Reading the Charlotte Sun Newspaper

We’ve not gone away!  Check out our 2009 posts that have accumulated over at www.oldwordwolf.blogspot.com   That is, until we can figure out how to import the posts to this location!  Like many novice bloggers, I’ve been experimenting with “platforms,” and this little disjunct is one result.  Hopefully, I’ll get’em all rounded up in short order!  Cheerio.

Imagine you own a chain of small-town newspapers. Times are tough, advertising revenues fall, and you are forced to fire half the staff. Your internal memos on the matter “mourn” the loss of “family.”

But soon enough, a particularly lovely day in December dawns (remember, it’s Florida). You decide to “take a vacation day” (!) from your labors and head over to the yacht club where you untie your sloop for a sail around the harbor.

Question: Do you write a column about it?
Answer: Yes, if you are Derek Dunn-Rankin.

Comment: Enjoying his sail under “a milk-blue sky” is one thing. Writing about what is often regarded as an elitist activity is simply rubbing the staff’s nose in the disparity between Dunn-Rankin’s holiday and theirs.

Perhaps feeling a twinge of conscience about spending 20 inches of ink waxing poetic about his personal pursuit of happiness under sail, the company patriarch opines: “If I could get just a few thousand of the millions shoveling driveway snow to spend a few minutes aboard, we would once more have a shortage of houses for sale.”

Oh my! One tack out of the yacht club and consumers would be back on board! Having a full-time job that pays more than collecting aluminum cans and the means to qualify for a mortgage aren’t part of the Dunn-Rankin sailing-to-economic-recovery plan.

If, after considering how many of his laid-off staff had to forgo yacht club memberships this year, Dunn-Rankin still decides to publish his lyric to leisure, then he should at least send the column to a decent copy editor. A “tiller arm” and “sheet line” are both silly redundancies. (A tiller is an arm and a sheet is a line, so there’s no need for the pompous inclusion of the extra noun disguised as an adjective.) He describes the boat’s “heel to the wind,” giving a backwards description of what happens when wind moves over sail. (By sailing left or right of the wind’s head-on direction, a sail produces different wind pressures on the front and back of its air-foil shape. The differential propels the boat forward. In the process, the boat heels away from, or “off,” the wind source, not into it.) But these are minor points.

The bigger point is Dunn-Rankin left his better judgment on the dock when he decided to tell his former employees and former advertisers how much fun he’s having, and suggest that all their problems would be solved if they’d only take a little sail, just like he does.

Interning reporter Samantha Williamson has covered many DeSoto Sun beats lately, but she seems to get little coaching or mentoring along the way. There’s no evidence she’s checking and double checking her stories or doing background research. The latest free-wheeling free ad she writes – apparently with the blessings of three – or is it four? – “editors,” “assistant editors,” “city editors,” and “news editors” is yesterday’s headline: Home care service helps elder ‘angels.’

The tyro reporter either failed to search Florida’s Department of State on-line records for this corporation’s status, or deemed the result of her records search irrelevant. A quick spin through the database shows Florida “administratively dissolved” the firm in question, Precious Angels Home Care Service, back in September for failure to file its 2008 annual report with the state. The same fate seems to have been dealt the owner’s sideline business, Bunker Babes Goat Farm, at the same address (a rural mobile home).

The young reporter fails to tell readers anything about the owner’s background, education or training that qualifies her to care for elderly clients. An on-line check of licensed health-care workers finds the owner is a certified nursing assistant – a designation the state limits to practicing under “direct nursing supervision” and only for tasks “of a routine, repetitive nature” and which “shall not require the CNA to exercise nursing knowledge, judgment, or skill,” according to Florida Board of Nursing literature.

The newspaper intern reports the firm has “locations” in Port Charlotte, but there’s no listing in that area’s current telephone book under that name in the white pages, yellow pages, or “business blue” pages.

The newspaper intern failed to note whether the firm is a franchise operation (nothing wrong with that), because there are scores of businesses using the Precious Angels name across the land. (Most seem to be child-related, and the name evokes the title of a best-selling true-crime story about a mother who murders her children.)

So, questions abound – and the young reporter is not being coached to address them before she hits the send key. Here are just the first ten or so that pop into the skeptical, fact-checking mind of a reader who sincerely hopes this young professional can be encouraged to do better:

–Is this firm working as a brokerage or referral center, or does the owner herself provide assisted living services?
–How many employees or “names in the Rolodex” are involved?
–What’s the price range of services?
–What’s with this “inactive” status for its business license and the “administratively dissolved” issue with the state?
–Is the firm insured and bonded?
–The owner says her “caregivers” are drug tested and undergo background checks – but what about her “companions,” “homemakers,” and “shoppers” who provide the non-medical services? Drug tests and background checks are fairly pricey – how many has she conducted so far?
– How does the owner deliver “customized services” in hospitals, assisted-living facilities and nursing homes, which are usually pretty careful and who practices “care giving” within their walls and are wary of non-family visitors?
–Given the new level of concern for patient privacy, how does the owner deal with the contents of her client’s medical history?
– How does she handle “medication reminders,” which sounds a lot like direct nursing?
– Does the owner provide emergency medical equipment when she “helps with transportation to medical appointments?” Portable defibrillators? Oxygen? CPR? Wheelchair accessible vans?

Mention the numbers “90210″ and most adults will recall the hit FOX TV series “Beverly Hills 90210.” But it’s likely those same people would draw a blank if asked what the numbers 5-2-1-0 stand for. — Brooky Brown, Venice Gondolier.

Silly 1: “most adults” to most adults — and to journalists who care about accurate, precise reporting — means a majority of grownups. Pardon me, but I’m skeptical. And even if I’m wrong, I’d like to know what survey Brooky took to arrive at this sweeping generalization.

Silly 2: The second sentence is a non sequitur. It doesn’t follow. It has no logical, emotional, social, geographical, biological, economic or philosophical relationship to the prior sentence. Whether people remember a television show with a number in its title is unrelated to whether they know what 5-2-1-0 stands for.

Silly 3: The numbers are not in the same format, which might have passed for a semblence of semblence. One number is five digits attached to a geographical location. The other is four digits separated by dashes attached to nothing.

Please, whenever an irrelevant pop-culture reference, served up with a sweeping generalization, appears in your copy, use the delete key before you use the send key. Readers want news, not the frazzled associations of a TV junkie.

Gerald A. Rogovin, the Venice Gondolier Correspondent, whose boss is Sun Coast Media Group publisher David Dunn-Rankin, and who plagiarized the New York Times earlier this month (scroll down to the Oct. 2 posting) today writes about the proposed Amendment 4 to the Florida Constitution.

In this morning’s story, Rogovin appears to misrepresent both Florida Tax Watch’s and Florida Wildlife Federation’s published positions on the amendment, and he fails to identify any sources for his assertions about any information in the story. We can see why Rogovin has plagiarized in the past: when he can’t rely on someone else’s research, the guy simply can’t get the job done.

Here’s the evidence, graf by graf.

Amendment 4 on the Nov. 4 ballot is causing some concerns, even among environmentalists who have overwhelmingly supported it. Readers should not expect quotes or interviews with any environmentalist who once overwhelmingly supported the amendment and now has some concerns. There will be no quotes or names to support this assertion.

The proposal calls for permanent tax relief for permanent conservation easements and temporary tax benefits for shorter-term conservation land uses.

Could an owner get a tax break, then develop the land when the real estate slump ends? Do not expect the answer to this question from any expert or voice of authority. There will be none.

The question has many environmentalists vexed. They recall past abuses of tax incentives. One early proponent, Florida Tax Watch, now wonders if the ballot question has been oversimplified. Readers, do not anticipate a graf or two about which vexed environmentalist Rogovin interviewed. There will be none. Likewise, do not look for a brief recap of which “past abuses of tax incentives” that these vexed environmentals recall.

Note that Florida Tax Watch is not an environmental group, vexed or otherwise. And, as an abstract entity, is unable to “wonder” anything.

More important, Rogovin completely misrepresents the organization’s published position on the amendment. In fact, according to its Web site and recent news release, Florida Tax Watch endorses Amendment 4 and makes no mention, that OWW can find, of “wondering” if it has been “oversimplified,” whatever that means.

There are two parts to Amendment 4. The first would eliminate all property taxes on land with conservation attributes set aside in perpetuity. The second would reduce such taxes for a shorter period of time. Property appraisers would have to establish a value on a parcel based on “character of use,” not its full potential. Quotation marks tell readers somebody said it or that source material is being quoted. No source is identified for this quotation, and none will be. Since Rogovin has made stuff up before and seems to be doing it again today, readers are justified in being wary of this quote, as well.

Large landowners would get a big advantage, in the opinion of Florida Tax Watch. Do not expect an actual person who arrived at the opinion to be interviewed for this story. There will be none. Since large landowners usually get large tax breaks (the volume and scale of “large” …), what’s the point, except that Rogovin seems to be making stuff up, again. If he isn’t, he is required by all the tenets of journalism to tell readers where he learned this.

Taxpayers, especially those in rural counties, would take a big hit because of the potential to remove millions of dollars from the tax rolls. Sez who?

It would be up to the state Legislature to determine how long land would have to be preserved to qualify for the shorter-term reduction.

A coalition of environmental groups advocates a minimum of 10 years. It also wants landowners to submit a plan annually that identifies wildlife habitat and water resources on their properties. Do not expect to learn the names of the advocating coalition of environmental groups. None will be identified.

And if any landowner withdraws from an agreement, the coalition wants it fined. The coalition again – but who exactly is speaking for this unnamed coalition? Is the coalition one or a hundred environmental groups?

Most of the land that would be transferred to the new program is already getting a tax break under an agricultural exemption, according to the Florida Wildlife Federation, one of the earliest proponents of the amendment. Oh, maybe FWF is one of the formerly-but-now-vexed overwhelmingly supportive coalition members. Nope. The organization has supported Amendment 4 and continues to do so. But, readers will never know this, because Rogovin doesn’t get it: assertions must be supported. Otherwise, readers have every right to accuse him of just making it up as he goes along.

Approval by 60 percent of the voters is necessary to pass the amendment.

The Saddest Part: Rogovin will get a paycheck signed by David Dunn-Rankin for this.

A few weeks back, the Charlotte Sun’s head headline writer spelled the Nutmeg State with three t’s, tacking the superfluous one on the end: Connecticutt. Old Word Wolf turned the page without comment. It had been blog policy that typos wouldn’t be a source of finger pointing. Since then, unfortunately, things have been going so very wrong in the spelling department that it would be a dereliction of duty to continue that policy.

In other copy desk news …

The annoying lede — “leaf-peeping” — and the pronoun error in the fourth graf — “it’s” instead of “its” — weren’t enough to spike a lame fall foliage feature. Nooo. The Sun runs it twice. It was the top story in the Northern Report roundup yesterday. Today, it’s all the news New Hampshire could produce. It’s not even remotely possible that the local copy desk checked the math of a reporter who thought asking how many leaves fell in the Granite State constitutes journalism. Checking the math would require … well, professionalism.

The AP reporter figures it this way: “The result: 1,400 pounds of leaves per acre … times 2.5 million acres [equals] 1.9 million tons. At a tenth of an ounce per leaf, that’s 609 billion leaves in New Hampshire.”

Actually, it isn’t. 1,400 pounds of leaves per acre multiplied by 2.5 million acres equals 3,650,000,000 pounds of leaves.
10 leaves per ounce amounts to 160 leaves per pound. (I’m skeptical of this figure, but we’ll go with it for now.)
160 leaves per pound multiplied by 3,650,000,000 pounds equals 584,000,000,000 leaves.

Last week, Charlotte Sun’s state-map editor moved the state’s fairly famous city of Marathon, centerpiece of the Florida Keys, far from its last known location. This week, the pretty little city of Palm Bay has been relocated from the southernmost shore of Lake Okechobee to oceanside, Vero Beach.

And that headline: Boy arrested after teachers attacked at Palm Bay school.

So, if teachers attacked, why was the child arrested?

OK, we get it, but that doesn’t make it right.

P.S.: The first graf of the story identifies the scene of the mayhem as a Central Florida (caps included) school. Even a lowly page proofreader should have circled that one for checking. Sorry, I forgot: no proofreaders.

Two months ago, three news services apparently carried unrelated reports of families living in squalid conditions and raising neglected children in Georgia and Missouri. Last night, an unnamed Charlotte Sun news editor decided this is the best way to deliver the information to southwest Florida:

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxNews of
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxthe Weird

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxThe Aristocrats!

In three instances reported in August, American kids were found living in such filthy squalor and isolation that authorities feared they were nearly as developmentally stunted as feral children raised in the wilderness. A 36-year-old man in Lavonia, Ga., was arrested for having imprisoned his wife and three never-schooled children inside their small trailer home for at least the last three years. And, in Burke County, Ga., a woman and 11 never-schooled children were found in a filthy trailer home without electricity or running water. And, in Polk County, Mo., six children were found among three families living in a clump of 12 isolated, junk-packed trailer homes with 360 animals and the only water coming from a series of connected garden hoses.

For readers unfamiliar with the Charlotte Sun’s reference to The Aristocrats!, Wikipedia helps:

“The Aristocrats” is a long-standing transgressive joke among comedians in which the setup and punch line are almost always the same. The joke involves a person pitching an act to a talent agent. The man describes the act. The teller of the joke is expected to ad-lib the most shocking act they can possibly imagine. This often involves elements of incest, group sex, graphic violence, defecation, coprophilia, necrophilia, bestiality, child sexual abuse and other taboo behaviors. The joke ends with the agent asking “And what do you call the act?” The punch line is then delivered: “The Aristocrats!”

Not quite so awful, but another editor is having a bad day, too:

“Joe Pendergrass got to know Sarah Palin when she was mayor of his hometown, Wasilla — a town that, until a few months ago, nobody had heard of.” The byline: by Dana Sanchez, Assistant Englewood Editor.

Nobody? Readers expect an editor — even an assistant — to know how to do a little research and then how to report accurately. It’s a patent fallacy to report Wasilla is a town “nobody had heard of” until a few months ago. Whether the population is 5,469 (U.S. Census 2000) or 9,780 (U.S. Census estimate for 2007), that’s a far cry from “nobody.” I’ll wager good money that several hundreds — maybe even several thousands — of folks in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau know Wasilla. And then there’s everyone who voted the Wasilla mayor into the governor’s residence: Nobodies.

Readers crave journalism, not an editor’s — assistant editor of a city desk covering a city nobody heard of, maybe? — rather careless, self-centered opinionizing about a news story (since Sanchez hadn’t heard of Wasilla, nobody had).

Editors and reporters are not supposed to assert without evidence. If a headline (the editor’s part) says “complaints rise,” then readers are justified in expecting a line or two in the story (the reporter’s part) that shows this is so.

“In the month of September, we had 17 calls referencing people trespassing to pick the berries,” the reporter reports a sheriff’s deputy reported. What the reporter doesn’t report is whether 17 calls are more than the prior month’s tally or more than calls during same month last year. No rising numbers here. Let’s read on.

“We’ve only had four arrests this year,” the reporter reports the deputy reported. Hmmm. Evidence of rising tide of berry picking complaints or arrests? Not yet.

The next graf produces a non sequitur. Its sentences fail the logical-connection test as well as evidence test: The berries are plentiful during the months of August, September and October. [an editor should delete "the months of" because most readers will recognize that August, September and October are months] This is when the picking begins, but there have been reports throughout the year. “There has been a problem with this for a few years now,” said Wilson.

Are the reports of picking throughout the year? And this is a problem how? And, as always, we’re still looking for evidence of those rising complaints.

The story goes on to quote a Web site about the herbal-medicinal use of saw palmetto berries, the market price of the harvest (30 cents a pound), last year’s crop (3 million pounds), and a factoid: a Naples company ships “directly to the consumer and only charges $5.99 a month.” Another non-sequitur — compounded by the reporter’s adverbial opinion, “only.”

And the cherry, err, berry on the top: “The majority of the people picking the berries are Hispanic but the economy is bringing out anyone in need of money to harvest the berries,” quoth the deputy.

Anyone in need of money? The evidence being …?

The only things on the rise here are bad reporting and worse editing.

The BBC ran the news of the arrest of Radovan Karadzic yesterday at about 4 p.m., Arcadia time. It’s possible the story broke earlier; I haven’t checked. Either way, it was too late in the day for anyone at the Charlotte Sun-Herald to even think about including this significant event in the local paper. No one seemed willing to pull the toe-sucking carp (with picture) off page 2 to make room to report that the man who killed 7,500 Muslim men and boys from Srebrenica in 1995 has been captured. No one was able to squeeze a brief onto the World News Page that there is dancing in the streets of Sarajevo? I expect that the professor is likely to post grades.

Don’t even bother with page 15’s “World” news: that’s led with the stabbing of an El Paso, Texas, soldier, followed with Jay Leno’s career plans, and anchored with Dr. Donahue’s take on a diabetes drug.

And a quick check back on page 6 col 1 finds the “WORLD BRIEF” is nothing less than Winehouse Hubby Gets 27 Months.