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East Bay Media Activism & Independent Media

Over-the-Top Chronicle Has Finally Topped Out

by Becky O'Malley via Beyond Chron

Mon, Apr 7, 2008 7:52AM

Becky O'Malley is editor and publisher of the Berkeley Daily Planet, where this piece first appeared.

Monday, April 7, 2008 : Habits die hard. For almost all of my adult life, or at least as soon as the kids were old enough to fend for themselves at breakfast, I’ve enjoyed taking to my bed with a cup of coffee and the morning San Francisco Chronicle.

The Chron has made my mornings go faster and faster over the years by squeezing its newshole almost dry, so that a quick reader can now suck down the whole paper in less time than it takes to drink one cup of coffee and eat one piece of toast. One could see that as a plus, perhaps.

And furthermore, I’ve never believed that it was right to cancel subscriptions to publications just because you disagreed with something you read there. I’ve put up with a lot of Debra Saunders all these years because she’s a good writer and tells me about points of view I might otherwise miss.

But it finally might be the time to draw the line. The piece by Carolyn Jones on the prominent upper-left hand side of the front page of Thursday’s Chronicle was easily the worst piece of so-called journalism I’ve seen in a formerly respectable mass-circulation publication in all of my long life. Before I’d even finished my 10-minute Chron read, the Planet’s City Hall reporter was calling me at home before 8 a.m., which she’s never done before, hoping fervently to be able to change her assignment for Friday’s paper so she could do a piece setting the record straight. Of course!

The topic of the silly story? Here’s the headline and subhead: “Cost of Berkeley's Dozens of Citizen Boards: Officials say city gets sidetracked by work of 45 commissions.”

Read More

For more information: http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?...

Add Your Comments

Comments (Hide Comments)

§Nevius didn't tip you off?

by Shoulda.

Tue, Apr 8, 2008 4:58AM

He's a one-man anti-homeless pogrom.

Only in the Chronicle, indeed!

§Becky's getting a lot of mileage out of this Article.

by BerkeleySprout

Tue, Apr 8, 2008 11:01PM

She waxes mean sometimes when people don't see things her way. This is one of those times. Whatever she insists her point is, her real point is Carolyn Jones should check with her before writing about Berkeley government. After all, who owns the Berkeley newspapers really owns the town;

Its ironic that Becky dismisses the Berkeley Boycott as having no economic effect.... but decides to boycott the Chronicle knowing there'll be no economic effect -- because its the PRINCIPLE that counts. The difference? Becky doesn't understand the existence of principles contrary to her own.

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