Owlspotting

The world of American Journalism will never be the same. Knight Ridder, the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States (32 papers) has accepted a bid from McClatchy, a company half its size. Knight Ridder’s sale has been in the making since last year a group of investors began asking that the company bring in more money.

To many inside the business McClatchy was the ideal buyer because despite its small size it has always put journalism before money-making and has never gone through the layoffs that have plagued the industry in 2005.

Pu down March 12, 2006 as a cornerstone in the history of newspapers. One more big player down — what’s next?

More information:
– Great overview piece on the Knight Ridder saga.
– A 2003 profile of the McClatchy company.
– The ups and downs of the Philadelphia Inquirer, one of Knight Ridder’s flagship newspapers.
– Watch or hear a report on financial pressures in the newspaper industry here.

Dear readers,

Welcome to the new and improved Owlspotting. We have tranfered the blog to a dedicated hosting space and changed the Blogger platform with WordPress. Short of a change in name, it doesn’t get any bigger in the blog world when it comes to change.

A few thoughts:

— Thanks to all those that voted to make Owlspotting the number 4 ranked blog in the roblogfest “blog that leaves you thinking” category. The contest was organized by Dragos Novac @ una pe zi.- For those that subscribed to our blog, please update your subscription data to keep receiving updates. Go here to choose your favorite RSS subscription mode.

— This blog will keep a three-fold focus: media, media coverage of Romania and everything else. I have noticed people enjoy the posts about media coverage of Romania and sometimes they spark interesting conversations as you can see here and here.

— Posts in English will dominate — mostly because I have to earn a living using this language. Plus, Elle doesn’t speak Romanian. I will try to post more in Romanian though.

— I am far from being knowledgeable in matters of coding and scripting so there might be a lot of bugs left in this new blog. Please point them out as you see them. We’d like to make the experience of reading Owlspotting as enjoyable as possible.

— If you ever want to contact us with tips, ideas or comments you don’t want to make public, go to the bottom of the page for an e-mail link.

Kevin Sullivan of the Washington Post returned to Romania for a second story in one month. His first, about the American air force base built in my homeland, was enjoyable if only because it carefully dealt with a cultural cliche: the endless wait for the Americans.

His second fails because Sullivan embarks on a journey of stereotyping and cliche-dropping. The story, as a much angrier Luiza pointed out, is valid as news (Luiza actually sent me an e-mail about the story with the subject “wtf? wp?”). Romania is hoping to join the E.U. in 2007 and there is great anticipation and nervousness about this prospect. But from reading Sullivan you’d think the slaughtering of pigs is the biggest change facing Romania as the E.U. rolls in. It’s one of them, sure — but is the lead of a Washington Post story? For the record: I think the 10-minute video version of the story from which the stills are taken is better.

Can a reader learn anything about Romania’s efforts to join the E.U. if the killing of pigs is the catch-all metaphor? I don’t think so. I do give Sullivan the benefit of the doubt — reporting on foreign countries is hard and it’s even harder not to fall into the trap of telling the same story of the forgotten savage country hoping to be rescued.

What is even more frustrating is that the piece was initially uploaded with the following headline: “The E.U.’s Reshaping of Romania.” The sub-head said: “In preparation for entry, nation tackles rampant corruption, ingrained discrimination.” Four hours later, the headline online said: “Out of the darkness.” And the sub-head: “Romania tried to shed its traditional past for entry in the E.U.”

I can just image the copy editors scrambling about the newsroom asking for a juicier, punchier headline on Romania. Hey, it’s Romania y’all! Why the neutral lead? They are f-ed up enough to warrant “darkness” slapped next to the name.
I am posting this before seeing the actual newspaper (it should be here in three hours) and I’m doing it soon after having sent an e-mail to both the paper and the reporter. The text of the letter is below:

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Dear Mr. Sullivan,

I appreciate the interest you took in my native country of Romania and the willingness of the Washington Post to print two stories from there in a month. Both as a subscriber, and as a Romanian journalist living in Washington, D.C., I have come to know these stories are rare.

Your piece on the opening of the American military base was a great read. It’s an important issue to the country and probably a strategic move in the region. I also enjoyed the theme – it was about time the Americans came to Romania.

I am disappointed though with your second piece. I am writing this the night before the paper arrives, having only read the story online. Already I see the headline has been changed from a neutral “The E.U.’s reshaping of Romania” to a pathetic “Out of the darkness,” which is an unfortunate stereotype to kick off with. Even more unfortunate is that you choose another stereotype as your lead. I would not have led a piece about America with an image of a mega-church, nor a piece about Kazakhstan with horse slaying (the Post did).

Yes, pig slaughtering happens and it is common, but is it really a catch-all metaphor for Romania joining the EU? I understand the practice along with the “spouting blood” must fascinate foreigners, but it’s a cheap gimmick to lure readers in. It is there simply for its oddity and tinge of savageness.

I wish you wouldn’t have taken the easy way out. You constructed the story opposing the confused, the disenfranchised and the poor to the very powerful, thus perpetuating the narrative of a hopeless and cruel Romania. While you were in Targu Mures – my hometown – why didn’t you stop to talk to my father, a doctor, who has refused to give up on the country despite the corruption and rampant pig slaughtering. For the past 15 years he has built an NGO to help kids with special needs and just recently the foundation won a huge award for having the best projects in the country. People like him have plenty to say about the coming year and they will be, to some degree, the ones having to translate the impact of joining the EU to the rest of us.

Certainly I was not the intended audience for this piece and it’s what saddens me most. You have told nothing to your readers about what it actually means to be in the E.U. or to have Romania join the group. Nothing about what Romania has struggled with in closing some of the chapters. No context on the process, the delays, the push and pull. And I refuse to believe you didn’t have some of that in your notes.

I am sorry you decided to use the slaughtering of pigs and the discrimination of Roma to define Romania. Add that to the orphans, the selling of children, the wild dogs and Dracula. I have tried my best to paint America as complex as possible in my dispatches to Romanian media. I guess I should stop and take the easy way out — referring to President Bush as a former failed businessman while filing dispatches from catch-all locations like Boulder.

I appreciate the chance to read about my country in the Washington Post, but it’s time the paper took some time to shake-up the master narrative it’s perpetuating on the subject.

Sincerely.

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* Click here to read about my first six months as a subscriber to the Washington Post.

* And click here to see me stereotype my country in a Christian Science Monitor op-ed. We’ve discussed the piece on this blog here.

My latest story in the Christian Science Monitor is about a group of kids in a special needs class that are fighting to make the cherry the official fruit of Washington, DC. The kids are guided in this effort by their teacher, Terry Bunton.

Making a fruit — or any other symbol — official is not an easy task, but it does offer a glimpse into the American legislative process. Official symbols are an interesting phenomenon to read about.

Read the Monitor story here.

* Photo is by Andy Nelson of the Monitor staff.

I can’t believe I missed this piece of news in my usual activity of finding what foreign outlets have to say about Romania. But an item on my favorite geek show, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me (the NPR news quiz) clued me in on the story of a Romanian soccer player traded for… meat!

Below is the Reuters item in its entirety. I really have no comment.

BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Romanian second division soccer club UT Arad sold a player in exchange for 15 kilograms of meat, local sport daily Pro Sport reported on Monday.

However, fourth division Regal Horia made a bad deal because defender Marius Cioara decided to end his footballing career and take off to Spain to find a job in agriculture or construction.

“We are upset because we lost twice – firstly because we lost a good player and secondly because we lost our team’s food for a whole week,” a Regal Horia official was quoted as saying by the daily in its electronic edition.

A very good friend of mine wrote an awesome story for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. It’s a story of an orphaned rooster who made a home outside the city hall of small town Punta Gorda (of hurricane season 2004 fame).

Although some of her editors din not consider this “animal story” worthy enough for the front page, I was reminded today about why it is appealing and why the judgment of some editors that there are more important things to put on the front page is so often wrong.

I was reading from “A history of news,” where at one point Mitch Stephens discusses the sociological need for news, saying we are “hungry for awareness.” He talks about how people feel lost and isolated when deprived of news.

But it’s not the content of the news that makes them feel lost. “The importance of the news transcends the importance of the items upon which it focuses. More than specific information on specific events, the great gift a system of news bestows on us is the confidence that we will learn about any particularly important or interesting event.”

With all the news and platforms out there today, wouldn’t it be smarter for a local shop to satisfy the need for awareness (and entertain at the same time) than bask in self-congratulatory definitions of newsworthiness?

Let the rooster roost as prominently as possible.

I like to think that if you look close enough, you’ll find almost anything on Craigslist, the online classifieds giant. Today, I decided to look the site around and find out what Romanians are up to in cities across the United State. Many of them are looking for things — mostly jobs and soul mates.

If you can help them out, don’t hesitate. Romanians are good people and make funny noises.

>>> Ovidiu in NYC is looking for a company to sponsor him for the H1B work visa.

>>> This person is teaching Romanian — a language of love, passion and medieval fortitude — in Manhattan.

>>> Someone in Austin is looking for people to sponsor a benefit concert to raise money for their trip to Romania where they’ll be volunteering at an orphanage.

>>> I have found a few examples warning buyers of fraud offers from Romania. Here is such a warning from Austin.

>>> Adela in Chicago is looking for a nanny position.

>>> Some dude in Chicago is looking for a “pretty girl.”

>>> In Los Angeles, Simion is looking for a job as a photo assistant.

>>> In Portland, a customer was unsatisfied with the work of a tile slate professional named Julian, who is from Romania. (I assume it’s Iulian).

>>> In San Francisco they are buying carts for handicapped dogs in Romania.

>>> Also in the Bay area, they are holding a golf tournament to raise money to equip vets on a mission to neuter Romanian dogs.

>>> And finally, here is Peter, who says he lives in Romania but is looking for a soulmate on the Boston craigslist. Help the man out.

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Malcolm Gladwell, the New Yorker writer and author (he wrote “The Tippint Point” and “Blink“) has started blogging. I guess this is great news for all of us who had questions to ask him after reading his pieces.

For those who don’t know Gladwell: he writes about cultural phenomena through a very unique lense — don’t tell me you’ve ever given much thought to how small groups can impact change or how pitbulls laws can help us understand profiling.

Read Gladwell’s blog here.

Deocamdata, domeniul dbrom.ro e inaccesibil. Speram sa-l reabilitam in curand.

“am vrut odata sa scriu o povestire care sa se numeasca ‘omul care s-a insurat cu cainele lui’. era cu siguranta influenta lui marquez in acest titlu.

aveam doar tilul si imaginea unui om trecut de 45 de ani pe plaja de la 2 mai. doar el, cu un sac de dormit, o plasa in care isi tinea probabil singurul rand de haine de schimb si un piaptan. si un caine. mic. un caine de o vara. nu stiu de unde fugise omul, nu stiu de ce fugise, dar locul acela traia pentru ca el era acolo”.

Au trecut trei ani de cand am scris aceste randuri care nu ies in evidenta datorita continutului ci datorita contextului. Randurile de mai sus sunt luate dintr-un jurnal pe care l-am tinut timp de un an de zile pe dbrom (din basmele romanilor). Iar astazi, fara vreun motiv anume, vreau sa-mi amintesc de dbrom [2000-2005], o creatie salbatica, greu de definit, greu de intretinut si greu de promovat intr-o vreme in care Internetul romanesc se misca greu.

10 lucururi pe care vreau sa mi le amintesc din perioada dbrom:

1. Decembrie 2001: dbrom apare la “.ro”, emisiunea despre toate cele Internet a Pro TV-ului.

2. Campania “Romani, ganditi” (impreuna cu mintrubbing, sictir.org si urban experience) pentru care am pus afise (vezi mai jos) in Bucuresti. Regret si astazi ca nu am reusit sa cumparam un panou publicitar undeva pe la Unirea.

3. Editia 1 si 2 a premiilor “Videoclip dbrom”, care au desemnat castigatori la categorii precum “inundatii”, “cea mai tare sapca”, sau “am cantat, m-am dezbracat”.

4. Reportajul dbrom de la protestul CNSAS. dbrom era online la cateva ore dupa finalul protestului, dovada ca Internetul poate sa bata la fund presa traditionala daca doreste.

5. Cele patru comemorari ale zilei de nastere a lui Ceausescu (in 2002, 2003, 2004 si 2005).

6. Cele doua updateuri tematice “Cartea” (1 si 2).

7. Faptul ca un site care a murit ca o publicatie online de satira socio-politica a pornit de la un site menit sa glorifice un pilot (prost) de Formula 1. Multumim Gaston Mazzacane.

8. Tricourile cu dbrom si noptile in care le-am carat si afumat in Fire — loc in care au fost si retrase o parte dintre ele.

9. Proiectul “Ce e prost in Romania?”

10. Toate si oricare din cele peste 1000 de texte publicate in cei cinci ani de existenta — de la “jocurile anti-sociale” pana la review-urile de film sau carte.

>> Pentru mai multe despre viata (si moartea) dbrom, citeste articolul urmator.

Tu ce iti amintesti din perioada dbrom?

I was doing my normal morning rounds of the media blogs and came across a Media Shift reference to a blog that tracks last place finishes in the Torino Olympics. Funny, I said, until I started reading this blog more closely. It turns out that next to documenting the pains of athletes coming in last, the blog also ranks countries according to the number of last place finishes.

Who is currently leading that ranking with a couple Olympic days left? You got it, Romania (see graphic below).

With 33 athletes at these games, Romania has so far managed to place last five times. We are followed closely as you can see below by Ukraine, China, South Korea and Japan — all of which have more athletes at the games.

This is almost as good a story as Steaua and Rapid bulldozing opponents in the UEFA Cup or American autistic basketball player Jason McElwain scoring six consecutive three pointers in less than four minutes.

Update (Feb. 27): Now that the Olympics are over, the final tallies are in. Romania added one more last place finish and kept the top spot with six. China and Japan also had six last place finishes, but they had many more athletes.