{"id":123,"date":"2009-10-20T15:10:28","date_gmt":"2009-10-20T15:10:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mikepellegrini.com\/wordpress\/?p=82"},"modified":"2009-10-20T15:10:28","modified_gmt":"2009-10-20T15:10:28","slug":"tacoma-news-tribune-a-newspaper-only-in-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mikepellegrini.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2009\/10\/20\/tacoma-news-tribune-a-newspaper-only-in-name\/","title":{"rendered":"Tacoma News Tribune – A Newspaper Only In Name"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tacoma
\nI don’t generally read the Tacoma News Tribune<\/em>. It’s a McClatchy “newspaper” – and I use that term loosely.<\/strong><\/p>\n

McClatchy rags all seem to tout the McClatchy line – they’re anti-labor, right-wing, rags with a very specific, narrow agenda. I guess you could say they’re the print equivalent of Fox News<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When McClatchy bought the TNT <\/em>from the Baker family years ago, one of the first things they did was engineer the breaking of the newspaper’s union – pretty much just as they’ve done at most all the other McClatchy rags. That kinda set the tone for everything else.<\/p>\n

I stopped reading the TNT<\/em> – cancelled my subscription – when they came out with a story about longshore workers in Tacoma, about the longshore casual selection process. The story was quite biased and the editorial that followed was a sniveling, whiny piece of drivel – motivated by what was obviously the fact that the editor’s kid must not have gotten a casual card and the editor was pissed.<\/p>\n

When you intimately know a subject – I am a longshoreman in Tacoma – then it’s easy to separate fact from fiction. The story about ILWU Local 23 was severely biased. And if the TNT <\/em>promotes lies about that, then I have to figure the rest of their coverage is similarly biased.<\/p>\n

So like I said, I quit subscribing.<\/p>\n

I did pick up an occasional Sunday paper – mostly for the ads. And I continued to read the online version – for the local news.<\/p>\n

Then a few months ago, the paper published yet another whiny, anti-labor editorial that was blatantly untrue and biased – and since then, I quit reading the online version.<\/p>\n


\nGiving up reading the online version wasn’t a big deal – there are too many annoying pop-ups and ads on the TNT<\/em> site, even if the coverage wasn’t biased. And actually, the Tacoma Weekly<\/em> does a better job of local coverage.<\/p>\n

At that time, I sent the following letter to the editors of the TNT<\/em> which (not surprisingly) they refused to publish.<\/p>\n

Editors:
\nI read with interest your recent op-ed piece titled, State employees finding out how other half lives<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It was a great reminder of the McClatchy organization’s anti-union, anti employee bias.<\/p>\n

I haven’t paid to read the TNT<\/em> in quite some time; but after reading this recent story, I’ve decided to quit reading even the free online version. The bias is just too much to take. I’ve got my gag reflex to consider.<\/p>\n

It’s not a big deal giving up the TNT.<\/em><\/p>\n

Aside from the ad inserts, the only thing you really had going for you was the local news coverage.<\/p>\n

But Tacoma Weekly <\/em>actually does local news better, now – online and in print. Sad but true. They’ve got a nice website, and it doesn’t have all those nasty, annoying pop-ups like your site does.<\/p>\n

As to national and international news: better, more authoritative sources for national and foreign news are a dime a dozen, online – the New York Times, Washington Post, Jerusalem Post, London Daily Mail,<\/em> on and on… the list is endless.<\/p>\n

Your paper, sir, has become superfluous. <\/em><\/p>\n

This is a sad event.<\/p>\n

I recall the glory days of the TNT<\/em> when the Baker family still held forth – I suspect that period will be viewed as the golden age of newspaper journalism in Tacoma.<\/p>\n

But that business model has become outmoded. Print journalism is in its death throes.<\/p>\n

It’s not going to be long till the TNT<\/em> folds, just like the PI<\/em> – and who would have thought that would ever happen?
\nWhen the end does come, I will shed a tear – one – for that which was once an honest newspaper. And I will miss the ads…<\/p>\n

As an aside to Mr. Zeeck, after the dust settles, may I suggest you contact Karl Rove – I’ve heard he’s looking for a new PR flak – that oughta be right up your alley.<\/p>\n

Have a great day,
\nMike Pellegrini
\nTacoma<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don’t generally read the Tacoma News Tribune. It’s a McClatchy “newspaper” – and I use that term loosely. McClatchy rags all seem to tout the McClatchy line – they’re anti-labor, right-wing, rags with a very specific, narrow agenda. I guess you could say they’re the print equivalent of Fox News. When McClatchy bought the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikepellegrini.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikepellegrini.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikepellegrini.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikepellegrini.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikepellegrini.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mikepellegrini.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikepellegrini.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikepellegrini.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikepellegrini.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}