Soap Box: MSNBC, We Need to Take a Break

Dear MSNBC,

I'm not quite sure just how to put this but...I think we need to take a break.  Over the years, you have been my primary source for news and opinion but I believe we may have recently violated some boundaries and that needs to be addressed.

If you look back at my blog posts and Twitter feed, you will see that I have referenced you, your programs and your personalities on a very frequent basis.  I have framed much of my own perspective concerning this country's political landscape based upon the guests you put on the air and the positions that the channels has espoused since the days that Keith Olbermann anchored your evening block of shows.  Although I followed him over to Current TV for his short-lived stint, I still considered you my "go to" channel on breaking news and political information (your former slogan "The Place for Politics" was a perfect fit for my level of consumption).

A/V: "How I Got Over" Exhibit at Wilberforce Museum

The "How I Got Over" exhibit's three core themes--spirituality, protest and celebration--prominently stand outside the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center's John E. Fleming Gallery.

After nearly a 30-month long facility rehabilitation, the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center reopened in late January to the general public and is currently featuring an exhibit of mixed media art in the John E. Fleming Gallery.  Entitled "How I Got Over", this 73-item display of paintings, sculpture, carvings and fabric from 48 different artists was inspired by renowned gospel singer Mahalia Jackson's inspired vocal performance of that song at the August 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, delivered immediately before the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.  The works of four artists--Richmond Barthé, Elizabeth Catlett, Hayward Dinsmore, and Clementine Hunter--are featured among the 5,200 square feet of available exhibition space.

BTS: Air Force One Arrival and 2012 Campaign Wrap-Up

[NOTE: this is a long-delayed follow-up for the last Obama event I covered back in October 2012 and a "capstone" for my political reporting for that most recently completed presidential election cycle. Because of the 16-month gap, I am relying upon emails and photos to help dredge up the more intangible recollections of my experiences.]

Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama speaking to a crowd at Dayton, Ohio's Triangle Park at a joint rally on October 23, 2012. (photo courtesy of the Associated Press)

Dayton was extremely fortunate to have both major party tickets bring their nominees to the "Gem City" for joint appearances in the later stages of the general election campaign.  I took an unfortunate pass on the Romney/Ryan dual event at the Dayton International Airport in late September.  That same month, I did cover a Biden rally right down the road from me at Wright State University and an Obama "grassroots event" held in Cincinnati's Eden Park but I was surprised when I received an email on October 19th from the Obama 2012 campaign about a joint appearance at the city's historic Triangle Park on the following Tuesday.  Other than at the national convention in Charlotte, neither candidate had appeared at the same venue at the same time so this was a ready indicator of the importance of Ohio to their reelection chances.

A/V: Black Aviation History On Display at Air Force's Museum

A sign for Red Tails, Silver Wings, a visiting display of Tuskegee Airmen-inspired paintings by artist Chris Hopkins, sits outside the Hall of Honor at the National Museum of the United States Air Force near Dayton, Ohio.

February marks our nation's observance of Black History Month, a period set aside annually to reflect upon the contributions made by African-Americans to the country's endeavors during its 237-year existence. Many communities across the nation hold celebrations to highlight the exploits of local individuals or organizations and Dayton's own National Museum of the United States Air Force is currently hosting an art display honoring that group's role in US aviation history through the end of the month.

The "Tsunami" of SOTU Coverage

Probably the only vantage point that wasn't shown on a wide variety of viewing options--from the floor of the US House of Representatives. (photo courtesy of WhiteHouse.gov)

Due to guidance provided within Article II and the Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution (thanks to The Daily Rundown's Chuck Todd for bringing that last item to light during the trivia question segment of Wednesday's show), political junkies like me love the latter part of January (or as late as mid-February as was the case in 2013) because that means that the annual President's State of the Union Address is right around the corner.  In a tradition that dates back to George Washington's address to Congress in 1790, the head of the executive branch provides the legislative branch with an update on the conditions within the nation for the upcoming year.  While switched to a written communication by Thomas Jefferson in 1801, the in-person version was resurrected by Woodrow Wilson in 1913 and he expanded it to include a blueprint for the administration's legislative agenda.  In 1934, Franklin D. Roosevelt helped brand this speech as the "State of the Union" and establish a permanent tradition for presidential presentations on Capitol Hill (1946 was the last year that a president--Harry Truman--did not appear in-person).

Soap Box: Bus Stops and MLK Day

A Dayton Regional Transit Authority bus stops along Pentagon Boulevard in Beavercreek, Ohio.

Monday was the 29th observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, our nation's most recently established federal holiday and an occasion to commemorate the accomplishments and enduring legacy of the late civil rights leader.  As the "newbie", it does not have the universal recognition of the "first tier" holidays like those near the end of the year (Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day) or the summer observances (Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day).  While supposedly equally important, the remainder of the ten official federal holidays (MLK Day, Washington's Birthday, Columbus Day and Veterans Day) linger in a "limbo" status in corporate and non-federal circles.  Companies that I have worked for in the past covered them with a "floating holiday" policy that allowed employees to decide which of these to take off  (or to substitute for another with more personal connections to them--i.e. a cultural or religious day).  That inconsistency was observed in my town with the military base and schools being closed but garbage/recycling collection continuing as normally scheduled.

A/V: Democrat Duo Debuts in Dayton

Ed FitzGerald and Sharen Neuhardt (center left to right, respectively), Democratic candidates for governor and lieutenant governor, wave to supporters at the conclusion of their Dayton, Ohio rally on Saturday afternoon.

Just one day after making the announcement, Cuyahoga County Executive and current Ohio gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald formally introduced Dayton-area attorney Sharen Neuhardt as his gubernatorial running mate in front of approximately 150 enthusiastic supporters at that city's Cultural and RTA Transfer Center on Saturday afternoon.  Each were warmly welcomed by recently elected Democratic mayor Nan Whaley and both took turns attacking the policies of incumbent Republican governor John Kasich during the nearly three-quarter hour event.

Morning News Review - 'CBS This Morning'

[NOTE: this is the third--and sadly last--of an originally anticipated five-part series critiquing morning news offerings from US broadcast and cable news providers that I started back in June 2012.  Like the others, I will provide my take on the composition, the hosts, the 'aesthetics', and any overt/covert 'messaging' that might be present and meant to attract your attention at the breakfast table.]

SHOW:  CBS This Morning
NETWORK/LOCAL AFFILIATE (IF APPLICABLE): CBS/WHIO, Dayton, OH
DATE/TIMES:  7 January 2014/0700-0730
YEAR STARTED: 2012
LOCATION: CBS Broadcast Center, New York, NY
HOSTS: Charlie Rose (co-host), Norah O'Donnell (co-host), Gayle King (co-host)
CORRESPONDENTS: Dean Reynolds (Chicago, IL), Rebekka Schramm (affiliate/Atlanta, GA), Elaine Quijano (LaGuardia International Airport, NY), Megan Glaros (affiliate/Chicago, IL), John Blackstone (San Francisco, CA), Major Garrett (White House), Elizabeth Palmer (Amman, Jordan)
GUESTS: None

FLOW:  The show started promptly at 7AM with a quick three-toned graphic-assisted intro followed by strings/horns playing through the anchor's greetings and a zoom-in to the center of the studio.  Charlie Rose started off the top news items with mentioning the record Arctic blast going through the mid-sections (and approaching the eastern regions) of the country.  Norah O'Donnell brought up the BCS championship football game played the previous evening and also provided a "teaser" for a segment on the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas that would be aired later in the two-hour broadcast.

Soap Box: A Minor Mistake Eclipsed Some Major Stories

[NOTE: football and car problems kept me away from the keyboard this past weekend...0 for 2 is not a good start.]

A small military office's inadvertently released email drew my attention away from last week's major media attractions.

In our current 24/7 non-stop, constantly churning information cycle, media proprietors are constantly on the lookout for significant activities to populate their already purchased time or inches or bandwidth in order to attract audiences and keep their financial backers off of theirs. It is a very good week if two high profile and multifaceted stories can generate enough attention to get them through the Monday through Friday period (and provide adequate fodder for the Sunday morning "talking head" shows).  Remarkably, last week had three "buzzworthy" items that dominated those cycles (when the 2014 North American Cold Wave is included) but it was a very small item from my news aggregator that has me ignoring them and dedicating this week's column to highlight its importance.

Soap Box: Same Old, Same "Auld Lang Syne" in DC

[NOTE: "Soap Box" is my initial attempt at creating a weekly opinion-based column. I will focus primarily on politics, national security, and the media but I can't rule out commenting on some of the "silly" things that seem to capture our national attention from time to time.  I am hoping that this can become a full-time gig for me--wish me luck!]


The start of a new calendar year normally initiates two reflective activities in our society--a review of the just-completed 12-month span and a preview of the upcoming 365-day period.  Due to the nature of our country's political systems and schedules, Congress will get the lion's share of attention as it slogs its way through the second half of a very disappointing two-year term.  While achieving high marks in terms of hyperbole, political theater and partisanship, it is failing in what the voters sent those members there to do--legislate!

2014 is shaping up to be a lot like 2013 was on Capitol Hill -- unproductive!

My Year of Application

Greetings to all of my readers, followers, former classmates and friends on this first day of 2014, or as I am branding it "My Year of Application".  As I said at the close of my last blog update of 2013, I declared completion with my Certificate in Journalism program through the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the physical certificate is in the process of being delivered to me sometime in the next five-to-ten school business days.  Over the past 28 months, I've become formally acquainted with the fundamentals of journalism, did some newswriting and reporting, learned about the current online environment, reviewed ethical considerations, practiced some public relations writing, expanded my photojournalism confidence levels and, lastly, dabbled in opinion writing (to supplement my near lifelong following of these subjects).  Throughout that period, I posted some of my coursework submissions here to serve as waypoints to measure my personal progress towards the certificate completion goal. 

My Opinion of My Opinion Writing Class

John Lithgow's 2012 Broadway portrayal of Joseph Alsop, one of America's most influential newspaper columnists

In probably my most fractious experience as a University of Massachusetts student, I was able to successfully navigate my way through the school’s recently concluded JOURNAL 392S, Opinion Writing: Columns offering.  It wasn’t easy to apply a kind adjective to the semester because a combination of events and issues made it a very unenjoyable 14 weeks for me and ended my certificate program on a negative note.

My Personal JFK Reflections

Aaron Shilker's posthumously commissioned official White House portrait of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Up until the tragic events of 9/11, people of my age group (and younger) did not have their own "where were you?" moment like those born before 1957-1958 did when our nation's 35th president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was assassinated in Dallas' Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963.  While our nation had experienced similar terrible events in its past (Pearl Harbor, the similar political killings of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley, natural disasters like the 1906 Great San Francisco Earthquake), what made the Kennedy murder much more profound was in the way we all learned about it.  News of the Japanese attack on our Hawaiian naval and aviation outposts (and FDR's subsequent declaration of war against Japan) was disseminated via the most modern technology of that time--radio; however, because of its remote location, it took nearly two weeks for some newspapers to get the initial images of the damage and several months later for people to see the devastation in newsreel coverage at their local movie theaters.

Farewell, Early Bird

A screen capture of a .pdf version of the Pentagon's final published Early Bird daily press compilation.

As we have seen in recent years--and will undoubtedly continue to see--in the print journalism sector, publications that were a significant part of the everyday lives of many thousands of people have been relegated to our collective memories due to the changing paradigms and business models of that industry.  While not its own unique periodical, the Pentagon's Early Bird was, for many, their main source of defense and defense-related national security information and they never paid a subscription price for its contents during its near 50-year run that officially ended on November 1st.

Journalism's Role in "The Panic Broadcast" of 1938

Orson Welles and his Mercury Theater on the Air show scared the bejeezus out of many Americans 75 years ago last week

There aren't many people around today that have a first-hand account of the Halloween Eve radio offering that was dubbed "the panic broadcast" when it first aired in late October 1938.  Orson Wells, the multi-talented actor, director, playwright and prodigy, transformed H.G. Wells' late 19th century novel The War of the Worlds into a live-action radio drama that transfixed portions of his audience in their chairs with a ring-side seat to the destruction of the human race by Martian invaders.