Comments on: I’m on the Front Page, But Don’t Bother to Look

By: napablogger

napablogger — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 04:42:40 +0000

I have been quoted in the press a lot on local financial issues. You should immediately write a full and passionate (yet in a sense dispassionate--factual) letter blasting them for blatantly misrepresenting your views. Perhaps counter intuitively, they will take you more seriously and are more likely to go back to you in the future. Be factual however, which you always are anyway. In fact, if you can quote specific examples where they misrepresented what you said all the better.

People will read it and it will make a difference.

I agree with the one who said that they like sound bites. They like expressions that sound humorous yet make a point. "Climatologists are on a feeding frenzy at the governments global warming grant tits" or something like that. Ok, that is a little over the top, but expressions like that that say a lot in a funny, concise sound bit way work well to get your true opinion in. Ridicule sells. That's what happened to you, you got ridiculed.

Fight fucking back.

By: Daublin

Daublin — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 19:19:23 +0000

Do be sure and write a short letter to the editor objecting to the fact your position was not really described. If they decline to include it, then you have leverage to undermine the reputation of the paper. If they do include it, then some readers at least will realize something is afoot.

Either way, it would be great for you to keep writing. I guess you just have to lower your expectations with this particular rag.

Sorry you got such bad treatment. FWIW, the article you describe sounds like a lot of arguments I have with friends. SuperMike hits the nail on the head as far as I can tell. Many people treat this stuff like a religion, and do not care to look into whether it is actually true or not.

By: SuperMike

SuperMike — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 19:02:13 +0000

Dude, what do you expect? You’re insulting these people’s religion.

By: jt

jt — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 18:01:45 +0000

In an earlier career, I spent a lot of time on lengthy explanations that usually ended up on the cutting room floor. I gradually figured out that reporters really wanted sound bites–preferably sound bites that made an interesting point, but anything brief and colorful was better than a thousand words of undigestible technical talk. I ended up being one of the most-quoted analysts in my industry, which was priceless PR.

You’re not necessarily talking down to a journalist when you do this (though many are as dumb as a turnip). You’re just making sure your audience–and by extension the journalist’s audience–gets the point. That’s something everyone should try to do.

By: Hoi Polloi

Hoi Polloi — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 10:37:16 +0000

Most reporters write what the readers want to read. Why not write a letter to the editor?

By: David

David — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 07:25:05 +0000

"I have a lot of interests and more than enough to do with my time that I may take a break from climate for a while."

Just what they want.. for you to shut up and cede the floor to them!

By: BobH

BobH — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 05:25:04 +0000

I understand (don’t know for a fact) that one of the Republic’s cost-cutting measures in the past couple years, to offset the circ losses noted above, has been to lay off most of their experienced reporters and replace them with recent J-school grads.

By: ArtD0dger

ArtD0dger — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 23:16:58 +0000

I dunno, Warren, the very fact that they even felt the need to print the story belies the narrative that the debate is over. By the end of the article, the open-minded reader is left with a list of new names and claims to google on the one side, and a "nothing to see here folks, move along" argument from authority on the other.

I wouldn't be too hard on the reporter or the Arizona Republic, either. They are in a quandary -- they perceive (probably rightly) that bucking the trend on this issue would bring them financial loss and a lot of grief. Naturally, they wouldn't do this unless they had particularly strong convictions. But nowadays a lot of people understand that, and that's part of the reason that the opinions of media outlets are worth so little. If I were you, I'd welcome any new readers who found you via the article, and point them to your excellent book, film, and other resources.

If, as they say, the internet treats censorship as damage to be routed around, then your blogs are routing around the damaged media. Hope you keep chipping away.

By: Larry Sheldon

Larry Sheldon — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 23:13:27 +0000

If it is any comfort....

I and a few of the people whose opinions I respect no longer expect newspapers to be more than bought-and-paid-for shills.

I don't even trust the "funny papers" much anymore.

So the thinking folk are not going to have been harmed by the hit piece, the rest of them won't see anything they haven't seen before.

By: Phil

Phil — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 22:48:31 +0000

Hey Coyote,

I remember that you posted a few articles from a "Chinese Sister Publication" called PandaBlog. I cannot find this anywhere on the net. Do you have a link, or is it all in Chinese?