An Unnecessary 'Face Lift'

Is ANYTHING off limits, Ms. Collier?

Over the past few months, I've been getting emails and seeing updates from Jana Collier, editor of the Dayton Daily News, about improvements to the paper and updates about stories the news room is currently covering.  This is part of a self-promotion initiative started last November when the paper announced an increase in readership--the first such rise in the past decade.  The latest update I was notified about concerned changes to the DDN's "Life" section (expanded coverage and a weekly schedule for specific items--i.e. Life & Arts on Sundays, Life & Health on Tuesdays, Life & Food on Wednesdays).  All-in-all, none of these seemed to be very drastic and were merely attempts by the paper at organizing content and rebranding their local investigative and news coverage which, in the big scheme of things, did not detract from the aesthetics surrounding reading the Dayton region's "paper of record".  Unfortunately, that would all change this past Sunday.

BTS: Obama Columbus Rally

[NOTE: this 'BTS' has taken a LOT longer than I originally thought it would to compose and post.  A funeral, moving our daughter home from college and Mother's Day all subtracted time from my already meager allowance for blogging and this was an item that I wanted to 'polish up' before posting.]

So close...but still a 'no-go'

If you are a frequent visitor to this blog, you would know that I like to focus on certain areas for my reporting and politics is probably right at the top of that list.  Over the past five to six months, I've covered several events in my local area related to the current 2012 presidential campaign.  Back in November, I made my political reporting 'debut' at one of Herman Cain's last rallies before he suspended his campaign due to accusations of personal misconduct and infidelity.  In February, I attended a Newt Gingrich rally in Dayton when the former House speaker was still considered by many to be a viable candidate for the Republican nomination.  In early March, I went to two separate events in two different cities for Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney being held on the same day in the run-up to a contentious state primary contest.  So it would be no surprise to anyone that I would make the trip to Columbus two Saturdays ago to attend the "Ready to Go" rally for the kick-off of the Obama/Biden 2012 reelection campaign.

I'm "Old School", Too

Sunday's "Hi and Lois" comic strip (courtesy of King Features Syndicate)

I love being educated when I least expect it and this Sunday's edition of the Hi and Lois comic strip did not disappoint me. In the 8-panel strip seen above, Hirum 'Hi' Flagston announces to his family members that he is heading out to the local market to buy a copy of the Sunday newspaper.  When he tells his wife Lois, she gives him an automatic "that's nice" response while typing away on her desktop computer.  When he walks down the hallway, he informs the twins of his plans and they give similar nonchalant replies while engrossed in their portable electronic devices (a laptop computer and some sort of tablet device).  As he heads out the door, he tells his older son Chip, who is lying on the couch with a laptop, what he's doing and gets a somewhat ageist--although authentic teenaged-- comment in return ("so old school").

A/V: Obama 2012 Campaign Kicks Off in Columbus

President Barack Obama waves to the crowd as he makes his way to the podium to deliver remarks at the Obama 2012 reelection campaign's kickoff event in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday.

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama paid a short visit to Ohio's capital city on Saturday afternoon to formally kick off the Obama 2012 reelection campaign at the "Ready to Go" rally hosted at the Ohio State University's Value City Arena at the Jerome Schottenstein Center.  About 14,000 enthusiastic supporters attended the nearly two-hour event that featured speeches by both of the Obamas as well as other current and former Ohio Democratic officials.

BTS: Doolittle Reunion Week

(NOTE: in the spirit of a personal credo I initiated for covering events on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, this, like my previous one on the Obama visit, is another overview of an article that wasn't published but one that I want to post concerning my participation as a private citizen and military retiree)

Four B-25 Mitchell bombers fly past the National Museum of the United States Air Force on April 18 in a 'missing man' formation to honor the Doolittle Raiders.

During an earlier episode of journalistic 'stamina', I covered two events in different cities on the same day (the Santorum and Romney campaign rallies before Ohio's presidential primary back in early March).  In my summary, I described the logistical and physical tolls that reporters sometimes face when given similar assignments.  If I include travel time, those two events only spanned the period of just around nine hours.  In comparison, they were done in the amount of time most people spend at their jobs, to include a lunch break.  Although I ended up coming down with something, these conditions were not very arduous and are considered normal for journalists who follow major candidates as they crisscross the country every four years.  With that experience in my recent past, the next milestone would be covering several events that take place over a multiple number of days and, in the case of the recent Doolittle Reunion activities, at different locations.  Needless to say, I was up for the challenge.

Keith Olbermann on ABC's "This Week"

(NOTE: This is only meant to be a short posting and is not a full-fledged follow-up to my previous entry about Current TV that will come at a later date.)

Keith Olbermann, center, joined (from left to right) George Will, Peggy Noonan, Donna Brazile, and Matt Dowd on the roundtable for today's "This Week" program (graphic courtesy of ABC News)

Earlier this week, I read that Keith Olbermann, recently of Current TV, was going to appear on ABC's "This Week" Sunday morning political news and analysis program as a panelist for their roundtable discussion today.  Other than an appearance on CBS's Late Night with David Letterman the Tuesday after his firing (and a sighting in New York City's Central Park this past week), Keith has tried to stay out of the public spotlight and this would be his 'reemergence' in journalistic/opinion circles.  I normally tune in for "Face the Nation" at that time but I did switch over to ABC to see how he would do in this setting.

A First!!!

Today marks a milestone in my slow but steady journey of becoming a journalist.  Pictured above is the first media credential I have ever been issued to cover a newsworthy event.  For previous assignments, I had to rely upon pre-planning or special access to events in order to attend and report back on the proceedings (and I had my disappointing experience with President Obama's recent trip to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base).  While I did get access to the recognized media area during the local Romney town hall meeting last month, I think that approval was more due to a time and resource crunch and as a favor on the staff's part because there really wasn't a mechanism in place to verify my claim for a credential request (I did ask for one in my RSVP for that event that was never acknowledged).  After I showed several forms of identification to the Secret Service, I was given the 'all clear' and allowed past the area's 'gate keeper' to mingle among the other journalists in attendance.  Today's events ran much smoother and I will detail them below.

BTS: "Hoodie" Rally

Dayton's Courthouse Square stage before the April 1 'hoodie' rally began.

This item is a little hard for me to write because of the subject matter and its polarity within the local community as well as the nation in recent weeks (it continues to be one of America's most divisive 'third rail' issues).  Racism is an unfortunate part of life in this country and in others around the world and the 'hoodie' rally that I covered on April 1 used it as an overt theme to help bring out the area's African-American community to that event.

Guest Paper: Dayton Weekly News

While not meeting the geographical conditions I originally established for this feature (and I've stretched those rather thin in an earlier entry here), I am highlighting a local periodical for this 'guest' paper spotlight.  Although a resident of this area for most of the past 12 years, I never heard of the Dayton Weekly News prior to the 'hoodie' rally I attended this past Sunday.  During my coverage of that event, I had the good fortune of talking with two photographers who regularly provide images to that paper.  The publication also got mentioned during the program by several speakers.  And when I went across the street looking for some water after the rally ended, the store I stopped by had copies sitting out on their newsstand.  I do believe in coincidences (and fate) so I plunked down my 'four bits' and walked out with the edition pictured above.

A/V: Dayton Holds 'Hoodie' Rally for Slain Florida Teen

 A young boy holds a sign demanding racial justice during Dayton, Ohio's 'hoodie' rally Sunday afternoon in support of slain Florida teenager Trayvon Martin.

On an unseasonably warm day in early April, a crowd estimated between 200 to 300 people gathered at Dayton's Courthouse Square, many in hooded 'hoodie' sweatshirts and jackets, to show their support for Trayvon Martin, the 17-year old Florida youth who was shot and killed by neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman inside a gated community he was visiting in late February. The rally was organized by the Reverend Jerome McCorry, president of the Adam Project, Inc., a faith-based non-profit organization chartered to help men face the many issues after their release from prison.  Several other high-profile members of Dayton's African-American community were also on hand to address the crowd and to show their personal support towards their group's shared goals of social harmony and equal justice for all under the law.

The (Re)Birth of a Network

A new logo represents a new attitude at Current TV

As a news 'junkie', I am always seeking out new avenues to get my regular 'fixes'.  Print media, radio and television, and computer websites/smartphone apps are all acceptable to me and employed as their availability allows.  Having such a wide variety of choices stands in stark contrast to the days of the 'Big Three' television networks and having only the Associated Press and United Press International serving as the major 'news wires' for our daily newspapers (yes, I meant plural because, unlike today, there used to be more than one in every major town/city across the country for morning and evening consumption).

BTS: Obama, Cameron Visit Dayton

(NOTE: it's taken me a while to get this item ready to go online so it lacks the relevancy I originally wanted it to have.  Problems securing an interviewee for a school assignment and other lingering issues prevented me from posting this until today.  I hope it was worth the wait!) 

Air Force One sits on the apron at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio on March 13th.

This is the second time that I've written a 'behind-the-scenes' feature and you might be wondering to yourself--where is the ORIGINAL post?  For the Santorum and Romney events earlier this month, I posted the stories first before I wrote up a summary of my personal experiences about the coverage.  I was hoping to do the same thing this time around but, if I can borrow a phrase from Broadway, "a funny thing happened on the way to the tarmac" and the 'BTS' postlude, in this instance, became the story.

BTS: Weekend Political Rallies

(NOTE:  This is another new feature that I am calling 'Behind the Scenes' where I will provide some of the 'background' that goes on  with my reporting experiences.  I wanted to do this for the Gingrich event last month but, as usual, other things superseded it.  I can go through my notes and photos to post on another day but I want to get these more recent events out before I lose the initiative.)

Some of the scenery outside the recent Santorum event in Blue Ash (left) and the Romeny town hall in Beavercreek (right).

March 3rd was sort of a 'milestone' day for me as a journalist-in-training.  Over the course of the past several months, I've been gradually getting out into my local community to cover real-world events to help hone my skills and to get myself acquainted with the local (and sometimes national) media.  However, all the ones before this past weekend were 'solo' events--I only scheduled one at a time or one per day.  With the 'Super Tuesday' presidential primary bearing down on Ohio voters, this was going to be a very good weekend to get closer to my goal of covering all of the major candidates in the 2012 election cycle.  Unfortunately, Texas congressman Ron Paul decided to skip Ohio and focus his campaign on states where he thought he might have a chance of winning (Washington state, Alaska) so I doubt that I will have an opportunity to attend one of his rallies.  To counter that bad news, I learned late last week that former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum had added a morning Cincinnati-area appearance to his other scheduled stops in the state that weekend.  I had already RSVP'd for the announced town hall meeting by former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney here in the Dayton area for the afternoon so it would be my first 'double' coverage day.

A/V: Beavercreek Hosts GOP Front-Runner

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney answers a question during a town hall meeting event in Beavercreek, Ohio on Saturday.

Trying to make up ground in the closing days before this coming Tuesday's Ohio presidential primary election, current national front-runner Mitt Romney made a campaign stop in the Dayton area on Saturday afternoon.  Approximately 1,200 people attended a town hall meeting at the US Aeroteam facility in Beavercreek to rally support for the former Massachusetts governor who has been steadily climbing in the polls and, in several, has pulled into a statistical tie with his main rival, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, in pursuit of the state's 66 delegates to this summer's Republican National Convention.

Guest Paper: Cincinnati Enquirer

I created this series last fall to document my random purchases and acquisitions of local and regional newspapers of interest but before I bought Saturday's edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer during my trip down to Blue Ash, none of those were what I would call 'keepers'--papers that I might store away for posterity due to its historical or personal significance