Civil rights only for "ordinary people"?

GREENSBORO, NC -- There was a line in President Obama's State of the Union address last night that jumped out at me:

"That's why, working with this Congress, I will reform our surveillance programs because the vital work of our intelligence community depends on public confidence, here and abroad, that privacy of ordinary people is not being violated."

That does not inspire confidence.

The United States Constitution does not confine its protections to some arbitrary definition of "ordinary" people. Indeed, the notion that venturing to extraordinary means  relinquishing the right to privacy is a chilling warning that you better stay in line. Thomas Payne, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Susan B. Anthony were anything but "ordinary people."

What kind of America are we headed to when remaining ordinary is a requirement for keeping one's Constitutional civil rights?

News & Record: Sleepwalking through illusion

GREENSBORO, NC -- The News & Record has reported on more than one occasion of the economic projections of the proposed "Project Haystack" and attributed them to a study paid for by the City of Greensboro.

Indeed, the City paid a company $48,000 to conduct a study of the project. I've obtained a copy of what the City of Greensboro says is that study (you can see it here) and it contains none of the economic projections the News & Record says it does.

Why would the News & Record report the contents of a study they obviously did not read?

From an article by Joe Killian on December 14, 2013:

"A feasibility study funded by the city of Greensboro projected a possible $6.5 billion in private investment and the creation of 5,349 jobs over the next 20 years. "

From an article by Nancy McLaughlin on January 24, 2014:

"A study paid for by the city of Greensboro describes a 3-square-mile campus in eastern Guilford and western Alamance counties that could create more than 5,300 full- and part-time jobs and attract $6.5 billion in private investment over the next 20 years."

Those estimations are just not there. Not in the source to which they are attributed. Take a look at the study for yourself. There is nothing that relates to job projections or that estimates investment. The study evaluates available infrastructure: roads, broadband, electricity, etc. It does not make any economic projections and mentions nothing about jobs or private investment.

Why does this matter?

Economic studies, when the do evaluate jobs and investments, begin by making a set of assumptions. We—one assumes that includes local journalists—must have access to those assumptions to evaluate the legitimacy of the conclusions. It is not enough to simply take it for granted that because there was a "study" its conclusions are reasonable and it is certainly not enough to report on the contents of a study without taking a look at it so that we will avoid coming to think it reports something it does not.

It is essential for us to have accurate information in order for us to have a reality-based understanding of our public policy. If local media cannot provide that to us, they have no value and are simply encouraging us to sleepwalk though a dreamscape of illusions.

What if the N&R editors' daughters were sex slaves?

GREENSBORO, NC -- The News & Record published an opinion today on human trafficking in Greensboro that comes to a nice moderate conclusion:

"Urgency has its place here, but so does patience."

That is the kind of opinion one can form while safely isolated from any understanding of, or empathy for, the real human situation.

Here is what the piece would look like if the women involved included the News & Record editors' daughters.
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Our daughters, "Porche" and "Kitty" (their work names) are trapped. They trusted a man who offered them jobs and glamor in a foreign country and who even offered to pay for their travel and living expenses (as a loan, to be paid back out of their employment with interest.) The man seemed legitimate, he even bought us bicycles (also to be paid for from our daughters' wages, with interest). That was nice.

Well, wouldn't you know it, it turns out that the "jobs" Porche and Kitty have are all about rubbing naked men. All of the money the customers pay goes to the employer; Porche and Kittly earn their own money, to pay off the travel and bicycle loans, by performing "extra" services.

We really, really, really wish our daughters would just leave, but they are under the constant supervision of their employer (they live at his apartment) who reminds them that they still owe him money and that his associates know where we, their families, live.

The local police visited once and Porche and Kitty ran out the back door and hid behind some bushes, but the police gathered them up and brought them back inside. We are not sure why the police didn't take them to a safe place. There was probably a language barrier.

We would like for the police to go back, this time with a translator who can understand Porche and Kitty and perhaps with some sort of social worker who can help them get to a safe place, but the police tell us that they are conducting a larger investigation of a criminal nexus across the region that makes this impractical. They can't say much about it but, apparently, attempting to get Porche and Kitty out of indentured servitude would thwart their larger plans. So they have to stay put.

We understand.

We love our daughters very much and we'd like to have them stop being coerced to perform sex acts with men for other peoples' economic gain as soon as practical, but let's be reasonable: if it takes a few more months or another year or two of our daughters prostituting themselves so that the police can continue their ongoing investigation, that's fine with us.

Urgency has its place here, but so does patience.

We love you, Porche and Kitty. We hope to see you soon. Stay safe and remember to brush your teeth.

N&R's online commenting scheme shrinks youth access

GREENSBORO, NC -- When the News & Record implemented a mandatory Facebook login for story comments last year, I originally thought that bringing to their attention the fact that people could not even read comments on the N&R site without allowing Facebook tracking cookies might have inspired them to implement an alternative to the Facebook-or-nothing comments. Not so.

Maybe this will have them reconsider: Young people are leaving Facebook in droves.

Since 2011:

AGE
13-17: -25.3%
18-24: -7.9%

A mandatory Facebook login to comment or read comments should never have been implemented to begin with. Although it was defended as a way for people to have to use their "real" (haha) identities and, therefore, raise the quality of comments, it was short-sighted and deficient ( -- and a policy so conducive to the free exchange of ideas that the government of Communist China has just implemented a real-identity mandate too).

Now that the must-Facebook requirement has tied the N&R to a diminution of young readers will the N&R take note and make a change?

WFMY's swing and a miss at a fat one over the plate

GREENSBORO, NC -- WFMY reported today of the City of Greensboro's "Better Buildings" program, a program which was to spend federal funds to improve energy efficiency:

 "[T]hey have spent about $4.6 million of the $5 million which includes $1,933,203 for energy improvements on homes."

You left us hanging, WFMY. If only $1,933,203 has been spent to improve energy efficiency from a program that administers a grant to improve energy efficiency, what was the other $2.7 million spent on?

Blind spots

There sure seem to be some big ol' blind spots among those trying to get a performing arts center built in downtown Greensboro. If you aren't in that echo chamber, you'll find this take by Billy Jones an accurate view:

"For those who might not be aware of what is going on or those who might not be local, the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro is attempting to coerce the Greensboro City Council into spending $50.8 Million dollars plus commit to maintaining for as long as it remains standing, a downtown performing arts center that will be majority owned by the Community Foundation even though the Community Foundation is the smaller investor, claiming to have $35 Million in pledges but unwilling to share with the City any documents to prove the money is actually there to cover their part." 

How WGHP "corrects" a story

GREENSBORO, NC -- Despite WGHP having had an error of fact brought to their attention last week and correcting it, WGHP reporter, and Elon University journalism graduate, Jasmine Spencer, repeated the error again this week. Here it is as it appeared in the her story on Sunday*:

As WGHP had previously acknowledged, there was not a drop in traffic accidents corresponding to the increased traffic patrols, but actually an increase. Reporting a "21 percent drop in the number of traffic accidents" was wrong, and I emailed Spencer to let her know.

How does a professionally trained journalist make a correction at WGHP? Silently, without acknowledgement and without supplying the actual facts instead: that there was in increase in crashes. Here is how the story appears now*:

I am not a trained journalist, but if I had as my goal supplying my audience with accurate and complete information, I might have added something like this after changing the story:

This story originally reported erroneous information about the number of traffic accidents during the period of increased patrols on Wendover Avenue. According to police, there was a slight increase in accidents compared to the same period during the previous year. We regret the error but are happy to make the correction because we value your trust and strive to keep you accurately informed.

But what do I know?

* Actual screen captures.

WGHP stubbornly immune to the facts

GREENSBORO, NC -- Last week, Bob Buckley of WGHP MyFox8 reported of a multi-month Greensboro Police Department intensified traffic patrol on Wendover Avenue, that:

"the number of crashes dropped dramatically as a result."

That was at odds with what other media had reported, so I emailed Bob and the news director to ask them what their source was. The news director attributed the reporting to a GPD press release that he forwarded to me. However, the press release itself actually contradicted WGHP's reporting of a decline in crashes. It claimed that, as a result of the Wendover traffic initiative:

"There was a slight increase in the number of crashes."

Once this was brought to WGHP's attention, Bob said they'd correct it on the next newscast and in the accompanying website article.

It didn't stick. Once again today, WGHP MyFox8 is reporting on their website:

"During the same initiative on Wendover Avenue, police reported a 21 percent drop in the number of traffic accidents."

That's false and in direct contradiction to the GPD press release WGHP previously cited.

Regurgitating press releases is bad enough—a correlation between crime, accidents and increased traffic patrols does not prove a cause and effect and it's lazy to say so—but completely misreading a press release when doing so and grossly misreprorting what it says is really amateurish.

You may recall that WGHP MyFox8 was the instigator for the wildly exaggerated story of "Nearly 400 people" and "hundreds of students" involved in a "massive brawl" in downtown Greensboro last summer. (Police reported there were a handful of small fights over a seven hour period that Saturday night, never a several-hundred student brawl.) That malpractice by WGHP was one of many among a persistent pattern of WGHP getting their facts wrong, a pattern that continues today.

It seems to me as if WGHP would benefit from a focus on increasing its attention to detail, fact checking and critical analysis. You know: journalism.