Calling bullshit on this

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Here is what the judge says:

This picture has it all– the perfect angle, composition, joy and timing. Even the weather is on the photographer’s side.

Again, I’m calling bullshit.

This happens every year at the Air Force Academy and for that matter at every service academy. It takes minimal skill and talent to get this shot. They could send out a day-one intern with ZERO photojournalism experience to capture it.

This is hardly award winning. I would bet that the runners up are better than this. Will try to dig them up so I can continue my rant against the mundane.

This is the 2nd Place entry from Albuquerque Journal photographer Eddie Moore … no comment from the judge, but here’s a link to the story.

A coming-of-age story that turns into a Newspaper story

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I just finished this novel and can give it a hearty endorsement. It starts out as a coming-of-age story and morphs, sort of, into a Newspaper story.

Here’s the Amazon blurb:

Eli Bell’s life is complicated. His father is lost, his mother is in jail, and his stepdad is a heroin dealer. The most steadfast adult in Eli’s life is Slim—a notorious felon and national record-holder for successful prison escapes—who watches over Eli and August, his silent genius of an older brother.
Exiled far from the rest of the world in Darra, a neglected suburb populated by Polish and Vietnamese refugees, this twelve-year-old boy with an old soul and an adult mind is just trying to follow his heart, learn what it takes to be a good man, and train for a glamorous career in journalism. Life, however, insists on throwing obstacles in Eli’s path—most notably Tytus Broz, Brisbane’s legendary drug dealer.
But the real trouble lies ahead. Eli is about to fall in love, face off against truly bad guys, and fight to save his mother from a certain doom—all before starting high school.
Powerful and kinetic, Trent Dalton’s debut is sure to be one of the most heartbreaking, joyous and exhilarating novels you will experience.

Amazon

It’s a semi-autobiographical novel by Trent Dalton a died in the wool Newspaperman, having worked at The Courier-Mail an Australian Newspaper in Brisbane.

The Boy Swallows the Universe is now a Netflix series.

Under attack in Colorado Springs

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First we have this via the Colorado Sun:

There is so much bad behind the story, but the TLTR is that GOP chairman Dave Williams is in full attack mode.

“The Colorado Republican Party will no longer allow the liberals at The Gazette to deceive voters.”

Dave Williams

And then there’s this, again via the Colorado Sun:

Again, Dick shows what type of person he is. BTW, it’s the same Dick as the above story.

A Colorado Sun politics reporter was escorted out of the state GOP assembly by a sheriff’s deputy Saturday after being told that party Chairman Dave Williams found her “current reporting to be very unfair.”

Colorado Sun

At least there are some sensible people in the state:

Sandra Fish is a fair, honest and respected reporter. As a Republican I’m embarrassed by the GOP chair,” she posted. “As a state senator I’m stunned by the blatant disregard for our Constitution — and by a former legislator no less. Disgusting.”

State Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Republican lawmaker from Weld County

Television Newspaper: When will it be done?

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I found this on Imgur, but it’s originally from alamy which says that it’s from the 1930s.

Can it be done? Well, the answer is Yes. When was it done? The first newspaper to go online was The Columbus Dispatch on July 1, 1980, but I’m not sure what Newspaper was the first to show a “fully printed’’ Front Page, I guess it would have been a jpeg like all the kids are doing these days.

Welcome, ‘rip-n-read’ background?*

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From The New York Times: Jess Bidgood will be the new On Politics writer, starting Monday.

And this quote from her was included in the announcement:

I got my start in public radio in Boston on the 4 a.m. shift, at WBUR, where one of my duties was to bring the newspapers inside when they arrived at 5 a.m.

Jess Bidgood

Brings me back to the days when my group of Newspaper journalists would refer to the local radio news and ”rip-n-read,’’ because the news guys would read our stuff over the air without any attribution. We would swear we could hear the newsprint rustling in the background.

* I’m sure Bidgood has never been involved in rip-n-read!