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Old 04-21-2008, 10:02 AM  
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San Marcos
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Newstreamz political agenda leads to new site?

Has anyone seen this yet?

http://www.sanmarcosmercury.com/2008...are-a-news-war

I'm not sure what to think. Brad was pretty politically involved during the last election and I had questions about his impartiality (and that of Newstreamz) when he started with that site.

Is he impartial, or is he just supporting different politicians than the folks at Newstreamz?
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Old 04-21-2008, 01:28 PM  
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From what I've seen Brad Rollins is a worse reporter than a politician. Are we sure that he wasn't let go by Newstreamz? His reporting certainly seem to have a political agenda (pro mayor, pro Barton, anti-judge Sumner). Think he's on Barton's payroll?
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Old 04-21-2008, 06:01 PM  
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I heard Brad was fired from Newstreams. That being said, maybe SM could use more media whether it is biased or not.
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Old 04-21-2008, 08:38 PM  
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I resigned. I've heard different versions such as a blog post by a Newstreamz manager who said I was "allowed to resign." Their ad director told the Sunrise Club that there had been a "staff shakeup." I don't know what advantage is to be gained for them by portraying me as having been fired but I resigned for the reasons stated in the post referenced above. For all I know, it may have been this new management crew's intention to force me out but it did not unfold that way. I had reservations specifically about Gregson as his intentions for the newspaper became clear to me.

My focus now is making The Mercury the best newspaper it can be; I am fortunate to have a known quantity and respected journalist like Bill Peterson as a business partner. Like the other Web site, the Mercury is enabled for readers to comment -- including questioning whatever political bias one sees in any particular piece I write. Please see Peterson's HaysHighway.com, which he will be redirecting to the Mercury in the next few weeks, and his statement of transparency, which we are reworking for the Mercury. It reads, in part, "Some immature journalists would have you believe they are endowed by the creator with a God's eye view of reality such that they can describe the truth absolutely, without subtraction or addition. In the real world, humane persons of good will understand this is nonsense. ... A journalist must be open-minded, which is a widely misunderstood attribute. Open-mindedness is not, in any sense, a refusal to hold beliefs or develop perspectives. That's closed-mindedness. A closed mind shuts its gates, allowing nothing to come in and take hold. An open mind happily lodges beliefs, but only provisionally and to the extent that such beliefs stand up to experience and cohere with its other beliefs. An open mind, therefore, revises its beliefs appropriately in the light of new evidence"

Brad Rollins
www.sanmarcosmercury.com
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Old 04-22-2008, 10:22 AM  
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San Marcos
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Yes, but being open-minded means being open to the possibility that you are wrong, or that others are just as right as you, and presenting all sides in equal light, so that the readers can decide for themselves.

I agree that it is impossible to be impartial in the sense that you have no opinion, so maybe that was the wrong word to use. It is not impossible to recognize your biases and to make a conscious effort to limit the extent to which they come out, or to make a conscious effort to make sure the views on the other side are fairly represented.

If I re-read the posts here from the time of the election, I don't see anything like that.

Granted, these forums are not a newspaper and we are not on here as journalists.

Still, quite a bit of that came through on Newstreamz as well; and still does.
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Old 04-23-2008, 08:21 AM  
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While I haven't read the Newstreamz site, I can't comment on that. But as a Mass Comm student, I can say that the best in the field do just as you said - recognize the bias and limit it as much as possible. Unfortunately, too often you get this elitest attitude of how they are always right, they have no bias, and anyone who says differently is mudd. A good read is Bernard Goldberg's book, "Bias." And if that can happen at CBS, then it can definitely happen at smaller media outlets.

I think the problem, overall, is that these journalists, editors, producers, etc chose not to learn and better themselves, but rather dictate policy and pass on (unknowingly?) their personal agendas.

My 2 cents as a student and a 30-something.
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Old 04-23-2008, 07:59 PM  
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Exciting Times

One of my regrets about San Marcos is that we lack a media all our own. We're in the shadow of Austin and San Antonio media. The circulation of the Daily Record is about 6,000 and I suspect the average age of subscribers is over 50. It's printed well before it's distributed. At last a new medium is coming. And we get to witness the birth. I know there will be struggles and turnover, stumbles and burnouts but to witness history is thrilling. I'm not backing any of these horses yet. I think the layout of Newstreamz is terrible. 78666.com seems to be understaffed since there's very little by way of new content. I'll be watching the Mercury closely. Too much slant in ANY direction will run off subscribers and advertisers. No slant and you get the polly anna (sp?) SM Record. Best of luck to Brad and Bill. We need the product.
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