That would be the question most readers ask when following the ”Village Candidate Could Take Office in Jail” link on Madison.com’s home page. The problem, however, is that the article doesn’t answer that seemingly obvious question. To no surprise, the article, which is uncredited, is written by WKOW.
Also not indicated are potential jail terms, the terms of his reelection, and when exactly his sentence might start in relation to when voting happens.
Perhaps I’m missing something reading the article. Perhaps there’s something there that everyone else sees and I don’t. Perhaps WKOW should stick to TV reporting and leave articles like this to the State Journal and Capital Times. Am I wrong?
I thought maybe my glasses were dirty this morning when I loaded Madison.com. Turns out they weren’t and it was just that whoever does the site allowed an incredibly tiny picture to be used for the main image on the site. Because of that, it had to be expanded to fit the big box on the home page and came out incredibly blurry.
If you squint just right you can make out a moutain with a well in front of it. Or at least that’s what it looks like to me. Click on the pic below to get an idea of what it looked like full-size on the homepage today.
The Capital Times ran a story today about UW athletes taking directed study courses, seemingly only to boost their GPA or maintain their 12 credit minimum. I’m sure the whole situation is an under the table scam, but it’s nice to see some reporting like this. Universities are for learning, not playing sports, right?
In any case, my problem is that the writer seems to think everyone knows what directed study is. That can’t be the case, though, because she puts the term in quotes in the second paragraph, as if it’s a foreign phrase. You’d expect the next sentence or paragraph to go on to explain exactly what directed study is, but no, that doesn’t happen. You have to read through the entire article and infer what it means, guessing at the exact definition each time the words come up in a sentence.
No, I’m not lazy or dumb. Yes, I can determine what the term means by the end of the article. But, it seems to me like you’d want to point out a definition like that pretty early on to provide some context for the rest of the article.
Worst segment so far on ABC’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve: Marysol Castro (who?) interviews two girls with consecutive birthdays.
Maryosol (M): When is your birthday?
Girl 1 (G1): Today
M: And when is your birthday?
Girl 2 (G2): Tomorrow
M: No way! And you two don’t know each other?
G1: Huh?
M: You two don’t know each other? [points]
G1: No
M: Wow! Are you getting along well, is she a good friend?
G2: [Puzzled] Yes?
M: She was worried her hair wouldn’t look good!
G2: I guess.
Alerwoman Brenda Konkel was nice enough to comment on my post from last night about WKOW’s poor “story” about the salt shortage on Madison.com. Specifically she posted an email from Al Schumacher, Madison streets superintendent, about the real story on the situation.
Based on the email, we have 10,000 pounds of salt available for this winter, and have used about 5,800 pounds over seven snowfalls already. In addition, Madison has another 10,000 pounds available if necessary. To me, that says we have about 4 snowfalls worth of salt left with our “regular” supply, and another 10 or so left with the salt in reserve.
Another commenter posted what likely was the actual story Madison.com should have linked to, which isn’t much better than the non-story from before. Al Schumacher’s comments make it seem like the city recognizes they might run low on salt and that they are beign careful applying it, but it doesn’t seem like the panic WKOW is making it sound like. Even better, Schumacher’s email outlines a 300 pounds of salt per lane-mile policy, while WKOW indicates that the policy is half that: 300 pounds per two lane-mile.
Also, good thing the WKOW starts out indicating a salt shortage in paragraph one, but waits to paragraph seven to let us know that we’re in no danger of running out of salt.
Perhaps they should stick to TV news and leave the online stuff to the State Journal.
A link on Madison.com today pointed readers to what could have been an interesting story about a salt shortage during a record-setting snowfall period:
Curious, I followed the link. Once there, I found it was a short story accompanied by a video. I read the story first, expecting to find out more about the salt shortage. Finding only a short blurb about the city being short on salt, I clicked the link to the video story by Sean Towle.
Don’t bother watching the video yourself. Sean simply stands on a snowy corner and tells you three things: 1) it’s snowing 2) roads are slippery 3) plows are plowing.
What about the salt shortage you ask? That’s the same question I still have.
It’d be great if somewhere they answered things like:
- How short on salt are they?
- Why are they short on salt?
- What is being done to get more salt?
- What is being done in the meantime due to the shortage?
Perhaps my expectations are too high.
On 1/1/08, Court TV is changing it’s name to TruTV. What a horrible name. I guess they have horrible shows most of the time, so a horrible name is only fitting. Cops is about the only thing worthwhile.
Whatever happened to serving the public by bringing the inner workings of the judicial system to the masses?
Even worse, I just opened the link to TruTV from above and found out they’re counting down to the switch. They also point out new shows coming up, all seemingly reality shows: Black Gold, One False Move, Neighbors 911, and Ski patrol.
Neighbors 911 is about a former green beret who goes into the homes of feuding neighbors to solve disputes. The green beret, Myke Hawke (yes a “y” in Myke and an “e” at the end of Hawke) plays judge AND jury, demonstrating just how the judicial system works to the reality-tv-watching viewers of America.
On a side note, I’d love to try Tru in Chicago.
Thank you, Susan Lampert-Smith, for your oh so nostalgic, yet entirely factless column.
First, I didn’t know that the McDonald’s on Lake Street had closed. Did you? No, I don’t really miss it nor care overall that it closed, I just find it odd that it did. It was always full of college students and bums (both have similar budgets), so it seems odd that they would up and close.
When I heard about this, the first thing I asked was “Why?” That’s where this article comes into play. One sees it and thinks “Ah, good, this will answer all my questions.” It doesn’t. Some key things are missing from it that any good journalist would have answered. For instance:
- Who owns that paritcular McDonald’s?
- Why are they closing?
The second question only got a tiny bit of attention, with one line explaining it “Now the store is closing because remodeling the restaurant didn’t make financial sense. It is likely to be replaced with a post office.” Were they being forced to remodel by McDonald’s corporate office? Were things falling apart and spending money on fixing it wold break the bank? Where did one get the fact that it’s going to be replaced with a post office? Did she read that on some USPS blog?
Blah. I don’t really care so much about the McDonald’s closing. I don’t really care so much about the post office opening either. I do care enough to realize that when people walk past it they’re going to say “I didn’t know that closed. What happened?” With that article, I really don’t have a clue.
