Nova1 Reg1

Smart enough for government records

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 11:04:46 -0400

Megan Rhyne is a public information treasure in Virginia. Here, she provides a revealing post about how certain officials refuse to release “the public’s public records” because the people reading them might not be smart enough to understand them.

Maryland, My Maryland

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 08:05:19 -0400

Maryland, My Maryland:

Back-to-back governors were convicted — Spiro Agnew and Marvin Mandel — so maybe this should come as no surprise. Still, I would have expected better.

jayrosen: I’ve got some hilariously pathetic sourcing by the...

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 09:16:26 -0400

jayrosen:

I’ve got some hilariously pathetic sourcing by the Wall Street Journal for you.

Wanna see?

As the whole world knows by now, an executive at Goldman Sachs just quit the firm and denounced its corrupt culture on the op-ed page of the New York times. (“People who care only about making money will not sustain this firm — or the trust of its clients — for very much longer.”)

The piece became an internet sensation, and the press covered it heavily. The New York Times live blogged the reactions as they unfolded throughout the day. (“He is completely toast in terms of Wall Street, no question about that. He is in the witness protection program right now.”)

The Wall Street Journal covered the story too: Goldman Rejects Claims Made by Outgoing Executive. There we find:

“We disagree with the views expressed, which we don’t think reflect the way we run our business,” a Goldman spokeswoman said. “In our view, we will only be successful if our clients are successful. This fundamental truth lies at the heart of how we conduct ourselves.” Mr. Smith described himself as an executive director and head of Goldman’s U.S. equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. A person familiar with the matter said Mr. Smith’s role is actually vice president, a relatively junior position held by thousands of Goldman employees around the world. And Mr. Smith is the only employee in the derivatives business that he heads, this person said.

The funny, pathetic part is in bold. For what the Wall Street Journal is saying with its sourcing is this:

We’re so weak relative to our sources, so willing to let the people we talk to regularly walk all over us, that we’ll throw the handy cloak of anonymity over a Goldman Sachs spokeswoman—WHOSE ENTIRE JOB IS TO REPRESENT THE COMPANY PUBLICLY—so that she can…. what?

… describe some delicate negotiations?

… engage in a little “maybe we went overboard at times” self-criticism?

… reveal internal tensions?

No! Nothing like that. According to the Wall Street Journal, a Goldman spokesperson needs to remain a mystery source when her message is: We disagree that we’re bad people. We’re actually very good people! Because that’s not something we should expect her to attach her name to.

Maybe you see how pathetic that is.

And how about this “person familiar with the matter?” His role in the story is to suggest that Greg Smith, the author of the op-ed, inflated his title, and puffed himself up in the bio lines.

Let’s review the bidding: A Goldman executive goes public with his tale of a corrupt culture in his own firm, using his real name, in the freakin’ newspaper, thus ending his Wall Street career (“witness protection program…”) He can then be turned into a resume-padder by some suit so frightened of being associated with this sleazy act that he won’t even permit the Journal’s reporter to ID him as working for Goldman! It’s gotta be even vaguer: person familiar with... Just to give it that gloomy parking lot aura of the shadowy source whispering state secrets to the heroic investigator.

And you know what else? Ninety percent of the journalism tribe will think it’s a sketch that some dreary academic scold like me is expending pixels on a practice that is ninety percent routine for them.

But they’re missing one little irony: the way they use their own zero-accountability culture (for that is what blind sourcing is…) to cover Wall Street’s.

Ways to enjoy exercising

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 09:23:21 -0400

Ways to enjoy exercising:

Kelli Wimbley is a certified trainer.

Ha!

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 14:08:38 -0400

Ha!

Follow me on Twitter

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 13:10:05 -0400

Follow me on Twitter

Virginia Coalition for Open Government blog

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 11:14:23 -0400

Virginia Coalition for Open Government blog:

Megan Rhyne writes a thought-provoking blog for our Virginia sites, focusing on open government and freedom of information.

Why you should blog on Patch

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 11:08:48 -0400

Patch has a new initiative that lots of people will find valuable. We invite members of the public to use our platform to publish blogs. They can be on any topic: how to improve Metro, what you’d want to see to fight hunger, your thoughts on politics or the school system, you name it. You decide what to write and how often. And the blogs are yours. You can take what you’ve published on Patch elsewhere, or bring to Patch what you’ve written for other sites. Your posts can highlight the work you’re doing as well as push our traffic to your own site.

By publishing on our platform, you can put your content in front of our audience. Not only that, our editors do a good job of engaging people on Twitter and Facebook as a way to find new audiences for Patch material. We expect our blogs will get similar treatment.

Let me know if the idea interests you and I’ll send along more information. You can email me at douglas@patch.com.