So unless you sell fish, there is no need for any Kali Newspaper.
Posted on 05/28/2002 4:43:28 AM PDT by gohabsgo
The phone rang Saturday morning signifying a cold call. It was a salesperson from the Orange County Register, the local newspaper I had canceled due to a painfully obvious reluctance to report on major topics screaming for coverage. The offer to reinstate my seven-year subscription was attractive, but that wasn´t the point.
I asked the personable voice if he wanted to hear why I didn´t want the paper. "Sure, why not," he said. "Did you know the paper refuses to judge the profound impact the gay lobby in Sacramento, with full support of Governor Davis, has on California public K-12 education policy?" "Uh, no, I wasn´t aware," he replied.
"Have you seen the Register devote justifiable coverage to the extraordinary financial strain on state finances caused by illegal immigrants in state schools and hospitals? The paper won´t touch it. I know, I´ve talked to the Register about it. I think people have a right to the entire story. Just because the paper decides to ignore it, when 80% of the public demands answers, doesn´t mean it´s not a story." "You have a point I guess," said the caller.
According to the Register´s website, the libertarian paper prides itself on their: "philosophy regarding liberty in all its many aspects." Is it fair to expect that a journalistically honest paper consider a parent´s right that their children be free from homosexual equivalency in the classroom? Is it fair to expect that grossly overtaxed residents not be fully apprised of the tab they are picking up for people who do not file taxes? How does the Register equate liberty with the truth?
Like all newspapers, the primary source of revenue comes from advertising. And this is the ultimate compromise nobody bothers to mention. Most papers are nothing more than huge marketing bazaars. Perhaps the best illustration of this is the LA Times, wherein upwards of 70% of paper space is devoted to ads. So what´s the value and point of a newspaper? And more importantly, what license does a newspaper have when the 30% remaining goes to news that, by definition, cannot offend the advertisers, no matter how truthful?
Downward newspaper revenues due to declining advertiser expenditures (15% nationally since 9/11 according to Reuters), timidity and reluctance to cover controversial subjects forced by the need to ensure retention of existing advertisers, means even more soft-peddling pap and happy talk.
Now the essential question: WHO´S THE CUSTOMER? The reader, or the advertiser? Answer: The advertiser. Hand´s down! The advertiser wants customers, not controversy. The Register wants customers, not controversy. Who wins? Certainly not the public who expects to be informed about more than May Company´s 50% Spring Clearance through the weekend.
The Register is prohibited from, as a business model, providing in-depth, journalistically-driven treatment of California´s exceptionally important immigration problems. The nation has screamed for control of the borders until valid and well-documented threats to citizens have been brought under control. As well, the Register cannot cover the campaign being pushed by homosexual activists to homosexualize the public-school environment.
And nobody of any authority in this state will talk about either issue with anything more than a bromide. NOBODY!!!
California´s K-12 education system ranks 47th out of 50 states nationally in scholastic merit, subject matter proficiency, and test scores. Its 8.7 million students dwarf populations of entire states. Yet Gray Davis and state School Superintendent Delaine Eastin seem entirely preoccupied with thrusting the gay agenda into the classroom, to the extent that outraged parents have to scramble for opt-out forms to prevent their children from being exposed to state-sponsored, taxpayer-funded presentations on such important subjects as "fisting," transgender rights, gay parentage, and sexual identity. Think this isn´t happening in K-12? Think again. Most parents can´t believe it. Do you believe it?
The subject has drawn the attention of Fox News´ Bill O´Reilly, who has for the second time invited on The Factor Brad Dacus, chief counsel of Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) to specifically discuss these issues. The Hayward public school district is allowing homosexual school employees to "come out" in front of children in school without obtaining parents' permission. Better yet, the district's school board says such action is REQUIRED under the California Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2000. Funny, back when I used to subscribe to the Register (and I´m a fairly close reader), I don´t recall any coverage of this act.
None of these stories seems to draw much attention from the Register though. And if at all, they certainly can´t have an independent opinion about it. That would be TOO judgmental, and nowhere is exercising a moral judgment about programs that have no business in a public classroom permitted in a newspaper more committed to advertisers, than real readers possessing a modicum of intelligence.
Politicians from both parties? an insult. Newspapers? heck, they now have such a growing pro-immigrant and pro-gay readership, that they can´t touch reality with a ten foot pole. Talk radio and the Internet? the only places one can go for information uncontrolled and uncompromised. These are soaring in popularity, with rising listener interest, advertising expenditures, and consumer credibility. Maybe this is where the missing 15% of print advertising budget is going.
We have reached critical mass in the print media. Readers are canceling subscriptions in droves. This is a national story not being reported in newspapers for obvious reasons, none of them having anything to do with the truth. What we all used to expect in simpler times from our morning paper, has been lost, all in the name of commerce, ultra-tolerance and diversity.
So what´s the point in buying the Register, or any paper for that matter, except for a maddening recognition of the widening gulf between reality and content? One has to wonder how executive editors at municipal newspapers can get up every morning and go through this tedious routine with a straight face. Hold on, did you read the paper this morning? Sears has a three-day special on tools and lawn furniture. See you in hardware.
So unless you sell fish, there is no need for any Kali Newspaper.
Libertarians are not the same as conservatives. They agree with conservatives on many issues and disagree on others. To drop the Register just because it doesn't cover certain favourite issues of yours is short-sighted in my view. They have provided excellent coverage on other important issues, such as the Power Crisis.
In the majority of cases, the Register does support us, and I think not subscribing to the Register in OC would be like not supporting Simon because he's weak on the anti-abortion question. Maybe satisfying at first, but ultimately bad for the cause.
D
I would hate to see them go and leave all reporting in the county to the LA Times..!!!
That would be a tragedy!
And my God the editorial page was wishy-washy - it certainly didn't seem like they were making any kind of stand, on anything.
When I felt in the mood for a daily paper, I got the Wall Street Journal, but my current economy drive has cured me of that habit, at least for now. Shamefully, I get most of my local news from the LA Weekly, and I'm the first to admit that - ahem - that's not exactly the most unbiased source.
I defend the Weekly to some extent since they really care. They're on the wrong side, but they report about things in enough detail so you can get a decent idea of what's going on. Reading it in conjunction with FR makes it a lot easier for me to detect the lefty spin.
Sometimes, though, the Weekly publishes things that surprise, like that Gray Davis article I posted today. I wonder if they have any idea how stupid they'll look when they endorse Davis in the fall. In my experience, they will be absolutely merciless to him, and then note that Simon, of course, goes out at night and strangles babies in their cradle, only to return to work during the day deliberately spewing pollutants in the air.
My feeling about this election is that it's just not going to work. Democrats will stay home.
D
Lets hope so!
I like quite a bit of what I see in the editorial and commentary section of the Register. Sowell, Williams, and Dewey Murdock are in the sections frequently!
They are running a special section on the Garden Grove and Cypress Redevelopment , Eminent Domain issues.
That I think is accessible thru the website.
Hey, the OC Weekly and OC Register actually agree on something!
The OC Register article is a much better than the Weekly's, though. I'd definitely subscribe to the Register if I lived in OC.
D
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