NewsTrust - Baltimore Media and Politics - Most Recent Stories

Best Media Watchdog Experiment: NewsTrust

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

City Paper - Sep. 21 (Editorial) - We got used to NewsTrust Baltimore’s e-mails very quickly. More than a thoughtful amalgam of Baltimore stories from around the web, the alerts came with an invitation to think about the stories in a critical way and comment via a strict form included on the site. Inveterate web commenters might at first be offended by this kind of formalism, but it worked: The idea of rating which news sources are “trustworthy” is, of course, not new. But in using this form to guide self-selected readers, NewsTrust helped its readers (and itself) understand something about the news ecosystem from the point of view of both newsmakers and consumers. NewsTrust, launched via a now-concluded six-month pilot program but with its site still active, was filled with thoughtful, constructive criticism of stories and articles both local and global, and was blessedly devoid of moronic flame wars. In this age of partisan rancor, that is no small thing.

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Mr. Kiefaber goes to City Hall

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Baltimore Sun - By Jean Marbella - Jul. 02 (Opinion) - A poll-driven, consultant-packaged politician he surely isn't, and that should liven up the city election season — or at least provide a pretty good ongoing game of movie-reference trivia.

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The Glover Report: COUNTDOWN TO SEPTEMBER 13th: Why Redistricting Isn’t Being Mentioned in the News Thus Far

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

BMORENEWS - By Doni Morton Glover - Jun. 30 (News) - Redistricting is underway. That’s where they change the districts around the State of Maryland to adjust to the population shifts. The thousands of vacant properties in Baltimore are evidence that we have lost population. People are continuing to leave urban centers across America, actually. Many of them are black.

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Jon Stewart not so sharp in Chris Wallace interview

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Baltimore Sun - By David Zurawik - Jun. 20 (Opinion) - The conversation was mostly cordial, and that's a good thing. But interviewer Chris Wallace also did a nice job of exposing some of the hypocrisy of Comedy Central's Jon Stewart on "Fox News Sunday."

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MPT airing deeply flawed film about Lyme disease

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Baltimore Sun - By Dan Rodricks - Jun. 18 (Opinion) - Maryland Public Television is set to air a polemical film about Lyme disease that is built on fear-provoking speculations and assertions while advancing a central message that has been discredited by experts in infectious diseases. Despite being apprised of the film's serious flaws, MPT has "Under Our Skin: A Health Care Nightmare" on its afternoon schedule for June 26.

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Grand jury invites journalists to appear

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Baltimore Sun - By Tricia Bishop - Jun. 17 (News) - The cryptic email went out this week to some of the region's news media — including WMAR-TV and The Baltimore Sun — asking journalists to appear before the city's grand jury, which plans to spend the next few months analyzing the impact of crime coverage on efforts to end violence.

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Officials Stumble Through Twitter Potholes

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Afro - By Shernay Williams - Jun. 16 (News) - Less than a week after Maryland State Sen. Catherine Pugh officially announced her candidacy for mayor of Baltimore, a surprising tweet was sent from her twitter account while she was attending a fundraising event. “Mmm mmm good looking men here (@ Martin's West w/ 4 others),” it read.

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Only targeted local reporting can create government accountability in Baltimore

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Baltimore Examiner - By Adam Meister - Jun. 15 (Opinion) - Even though the Internet has given more people the opportunity to report on local events, our leaders on a local level do not get as much quality coverage and scrutiny as they used to. This is definitely the case in Baltimore. It seems like media outlets are much more likely to trust our leaders and use the positive press releases they send out and call that news. Continue reading on Examiner.com Only targeted local reporting can create government accountability in Baltimore - Baltimore Politics | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/politics-in-baltimore/only-targeted-local-reporting-can-create-government-accountability-baltimore#ixzz1PXskZ4lm

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A followup to Wednesday’s post

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Charm City Current - By Adam Meister - Jun. 10 (Opinion) - On the rare occasions that the mainstream media produces a revealing investigative piece it seems like the general population ignores it unless the story is shoved down their throats.

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A Federal Study Finds That Local Reporting Has Waned

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Jeremy W. Peters, Brian Stelter - Jun. 09 (News) - Coverage of local governments has receded at such an alarming pace that it has left government with more power than ever to set the agenda, an F.C.C. report finds.

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Tornadoes in Baltimore City History

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

City Paper - Jun. 08 (Opinion) - 2011 May 30: A media tornado blew hard but caused no noticeable damage when former Alaska governor Sarah Palin visited Fort McHenry and hoisted 36-pound cannonballs in the searing heat.

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Shriver & Schwarzenegger's Baltimore Love Story | Baltimore | SPLICETODAY.com

Tue, 24 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Splice Today - By Frank A. DeFilippo - May. 24 (Opinion) - The superstar marriage that crashed last week in the haute Zip Code of Brentwood above Los Angeles had its quiet beginnings in Northwest Baltimore, where Arnold Schwarzenegger used to come courting Maria Shriver in the leafy uptown Village of Cross Keys.Shriver lived there in a modest one bedroom ground-level apartment at the north end of the Village, in the 200 block of Cross Keys Rd., when she was beginning her television career as a producer of an airy entertainment show called “Evening” on WJZ-TV (Channel 13).Another rising star also lived in the Village of Cross Keys at about the same time. Her name was Oprah Winfrey, also of Channel 13, and she lived first in a rented unit at the Village’s south end, which she later purchased when James W. Rouse converted the rental units to condominiums. Oprah learned to swim at the Olympic-scale south pool, where she splashed among the toddlers (including my own daughter, who helped Oprah learn her strokes) who were also practicing how to stay afloat. And one of Oprah’s favorite foods on the planet’s menu was the legendary fried chicken from the Village Deli which, until the Deli closed a number of years ago, was regularly air-mailed to her in Chicago - even after she achieved fame and great wealth. Winfrey and Shriver no doubt crossed paths many times in the studios and editing booths of WJZ.Shriver, twice the girth then as she is now, lived anonymously and privately during her brief time at the Village. She sunbathed on the fenced-in patio adjoining her apartment, while few in the Village knew there was a Kennedy living among them. Schwarzenegger, too, had yet to achieve stardom. Back then, around the late 1970s, he was a well-known body-builder called “the Austrian oak,” after his natal country, and named “Mr. Universe” and also “Mr. Olympia” seven times, who flexed his well-oiled muscles on magazine covers long before he advanced to movie screens and the choreographed mayhem that is his hallmark. Schwarzenegger’s breakout film, “Conan the Barbarian,” was released in 1982.Schwarzenegger came calling on weekends, and he and Shriver would stroll, holding hands, unbothered and largely unnoticed, around the lushly landscaped Village pathways, she often in pants and blouse and he, tree-truck neck and pile-driver legs, in shorts and a muscle shirt that strained to hold back the bulges and ripples. One recent report stated that the two were introduced in 1977 by Tom Brokaw, the NBC anchor, at a charity tennis match at her parents’ home in Potomac. Except for the weekend, strolls, the couple was not much of a visible presence in the 73-acre Village of Cross Keys complex, the site of the former Baltimore Country Club golf course off Falls Rd. – no swimming pool sightings, no lunches at the Deli, no tennis court time.Cross Keys, despite its theme park atmosphere, is a discreet kind of place where it’s possible to live quietly, undetected and undisturbed. Over the years, it has been home to the great and the near-great – Dr. Milton Eisenhower, president of the Johns Hopkins University; Gov. Harry R. Hughes; John Dos Passos, the great American author; John Marshal Butler, former Republican U.S. senator from Maryland; State Treasurer John Leutkemeyer; the poet Ogden Nash, to name a few. The current resident author is Anne Tyler (Accidental Tourist.)But eventually Shriver disappeared from the Village of Cross Keys as her career accelerated and she landed at CBS and later at NBC where she became a star in her own right and winner of several Emmys, a Peabody Award and author of six books. Shriver and Schwarzenegger were married at Hyannis Port, MA, the fabled Kennedy compound, in 1986, and their four children were born between 1989 and 1997. The youngest son, 13, arrived almost concurrently with the love-child Schwarzenegger admits he fathered by one of the household staff and brought an end, at least temporarily, to his marriage to Shriver. They announced their separation on May 9, and she has hired a top divorce lawyer. Schwarzenegger has put his movie career revival on hold while he and Shriver negotiate their futures, whatever they might be. Marriages that are made in heaven often do not survive here on earth.Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy for governor of California in 2003 and Shriver had to rescue him from his past peccadilloes several times. During that campaign year, Shriver and Winfrey, the two Baltimore TV rising stars, reunited on the “Oprah Winfrey Show” along with Schwarzenegger. During the show, Shriver had to put her hand over Schwarzenegger’s mouth when he began to boast of his youthful exploits with women and drugs. And toward the end of the campaign, Shriver delivered an eloquent speech in defense of her husband when reports of his groping of women threatened to wreck his candidacy. He went on to win the governorship of California and Shriver became first lady, appearing cheerily side-by-side in California tourism commercials. Shriver gave up her established career as a television journalist to enter the family business of politics. It was an odd-couple arrangement, she a Democrat and he a Republican, that often had them on opposite margins of issues although, to the chagrin of conservatives, he often swung around to her point of view on social matters.The Shrivers, of course, are a legendary Maryland family dating back as early as 1776 when an ancestor, David Shriver (originally Schreiber) signed the Maryland Constitution and Bill of Rights. The Shriver ancestral home in Carroll County is an historical landmark. History met destiny when R. Sargent Shriver married Eunice Kennedy, sister of President John F. Kennedy. Sargent Shriver was named by the president to head the Peace Corps and was later ambassador to France. In 1970, he was considered a serious candidate for governor of Maryland but decided not to challenge Gov. Marvin Mandel. He ran for vice president in 1972 on the Democratic ticket headed by George McGovern. Maria Shriver is a cousin of Maryland’s former lieutenant governor, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, whose father was Robert F. Kennedy.It is a fitting reunion, and an unfortunate ending, that Shriver will be a guest on the final Oprah show as Oprah says goodbye to the daytime slobber-fest and confessional that she has hosted for 25 years. And it is altogether appropriate that the romance that began in Baltimore, at the Village of Cross Keys, should end in a mansion in the Hollywood hills, as so many marriages do, just as in the movies.

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Michael Steele finally finds TV work -- on MSNBC

Mon, 23 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Baltimore Sun - By David Zurawik - May. 23 (News) - Former Republican Committee chairman Michael Steele, who has been shopping himself to the cable TV channels several months, finally landed a regular job as analyst on the liberal MSNBC.

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Loose Ends

Fri, 20 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Baltimore OUTloud - By Dana LaRocca - May. 20 (Opinion) - Many of you who followed my column prior to the recent legislative session did not know I was transgender, much less a transgender activist. Circumstances surrounding the now defeated Gender Identity Anti-Discrimination Bill (HB235) compelled me to write about it because it was being wrongly reported in much of the LGBT press. In the mainstream press it was not being reported at all.

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Mother’s Day story about lesbian couple creates controversy at Annapolis paper

Thu, 19 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Poynter Institute - By Jim Romanesko - May. 19 (News) - On Mother’s Day, the Annapolis-based Capital ran a front-page story about a lesbian couple and their two kids. “Mama and Mommy” — as the story was headlined — was quickly criticized in the comments section. Capital editor and publisher Tom Marquardt addressed the controversy in a column — running the story on Mother’s Day was a mistake, he said — but his piece was spiked after some staffers objected.

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Where's The Investigation Of Baltimore Councilwoman Conaway's Residence Controversy?

Thu, 19 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Mobtown Shank - By Mobtown Shank - May. 19 (Opinion) - It's been 2 months since Examiner blogger Adam Meister first reported on documents that show that either Baltimore City Councilwoman Belinda Conaway does not live in the district she represents (or the city she claims to serve), or she is making false claims of residence for other property she owns for tax breaks. Over that time, the only thing that has happened is that Councilwoman Conaway has filed a $21 million lawsuit against that reporter for his reporting.

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WJZ's Slant Oil Reporting Project

Tue, 17 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Red Maryland - By Mark Newgent - May. 17 (Opinion) - Watch this WJZ report, which Cardin’s office probably has on a DVR replay loop. Parroting Democratic talking points about Big Oil and their hefty campaign contributions makes for a nice lead on the 6:00 news, but as for informing their viewers…not so much.

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On His Biggest Test Thus Far, Jon Stewart Failed Embarrassingly

Fri, 13 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Indypendent Reader - By Eric Imhof - May. 13 (Opinion) - For someone who has made a name for himself by criticizing the media’s role (or lack thereof) in political affairs, Jon Stewart could be provided no better moment to highlight the complicity of every mainstream news company with the corporate-military elite than the reported death of Osama bin Laden.

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Links to interesting stories from sources you may not be familiar with

Fri, 13 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Charm City Current - By Adam Meister - May. 13 (Opinion) - All of us are familiar with the mainstream sources of news in Baltimore, but there are some others out there that deserve our attention. There are also times that DC sources cover Baltimore stories before Baltimore sources do.

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Stop ignoring the elephant in the room: The city council residency issue

Wed, 11 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Charm City Current - By Adam Meister - May. 11 (Opinion) - This email was sent out to numerous leaders, citizens, and media members: “My name is Adam Meister and I live in Reservoir Hill. I am writing you this email as a citizen of Baltimore. ...

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The Baltimore of 2011 Is Not the City of 1999

Mon, 09 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Splice Today - By Frank A. DeFilippo - May. 09 (Opinion) - There’s an itchy temptation this year to war-game the dynamics of Baltimore’s 1999 mayoral primary election when Martin O’Malley, a white, waltzed to victory over two black candidates, Lawrence Bell and Carl Stokes.

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Senate minority leader Nancy Jacobs makes an interesting move

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Baltimore Examiner - By Adam Meister - Apr. 27 (Opinion) - A veteran media savvy reporter probably does not come cheap. One has to wonder if Senator Jacobs is trying to increase her name recognition for a 2014 run for Governor.

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‘Three Old Jews’ Recall Schaefer

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Baltimore Jewish Times - By Michael Olesker - Apr. 22 (Opinion) - The last time I saw him, several weeks ago, William Donald Schaefer looked up from his bed in a tiny room of an assisted living section of the Charlestown Retirement Center in Catonsville and muttered, “I barely even know where I am.”

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What level of dishonesty warrants an investigation by the mainstream media?

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Baltimore Examiner - By Adam Meister - Apr. 22 (Opinion) - Political dishonesty uncovered by a blogger or an anonymous Internet news source is just as wrong as political dishonesty uncovered by a traditional news source.

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Better late than never at ICC as I-95 roars by

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Maryland Reporter - By Len Lazarick - Apr. 22 (News) - We waited a long-time for the Prince George's County executive to show at the event on I-95 at the Intercounty Connector. But the developers of Konterra had been waiting decades longer for an interchange that they finally got by swapping land with the state so it could finish the last leg of the ICC.

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