And, of course, no mention of the erroneous lobbying reports. The Merc calls for better lobbyist information for years but looks the other way when their ally can't be bothered to fill it out. Pretty lame. - And, speaking of lame, does this graphic inspire you to subscribe to the Merc?
No? Well, how about this little pick-up line?...[W]e miss you, and we want you back as a customer. Plain and simple. If we messed up, we apologize. We want to earn your business and help you rediscover all the great things about the paper.
Fresh on the heels of their using throwback front pages to sell subscriptions comes their awesome Google promoted website, cleverly entitled "Home".
Replete with stock photos and wan appeals, the Merc hopes to reinspire former subscribers by apologizing how for badly they've sucked. But, if the appeal is that their quality standards have improved, this website is not really the foot they want to put forward.
And, for those who don't read regularly - I miss you and want you back as a customer. Flowers?
Labels: Scott Herhold, The Mercury News, Tom McEnery
5 Comments:
The article about McEnery was hardly hard-hitting journalism. If Witt was looking for insights into McEnery's bold claims of influence in San Jose city government, all he needed to do was read Obnoxious Blowhards with a critical eye.
How could Witt have left out McEnery's bold ownership of Oliverio? McEnery gives the nutty councilmember a weekly column to promote the late-night musings of his fellow self-medicating bar fly's like Pulcrano and McEnery.
Witt failed to capture the deep and dark influence of McEnery on the policy direction of San Jose. Shouldn't the paper be calling for an ethics investigation into McEnery's lobbying activities and their impacts on the voting record of Reed, Oliverio, Constant and Liccardo?
Now that would be the kind of journalism that could turn the paper around.
Herhold backed Michael Mulcahy originally, not Reed. Check your facts.
You are sounding more like one of a Cindy Chavez's sore losers everyday.
Hence the word "nearly".
Herhold backed Mulcahy for the same reason he later backed Reed - they're all part of the good 'ole boys club who are members of a San Jose version of the Skull & Bones social fraternity.
With the Merc actively protecting this secret society of Bellarmine grads and San Jose land barons, their greatest fear is that the working families of San Jose will recognize their majority power.
To learn who is a member of this secret society, look at the list of San Jose donors to Oliverio, Caserta, Liccardo and Pandori.
I guess the editors over at the Merc cut out Barry's paragraph about how Tom likes to be referred to as "Boss", a reference to his idol, the great Irish statesman William Tweed.
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