By Steve Rhodes
Skip the newspapers today (jury selection in Sorich trial begins; United Airlines explores headquarters options; Daley distracts us with possible Olympics bid) and read these offerings instead.
1. The accused murderer of Chicago-based Time magazine reporter Julie Grace goes to trial today. You can read more about the case in this fine profile by Chicago magazine’s Jennifer Tanaka.
2. Publication of the online Will County Insider has been suspended. So has Steger Matters.
3. Yellow Dog Democrat points us to what looks like a fascinating new book arguing why government should not be run like a business.
4. Chicago writer and musician John Cook asks and answers the question “If You Don’t Like Rap, Are You a Racist?” in an article that scolds New Yorker music writer Sasha Frere-Jones and nicks one of my favorite music writers, Chicago’s Jessica Hopper.
5. Mary Chapin-Carpenter, briefly, on depression.
6. The evolution of journalism that left alcoholism behind.
7. The Rules of Rock.
8. At Overheard in New York:
Man: This is stupid . . . and incredibly boring.
David Blaine: Hey, I can hear you!
– Lincoln Center
A guy and girl approach a sleeping David Blaine in his bubble.
Security guard: Hands of the glass, sir.
Guy: It’s okay, it’s okay . . . I just wanna talk to him.
Guy and girl, putting both hands on glass: WAKE UP DAVID BLAINE!
Security guard: Exit! Exit!
– Lincoln Center
9. Maxim Online says Dusty Baker is the worst manager in baseball. Their analysis sounds right, but their credibility is shot by ranking the Twins’ Ron Gardenhire second-worst. In any case, Roman Modrowski at Full Court Press thinks Dusty is done. So the Dusty Death Watch has begun.
10. This 2002 story about newspapers cutting back on statehouse coverage is even more true today. Will newspapers take responsibility for Americans who are as uninformed and ill-informed as they are?
11. So I guess it’s no surprise that reading a newspaper does not make you more literate, despite what industry editors have been telling you.
“Newspaper circulation variables correlate with nothing other than themselves. There is virtually no relationship between number of papers circulated per person & any of the other literacy factors, including reading a newspaper on the internet.”
– America’s Most Literate Cities
You can also see on this site where Chicago falls on the newspaper circulation per citizen scale.
12. New Political Odds from the Beachwood bookmakers, including just how slim chances really are that Chicago will bid for the Olympics.
13. What’s up with that new mascot in Gary and Jake the Diamond Dog in Kane County? It’s in our latest updated Minor League Report.
14. The Alphabetically Spangled Banner.
15. How Products Are Made.
POST-MORTEM
Tim Willette presents Noteworthy Washington Post Corrections and the Stories That Prompted Them/April 2006.
“An article in the April 30 Business section about ads on placeholder Web sites misidentified the general manager of Yahoo’s ad service for parked Web addresses. He is Josh Meyers.” (The Web’s Million-Dollar Typos)
“An April 22 article incorrectly said that Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) took a lobbyist-funded trip to Puerto Rico in 2001. Jones’s initial travel report said the trip was financed by the lobbying firm Smith, Dawson & Andrews, but after media reports of the trip surfaced, she produced documentation showing that her filing had been in error and that the trip was funded by a nonprofit organization, Todo Puerto Rico Con Vieques.” (Democrat Leaves Ethics Panel: Financial Reports’ Accuracy at Issue )
“An April 18 Metro article incorrectly reported the year that abolitionist Frederick Douglass spoke at a District celebration of the city’s Emancipation Day. It was 1883.” (Parading Past Some Hurdles in The District: Like the Turnout, Grasp Of Emancipation Day by Crowd Lamented as Low )
“An April 6 article and an accompanying graphic said the HIV rate among people in Botswana ages 15 to 49 was 34.9 percent. More recent information shows the rate to be 25.3 percent. The faulty statistic from the article was also used in an April 10 editorial.” (How AIDS in Africa Was Overstated: Reliance on Data From Urban Prenatal Clinics Skewed Early Projections)
“An April 3 article about a paper on the Israel lobby misstated Stephen Walt’s title at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is the academic dean.” (Report on Effect of Israel Lobby Distorts History, Critics Say)
Note From Beachwood HQ/Membership Update
You can now donate to The Beachwood Reporter by buying a membership. We have already filled orders at the Bauxite, Tin, and Aluminum levels. We don’t have a lot to offer yet in return, but depending on your giving level, you may be able to schedule the Beachwood Weather Monkey for a birthday party or have me over some day to wash your car. More tangible rewards to come later.
We’re not just looking for beer money. We have a business strategy – including other already-conceived sites – if we can only sustain this effort long enough to execute it. So give a lot and give often. You can “become a member” as often as you’d like. Build up your points now for our forthcoming Frequent Member Program.
The Beachwood Tip Line: A precious metal in its own right.
Posted on May 11, 2006