how bad can the Telegraph get????

[VHSLhelper 571]

First, an outright lie right off the top -

Obama: Raising taxes would pay for jobs bill

 

And I didn't know newspapers could change stuff they got from the AP, whose actual lead was - Obama would raise taxes to pay for his jobs bill

(When did the AP turn into Fox?)

 

AND I didn't know newspapers could cut the author from a published story (Erica Werner, in this case).

 

But all that was just secondary as to why I'm ranting... wouldn't have said any of that if it weren't for this...

 

How bad can they get??? When a writer makes an obvious mistake, and the editor let's it pass...

 

" The Walmart supercenter proved to be a unique project in that it was constructed on the top of a three-story parking garage.

 

“The biggest thing is that it is on the third floor of a structure,†Potter said. “It does have two floors of parking under it.†"

 

Now, some may argue that it IS 3 stories, and it IS a parking garage (but I'd argue it actually isn't), and WM IS on the top, but when you put it all together, it's wrong.

 

Come to think of it, if all of that WERE true, then it wouldn't even be unique, becuase the Community Center ACTUALLY WAS constructed on the top of a three-story parking garage.

 

Geez.

[Guest The Variable]

First, an outright lie right off the top -

Obama: Raising taxes would pay for jobs bill

 

And I didn't know newspapers could change stuff they got from the AP, whose actual lead was - Obama would raise taxes to pay for his jobs bill

(When did the AP turn into Fox?)

 

AND I didn't know newspapers could cut the author from a published story (Erica Werner, in this case).

 

But all that was just secondary as to why I'm ranting... wouldn't have said any of that if it weren't for this...

 

How bad can they get??? When a writer makes an obvious mistake, and the editor let's it pass...

 

" The Walmart supercenter proved to be a unique project in that it was constructed on the top of a three-story parking garage.

 

“The biggest thing is that it is on the third floor of a structure,†Potter said. “It does have two floors of parking under it.†"

 

Now, some may argue that it IS 3 stories, and it IS a parking garage (but I'd argue it actually isn't), and WM IS on the top, but when you put it all together, it's wrong.

 

Come to think of it, if all of that WERE true, then it wouldn't even be unique, becuase the Community Center ACTUALLY WAS constructed on the top of a three-story parking garage.

 

Geez.

 

So are you complaining about coverage of the jobs bill or some obscure Walmart reference?

 

BTW The AP fact-checked the Obama plan...it doesnt come out looking very good...probably because he doesnt know a thing about economics in a practical sense or the private sector in general. Hes a politician getting advised by politicians. You are suprised a fact check turns this stuff out as bogus?

[VHSLhelper 571]

I'm complaining about the "raising taxes" part, which is totally false, and the conflicting parking floors part of the WM story.

BDT just doesn't know what it's doing.

[Deleted Account 5,203]

Newspapers in SWVA are nothing short of abominable, but the BDT does take the cake.

 

The Bristol-Herald Courier comes a close second, though. Very close. Oh, and before someone brings up that Pulitzer, one writer does not a newspaper make. Put Wynton Marsalis in a crappy band and the band's just less crappy.

 

So are you complaining about coverage of the jobs bill or some obscure Walmart reference?

 

BTW The AP fact-checked the Obama plan...it doesnt come out looking very good...probably because he doesnt know a thing about economics in a practical sense or the private sector in general. Hes a politician getting advised by politicians. You are suprised a fact check turns this stuff out as bogus?

 

Keynesian economics forever, baby. Not coincidentally, even though I'm broke, I'm going to go pawn my UVA class ring and by $200 worth of lottery tickets with it. Maybe I'll win enough to buy it back AND make some money!

[Guest The Variable]

Newspapers in SWVA are nothing short of abominable, but the BDT does take the cake.

The Bristol-Herald Courier comes a close second, though. Very close.

Okay, but I do not get the difference between the AP headline and the Headline that the local paper used. They mean the same thing.

 

 

Keynesian economics forever, baby. Not coincidentally, even though I'm broke, I'm going to go pawn my UVA class ring and by $200 worth of lottery tickets with it. Maybe I'll win enough to buy it back AND make some money!

Hah!

[Guest The Variable]

I'm complaining about the "raising taxes" part, which is totally false, and the conflicting parking floors part of the WM story.

BDT just doesn't know what it's doing.

 

He will raise taxes to pay for it. What is the new PC term for it? Revenue Increases? When the dullards pick up on that one it will change to Revenue Enhancers.

[Lance 228]

I'm lost on the Walmart thing...i've been there and it's 2 floors of parking and the 3rd floor is Walmart...what's the confusion? pretty cut and dry...

 

 

Ground level (1st floor) = parking

2nd level = parking

3rd level = Wally World

[Deleted Account 5,203]

Okay, but I do not get the difference between the AP headline and the Headline that the local paper used. They mean the same thing.

 

I agree, could've used a much better example. The one where "Smokey" Shott completely, wholly, totally butchered criminal procedure in his editorial would be my Exhibit A, the one that I wrote about a 1200-word reply to as a "Letter to the Editor", which of course was never published.

[Hacker 82]

I'm lost on the Walmart thing...i've been there and it's 2 floors of parking and the 3rd floor is Walmart...what's the confusion? pretty cut and dry...

 

 

Ground level (1st floor) = parking

2nd level = parking

3rd level = Wally World

 

I think the unique thing in the story has nothing to do with two levels of parking with a building on top, but that it is unique for Wal Mart.

[BigD4VT 11]

Newspapers in SWVA are nothing short of abominable, but the BDT does take the cake.

 

The Bristol-Herald Courier comes a close second, though. Very close. Oh, and before someone brings up that Pulitzer, one writer does not a newspaper make. Put Wynton Marsalis in a crappy band and the band's just less crappy.

 

 

 

Keynesian economics forever, baby. Not coincidentally, even though I'm broke, I'm going to go pawn my UVA class ring and by $200 worth of lottery tickets with it. Maybe I'll win enough to buy it back AND make some money!

 

The paper won the Pulitzer, not just the writer. Both the BDT and the BHC have as fine a staff as you will find anywhere (I know many of them at both papers) but they are spread thin. So instead of being part of the problem, by reading articles online for free (and then complaining about them,) maybe we should all be part of the solution and buy the actual printed newspaper. That's the problem! And it's the reason that soon enough there won't be any newspapers to complain about...

[deuceswild 15]

The paper won the Pulitzer, not just the writer. Both the BDT and the BHC have as fine a staff as you will find anywhere (I know many of them at both papers) but they are spread thin. So instead of being part of the problem, by reading articles online for free (and then complaining about them,) maybe we should all be part of the solution and buy the actual printed newspaper. That's the problem! And it's the reason that soon enough there won't be any newspapers to complain about...

 

Seconded and Thirded..ed.

[Deleted Account 5,203]

The paper won the Pulitzer, not just the writer. Both the BDT and the BHC have as fine a staff as you will find anywhere (I know many of them at both papers) but they are spread thin. So instead of being part of the problem, by reading articles online for free (and then complaining about them,) maybe we should all be part of the solution and buy the actual printed newspaper. That's the problem! And it's the reason that soon enough there won't be any newspapers to complain about...

 

Dude, you do know that I live about 330 miles outside the BDT's and almost 400 miles outside the BHC's readership area, right? It would cost them more to mail me the newspaper than any benefit they would derive from mailing it to me, or worse, driving it up here. I mean, I just assume they'd mail it, but I've been given enough reason to distrust each newspaper over the years that I must stop and wonder if they'd actually send a deliveryman to PA.

 

I worked closely with the BHC in the Summer of '08. And by closely, I mean that the BHC was trying to unearth Ahmad Bradshaw's juvenile records and I, on behalf of the Tazewell County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, was working to keep them sealed. I cannot talk about the specifics, of course, but the BHC showed me a level of incompetence that I have never seen before in my life. I've had to work with a BUNCH of ignorant people over the years, and the BHC's staff ranks numero uno.

 

Here's the timeline of events:

1. BHC calls our court threatening litigation if we don't release them.

2. We tell them we'll be back in touch.

3. I research the VA Code, and find a code section that could not more clearly be in our favor.

4. I research cases relating to this law, and find one EXACTLY on-point with AB's situation, again favoring us.

5. I call BHC back, tell them the applicable statute and case law, and tell them to take a hike.

6. They threaten me personally with litigation (didn't follow through) and threaten the court with litigation (followed through).

7. They call back, and cockily guarantee victory. I laugh at them.

8. Trial is expedited.

9. Trial takes 20 minutes. Victory-Tazewell County J&DR Court.

10. BHC promises appeal, ESPN breaks the story through independent sources, BHC backs down. Hmmm...

 

Now, I know you've done some work with them. Whatever. It doesn't change my opinion, nor does 1 Pulitzer change my opinion. As I said before, put Wynton Marsalis in a terrible band and it's just a terrible band + Wynton Marsalis. 1 good writer + 1 solid expose /= AWESOME NEWSPAPER! I read two significantly better newspapers every day, the Carlisle Sentinel and Harrisburg Patriot. Neither have Pulitzers, and they blow the BHC's doors off. So give your "support our newspapers" crock a rest. Put out a semi-decent product, and I'll support it. That's all I'm going to say about the BHC. I've already given that birdcage liner a few hundred words too many.

 

Given what I've been through, it says a LOT when I rank the BDT lower. That's how bad the BDT's quality of work is, IMHO.

Edited September 14, 2011 by UVAObserver

[deuceswild 15]

Either way, I just worry that without local newspapers existing, poopin time will be very dull. I don't expect much out of them, and in turn they don't give me much. But I still feel like we need them, if for nothing more than poopertainment.

 

I realize it's a shallow basis to exert my opinion after such well thought out comments but I stand by it 100%.

[Deleted Account 5,203]

Either way, I just worry that without local newspapers existing, poopin time will be very dull. I don't expect much out of them, and in turn they don't give me much. But I still feel like we need them, if for nothing more than poopertainment.

 

I realize it's a shallow basis to exert my opinion after such well thought out comments but I stand by it 100%.

 

If poopin' time gets dull, just get yourself an Uncle John's Bathroom Reader. It will be dull no longer. If you only listen to 3 things I ever say, "get an Uncle John's Bathroom Reader" would be #3. Really is a fun series.

 

But I understand your concern, and it's a valid one. With newspapers come knowledge for the viewership, especially on a local level. I don't disagree with you, and I'm a firm believer that (generally) the more newspapers there are, the better life is. Typically, there's enough competition within a readership that forces the newspapers by default to have some marketplace value.

 

This isn't the case in SWVA, where the four major papers are Bristol, Bluefield, Roanoke, and Charleston. The only place where there's competition is where Bluefield and Bristol overlap, and it's telling that the BDT becomes nonexistent when you hit the Russell County line. With no competition, there's little effort needed for the BDT or BHC to get better. The only thing driving the quality of their product is pride. Well, of course, the bottom line too, but that's also suffering. Without competition, people won't just switch to reading another newspaper: they'll just quit reading one altogether. That's the saddening thing about all this, and one that we all hate to see happen. Where I am, it can be helped. In SWVA, it can't.

 

I look at it like this. I like a good steakhouse. Imagine, hypothetically, I get a job an hour away, and there's just 1 steakhouse in that town. That steakhouse continues to put out inferior products of inferior quality to that which I desire. The service is rude and often messes things up. The argument from some would be: "you need to support our local steakhouse and eat at that steakhouse because it's important to the community!" Um, no sir. I, as a patron, demand a certain quality and I will certainly exercise the right to stop eating at that steakhouse until (a) the quality improves or (b) some other steakhouse buys them out and drives them away.

 

TL;DR version: I agree with you in most all instances, but SWVA is special, and newspapers are like any other products in the marketplace.

[VHSLhelper 571]

ummmm.... can't subscribe to the Bristol paper in Grundy anymore.

 

And, DADGUM, if WJHL didn't just go and say the same thing...

"on top of a 3-story parking garage".

And they even had someone there!

[VHSLhelper 571]

I'm lost on the Walmart thing...i've been there and it's 2 floors of parking and the 3rd floor is Walmart...what's the confusion? pretty cut and dry...

 

 

Ground level (1st floor) = parking

2nd level = parking

3rd level = Wally World

 

 

Can a 3-story parking garage only have 2-stories of parking? I don't think so.

WM is on top of a TWO story parking garage is more correct, but still wrong... it isn't a parking garage. It's a 3-story buiding with 2 stories of parking underneath WM.

[Lance 228]

You can still get the BHC at Food City in Grundy.

 

One problem I have is that the BDT doesn't cover anything outside of Mercer and Tazewell Co unless its a HUGE story...The Lebanon/Grundy write up Lloyd did got cut down to almost nothing and I took the time to send in a couple of pics and they didn't use them. The people in Grundy and the outer areas get the short end of the stick 90% of the time with the BDT.

 

I understand there is only so much space and you have to cover mostly where the bulk of your circulation is...but, still doesn't change the fact that it's the short end of the stick.

 

These are local papers...I don't expect much out of them...I think they do a pretty good job considering the deadlines they have to deal with to make things in print happen...and considering they have to run up against real time news on the internet...I'm sure its not easy to make happen.

 

I realize the Grundy Walmart story got big coverage just yesterday in the printed paper, but, thats a big deal...day to day you don't see much out of Grundy so it would be nice to at least see some better sports coverage...there is not a lot else going on.

[Lance 228]

Can a 3-story parking garage only have 2-stories of parking? I don't think so.

WM is on top of a TWO story parking garage is more correct, but still wrong... it isn't a parking garage. It's a 3-story buiding with 2 stories of parking underneath WM.

 

thats splitting hairs...it is what it is any way you want to look at it...doesn't really matter at the end of the day it's just another Walmart.

[deuceswild 15]

If poopin' time gets dull, just get yourself an Uncle John's Bathroom Reader. It will be dull no longer. If you only listen to 3 things I ever say, "get an Uncle John's Bathroom Reader" would be #3. Really is a fun series.

 

But I understand your concern, and it's a valid one. With newspapers come knowledge for the viewership, especially on a local level. I don't disagree with you, and I'm a firm believer that (generally) the more newspapers there are, the better life is. Typically, there's enough competition within a readership that forces the newspapers by default to have some marketplace value.

 

This isn't the case in SWVA, where the four major papers are Bristol, Bluefield, Roanoke, and Charleston. The only place where there's competition is where Bluefield and Bristol overlap, and it's telling that the BDT becomes nonexistent when you hit the Russell County line. With no competition, there's little effort needed for the BDT or BHC to get better. The only thing driving the quality of their product is pride. Well, of course, the bottom line too, but that's also suffering. Without competition, people won't just switch to reading another newspaper: they'll just quit reading one altogether. That's the saddening thing about all this, and one that we all hate to see happen. Where I am, it can be helped. In SWVA, it can't.

 

I look at it like this. I like a good steakhouse. Imagine, hypothetically, I get a job an hour away, and there's just 1 steakhouse in that town. That steakhouse continues to put out inferior products of inferior quality to that which I desire. The service is rude and often messes things up. The argument from some would be: "you need to support our local steakhouse and eat at that steakhouse because it's important to the community!" Um, no sir. I, as a patron, demand a certain quality and I will certainly exercise the right to stop eating at that steakhouse until (a) the quality improves or (b) some other steakhouse buys them out and drives them away.

 

TL;DR version: I agree with you in most all instances, but SWVA is special, and newspapers are like any other products in the marketplace.

 

I would argue there is some overlap in Smyth and Wythe Counties with the Roanoke Times. Especially Wythe. But your point is made.

[Deleted Account 5,203]

I would argue there is some overlap in Smyth and Wythe Counties with the Roanoke Times. Especially Wythe. But your point is made.

 

That's fair, and I can see how that's true.

[Guest The Variable]

If poopin' time gets dull, just get yourself an Uncle John's Bathroom Reader. It will be dull no longer. If you only listen to 3 things I ever say, "get an Uncle John's Bathroom Reader" would be #3. Really is a fun series.

 

+1. It is a hilarious series full of dumb facts, like Trumans not so famous quote "Never kick a fresh turd on a hot day." Youll be very well armed the next time you play trivial pursuit.

[sandman 13]

Grandfather told me once that since about 1980 he turns directly to the obituaries to see if any of friends have died, and then throws the paper straight into the trash. HAHAHAHAHA!

[deuceswild 15]

My grand-dad looks for himself in the obituaries. Funniest thing though, 2 years ago he was in there. He didn't recognize any of the family members and realized it was another man by the same name, which isn't very common. He almost had a heart attack thinking he was already dead.

 

He also drinks like a fish, so there's that.

[Deleted Account 5,203]

Grandfather told me once that since about 1980 he turns directly to the obituaries to see if any of friends have died, and then throws the paper straight into the trash. HAHAHAHAHA!

 

The only thing mine ever did. Stopped buying it once they put it online, but bless his heart, it took him about 30 minutes to load the webpage and type in the address. Rest in peace, Grandaddy.

[BigBlueAlum 12]

 

TL;DR version:

 

It's about time you started doing this! ;)