One Man's Opinion -- for what it's worth

To: Jeff Jarvis - jeff@buzzmachine.com

Cc: Mathew Ingram - mathew@gigaom.com

Cc: Dave Carr - carr@nytimes.com

Cc: Ken Doctor - kdoctor@gmail.com

Cc: Jay Rosen - jr3@nyu.edu

Cc: Dean Starkman - dean@deanstarkman.com

Cc: Doc Searls - dsearls@cyber.law.harvard.edu

Cc: Dave Winer - dave.winer@gmail.com

Cc: Glenn Greenwald - glenn.greenwald@guardiannews.com

Cc: Paul Krugman - (Address unknown, please forward)

Cc: Bill Domhoff - domhoff@ucsc.edu

From:  Doug Skoglund - skoglund@pdmsb.com

Date:   Sunday, Aug 26, 2012

Subject: My Way XCIV - It takes a gang...

Jeff Jarvis just posted, "Reporters: Why are you in Tampa?" -- where he wrote:

I challenge every journalist in Tampa for the Republican convention -- every one of the 15-16,000 of you -- to answer this:

* Why are you there?
* What will we learn from you?
* What actual reporting can you possibly do that delivers anything of value more than the infomercial -- light on the info, heavy on the 'mercial -- that the conventions have become?
* Would you be better off back at home covering voters and their issues?
* Can we in the strapped news business afford this luxury?

Figure that those 15k journos spend $300 a night each on a hotel room times five nights, plus $500 for transportion. That's $2,000. And I'm figuring they'll be slurping up free meals and drinks. So $2,000 is probably (pardon me) conservative. That's $30,000,000. Now multiply that times two conventions. That's $60,000,000. 

Why? For what? 

Aw, come-on Jeff, the Republicans are "ganging-up" and the reporters want to be involved. The Democrats will do it, and the  reporters will attend.

And it's too bad that the left side of the political spectrum doesn't understand the process so that they would "gang-up" to solve some of our more pressing problems, Isn't that part of your charter as a journalist??

Doug Skoglund skoglund@pdmsb.com

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