The Scoop

Ours vs. Theirs

edcrowder — 2006-01-31T17:28:45-05:00

OURS:

Connecticut Post, Jan. 27, 2006
"New trial frees innocent man"
By Daniel Tepfer
Staff writer
___BRIDGEPORT -- For more than five years Alfredo Vargas sat in a prison cell, professing his innocence to accusations he molested a 4-year-old girl.
___On Thursday, a Superior Court jury in Vargas' second trial believed the 65-year-old synagogue caretaker and found him not guilty of first-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor. They deliberated less than two hours.

THEIRS:

The New York Times, Jan. 29, 2006
"Penniless Man Wins Allies and Acquittal"
By Peter Applebome
___Sometimes, amid its florid theatrics and Dickensian arcana, the legal system dispenses justice. Sometimes it dispenses something else. And sometimes it does both to the same person.
___Consider what happened to Alfredo Vargas.

Make what you want of it. I'll refrain from comment. --Ed

Hate the media?

edcrowder — 2006-01-05T12:11:00-05:00

One of the 'blogs I check regularly is Arianna Huffington's Huffington Post. On Wednesday, following the mining tragedy in West Virginia -- and the whiplash of hope and tragedy it generated -- she led her blog with a posting, "Why Do People Hate the Media?"

The public trust

edcrowder — 2005-12-07T18:57:08-05:00

I’m glad I’m not a telemarketer, and not just because I wouldn’t like the weather in Bombay.

Helping a student

edcrowder — 2005-11-28T23:57:53-05:00

I teach a course in news editing (big stretch) at Southern Connecticut State University. A student of mine went on to complete an internship here at the Connecticut Post. This week she contacted me asking for insight for a paper. The questions made me think pretty deeply about what we do as journalists.

Talkin' turkey

edcrowder — 2005-11-15T19:58:10-05:00

It’s a challenge to find new and interesting ways to cover the holidays every year.

Lawn Sign Wars

edcrowder — 2005-10-25T19:46:28-05:00

Growing up in suburban Hamden, the night before Halloween was "doorbell night." They called it "mischief night" everywhere else. Same idea.

On vacation

edcrowder — 2005-10-07T16:39:26-05:00

No, I haven't given up on blogging. I'll be away until Oct. 18. Be good.

The Guilty Party

edcrowder — 2005-10-05T12:50:36-05:00

I won't make it my practice to promote political candidates in this space. But this one happens to be a friend of mine. She's running against New Haven Mayor John DeStefano under the Guilty Party banner. You might remember Guilty Party founder, artist/musician Bill Saunders, running for mayor in a red wig and a polka-dot miniskirt a few years back. But just because they're having fun doesn't mean they're not serious about taking on the establishment. And their plight illustrates how the political deck is stacked against third-party candidates, serious or satirical.

This is the first time I can ever recall a reference to Franz Kafka in a press release.

Best. Press. Release. Ever.

edcrowder — 2005-10-04T17:16:42-05:00

Will update with real entry soon. But for now, I offer the following press release from country singer Chris Cagle for your consideration. For further updates, stay tuned.

Crowder's Rule

edcrowder — 2005-09-28T14:05:53-05:00

Over the years I've developed a maxim that helps me put local news in perspective. I call it "Crowder's Rule."

Those strolling bones

edcrowder — 2005-09-21T21:18:19-05:00

The Rolling Stones have been looking long in the tooth lately, but age itself shouldn’t be their biggest concern.

Positive spin

edcrowder — 2005-09-19T22:52:32-05:00

There’s an old maxim that if a discipline has to call itself a science, it’s not. Thus, we have "library science" and -- great chieftain of the oxymoron race -- "political science," but no "astronomical science" or "biological science".

Misc.

edcrowder — 2005-09-14T12:23:09-05:00

Lacking any genuine inspiration today, I figured I'd just post a few odds and ends that made me chuckle.

Stop the presses

edcrowder — 2005-09-09T21:13:15-05:00

My workspace -- it has too few sides to be called a cubicle -- is pretty much the same as those found in any other newsroom. I have a beige Compaq computer and a black Lucent phone and a tape dispenser. I've got an AP style book, a Connecticut blue book, a Webster's New World Dictionary (Third Collegiate Edition), assorted other volumes, a few stackable plastic shelves, a precariously leaning tower of old newspapers and somewhere, buried under a mound of paper, a shamefully neglected desk calendar.

A few gems

edcrowder — 2005-09-08T22:36:45-05:00

Some days, when the stars are properly aligned, a single edition of the Connecticut Post yields a bumper crop of bizarre stories. Thursday was such a day ...