Hey, dig that...

New header for "Written in Red Ink."

Thanks, Alea!

Long time, no see...

OK, back in the blogging business now. Sorry for the delays.

Dana lost her BlackBerry, by the way, so if anyone finds it, feel free to chuck it and buy her an iPhone.

Happy Tumbleweed Tuesday...

I remember when the Tuesday after Labor Day was dead as a doornail. Not so much anymore, although the parade of vehicles heading west yesterday on Sunrise was impressive, no question. This morning, it was matched by the "trade parade" heading east, scurrying to close out so many part-time residences.

Comments on police items at 27east.com...

Our policy has been to restrict comments on police items, because rare is the comment that isn't simply inappropriate, or that is unfair toward someone who is just suspected of a crime (including the town supervisor in this particular instance).

Should that rule be eased when we're dealing with the town's top official? Thoughts? I'm genuinely curious what people think.

Don't email me--too busy today--but leave me comments so we can discuss...

So, what's new with you?...

Nothing much on this end. Oh, except...

Westhampton Beach Village Police charge Southampton Town Supervisor Linda Kabot with DWI
http://www.27east.com/story_detail.cfm?id=232488&town=Westhampton Beach&n=WESTHAMPTON%20BEACH%20VILLAGE%20POLICE%20CHARGE%20SOUTHAMPTON%20TOWN%20SUPERVISOR%20LINDA%20KABOT%20WITH%20DWI

Fresh fruit baskets are always welcome...

Just received an email that everyone should keep in mind:

According to the Holidays & Observances Calendar, September is "Be kind to editors and writers month."

My favorite letter to be published this week...

A basic right
The ongoing debate on health care has given rise to the assumption that health care is a privilege and not a right. I quote here the beginning of a document that summarizes the obligations of our government:
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
If we are to interpret this passage correctly, I would conclude that promoting the general welfare would include assuring access to health care as a part of the protections to our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
The founders of our nation foresaw the need to the need for us to redefine our interpretations of their words because they could not foresee the distance that progress would advance us. Health care is a basic right—the Founding Fathers provided for it.
PHIL MOTYKA
Southampton

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

Headline from August 19 edition of The East Hampton Press:

"Alliance and Empire continue talks"

Yeah, we realized it when we wrote this headline. The whole thing is starting to feel like a George Lucas production. If only the two sides in that conflict had done more talking and less light saber fighting.


"Empire, hospitals still at impasse"
http://www.27east.com/story_detail.cfm?id=229900&town=&n=Empire%2C%20hospitals%20still%20at%20impasse%2C%20but%20issue%20affecting%20seniors%20has%20been%20resolved

Nice to make a difference, even in a small way...

Got a very nice note from a member of the extended Press family regarding a recent article on Big Brothers Big Sisters, and it reminded me of why we do this job, and of the intangible benefits.

He wrote:

By the way, don't think that The Press is without influence ... After reading your excellent piece on Big Brothers Big Sisters of Long Island a few months ago, I was moved to apply to become a "Big." ... They have given me a little 8-year-old Hampton Bays boy ... whose Ecuadorean mother is divorced from his Guatemalan father. I see him every Sunday, and we go to the beach, the Children's Museum, boating, that sort of thing. ... It's a very interesting experience--and I have The Press to thank for it.

Very nice to hear. And a tip of the hat to Vera Chinese, who did a great job on that story...

"For 'Bigs and Littles' Alike, a Great Experience" (Southampton Press, March 21, 2009)

Bill Cahir tribute on NPR...

Very nice brief piece this morning on "Morning Edition," noting that Bill Cahir--a former Press reporter who was killed earlier this month while serving with the Marines in Afghanistan--will be buried today in Arlington National Cemetery.

His is truly a remarkable story: He joined the armed forces after 9/11, at an age when most people are leaving rather than entering service. He was often a decade older than his drill sergeants in basic training.

I didn't know him personally, but many people whom I respect hold him in very high regard. He also was, by all accounts, a pretty great guy who is survived by his wife, who is pregnant with the couple's first children, twins.

RIP.

NPR audio of Bill Cahir piece:
http://www.npr.org/templates/archives/archive.php?thingId=3

"Former Press reporter killed in action in Afghanistan"
http://www.27east.com/story_detail.cfm?id=229028

So that's what a gallon of butter pecan ice cream feels like...

Every newspaper gets scooped from time to time. Happened to us recently, although the way it happened was particularly upsetting.

A couple of weeks ago, we were all startled to see an architecture column in The New York Times discussing the fact that the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton had unveiled (apparently, solely for this particular columnist) plans for a scaled-back new museum in Water Mill. Fund-raising has been sluggish, as is to be expected in the difficult economy, so the museum decided to shelve its ambitious, roundly praised $60 million plan and replace it with a $20 million-to-$25 million proposal that is much more modest, but has the benefit of actually getting built sometime in the next couple of years.

We were stunned--mainly because this is not a story we had been less than diligent on. Just a couple of months back, we took a run at the Parrish, asking exactly that question: With the economy slowing, is it possible that there might be an alternate plan in the works? They stonewalled us, saying they were staying the course. Not a hint of a plan to scale back.

Now, let me take a side path for a moment.

My standing policy--and I feel very strongly about it--is that we will never ask the subject of a story, either news or feature, to block another publication out. That is, if another publication calls to ask questions that we've already asked, and are planning to answer in print, I would never suggest to the source that they decline to answer those questions just to protect our story. I don't think that's fair, and I hate when it happens to us (obviously), so I'd never ask, and when sources sometimes helpfully offer to do it, I politely decline. (Full disclosure: We certainly would prefer that the news source not actively promote the story to other outlets if we have something of an exclusive, and we might say that. But that's entirely their choice in the end.)

We've been on the other end of this before--we have been told repeatedly that one of our competitors has been known to threaten the subjects of stories not to cooperate with us, or risk being shut out of publication by that paper. And we've gone down this path before with the Parrish and The New York Times: Currying favor with the Gray Lady and its readers is important to the Parrish, and they sometimes seem oblivious to how that affects us, the paper that provides them with more coverage than any other.

What was particularly upsetting in this case was the fact that we had been actively chasing a story that was obviously fed to the Times later. Also, the timing was the worst possible: We received a press release officially announcing the new direction of the project--at about noon on Wednesday (right about on our weekly news deadline), a day after the Times article appeared.

We expressed our displeasure with the Parrish--again, not merely about getting scooped by the Times, but about being actively deflected at the same time it was happening. (After all, just a few months ago, there had to be some idea that this was going to be the direction the project was taking--you don't get brand new architect's drawings in just a couple of weeks.) To the Parrish's credit, they seemed to grasp the point and were apologetic. More importantly, we're hoping the local media--not just us, by the way--will get fair consideration with the metro paper when there's news to be reported. We're not looking for special treatment--just a level playing field.

Ultimately, it just reminds you about the business we're in, emphasizes the highly competitive nature of it, and drives home the point that you can't celebrate your own scoops too heartily, because that scoop can dig out your heart just as easily.

Now I want some ice cream.

Press story from August 19: http://www.27east.com/story_detail.cfm?id=228459

"When Creativity Diminishes Along with Cash," New York Times, August 12, 2009: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/12/arts/design/12parrish.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Parrish&st=cse

For a limited time only...

The Wolverine photo! It can be found in my profile to the right.

Much talked about, rumored, and a document of a look I had for, well, exactly two minutes.

Seemed like a good time to post it. Something a little more formal will go up once the blog is live on 27east.com.

Still...I think it was an interesting look.

By the way...

Don't feel the need to sign up and follow the blog if you don't feel like giving Google every tiny bit of information about yourself. Google is an evil conglomerate that will probably misuse your information for nefarious purposes, after all, and I don't want to be an accomplice.

Just come back a lot and leave comments, too. You don't need to join the Google Army to do that.

(Probably not a good idea to open a new blog by attacking Google...)

Pardon our appearance while we construct this blog...

Hi, early visitors--which is essentially friends, family and coworkers. Also, people I have a great deal of respect for. Not that the groups are mutually exclusive. For the most part.

This fancy old blog just got fired up today, and I'm planning to tweak it over the weekend, try to come up with an attractive color scheme (suggestions appreciated), and really begin posting in the next 48 hours or so. So if you've signed up to follow it--please do, by the way--it'll start reaping enormous benefits for you by, say, Tuesday.

P.S. In answer to the numerous times I've been asked the question: I haven't got a clue what I'm going to be writing about. I suspect it will include the newspaper, myself, and a lot less interesting stuff, too. Stay tuned.

Texting direct to blog--cool!

Testing, testing...

Hi. This is a test.

Just testing here.

http://www.woot.com/