The Tilt of The Union

George Rebane

Some time ago I reported (here) on the results of an audit on the ideological tilt of The Union performed by the Nevada County Republican Women Federated. This was in response to our local Left claiming that our newspaper had become ‘The Tea Party Gazette’.  As usual, these know-nothings missed the boat.  The audit considered in detail the paper’s op-ed content over several months after which the NCRWF met with publisher Mr Jim Hemig to present the results.  He was surprised to find that numerically the paper had published considerably more Left than Right leaning pieces, since he stated the paper considered itself politically neutral.

Nevertheless, the meeting and presented data did make an impact, and Mr Hemig reports on that in today’s (11dec15) Union – ‘The editorial page challenge?’. Therein he announces a reader participation audit scheduled for January 2016.  The NCRWF audit is ongoing, and I’ll report updated results as they become available.  RR’s position repeated is that as a private enterprise The Union can choose its own political tilt, and grouse as we may from our own perches there is no need to demand that the newspaper succumb to someone's standard of ‘balance’ as constantly called for by our locally loud progressives.  

Comments

[jon smith]

I agree with your conclusion 100%. The Union is a business, not a public service. It can print what it damn well pleases, and its success or failure will be measured by subscriptions and ads. That a fat, whiney, disgruntled ex-employee feels that he is entitled (there is that E word again) to a middle of the road or even left leaning rag is neither here nor there. If there are legions who agree with His Roundness, he should start his own newspaper. He supposedly knows his way around an offset press. That will never happen though, it is so much easier to point his sausage-like fingers at a business than to actually run one.

[George Boardman]

I'm told that the Republican women evaluated nine of my columns and decided two were right, one was left, and six where neutral. That's about where I want to be.

Of course, where you draw the line between left and right has a lot to do with the conclusions you reach. When I was stationed in the Army in Texas during the '60s, Texas Democrats talked like moderate Republicans in California.

[George Rebane]

GeorgeB 1106am - That being the case Mr Boardman, I would then invite you to step forward where none have dared tread, and give us a dissertation on the ideological tenets of those who identify themselves as 'neutral', 'middle roaders', 'having a balanced political view', 'non-ideological', etc. If you need one, I and my credo would be happy to serve as a whipping boy for contrast and comparison to whatever you may offer.

You might want to make it one of your columns or simply send it to me and I would be more than pleased to post it as your byline.

In the eight years I have made this appeal (to both the Left and mid-roaders), the response has been uniform - crickets.

[Gregory]

Republicans in Joisey and Taxachussetts tend to sound like moderate Democrats... either direction. I don't think it's pandering but rather the winning candidates tend to be the ones who don't rile the base of the majority party.

[Gregory]

George R 11:07

I think one has to create five categories for the declared Neuts. One is they really are middle of the road. Others are the ignorant (whether by choice or accident), the apathetic and the pathological liars who have chosen to be seen as moderate to hide their partisanship.

The last on my list is where Pelline fits. I found Earls recent tidbit that Jeffie left a stack of pieces he disagreed with that he never allowed to see the light of day in The Union, and that is how he runs his blog. At Cal, he studied how to fabricate winning arguments, Rhetoric, not how to make good and ethical ones. Good for lawyers, not all that great for journalists.

[Gregory]

make that GR 12:07

[fish]

Posted by: Gregory | 11 December 2015 at 02:06 PM

At Cal, he studied how to fabricate winning arguments.....

He should ask for remediation..... or a refund.

[Paul Emery]

I think this conversation is kinda silly because unless you have a clear definition as to what is right, left or in the middle how can you cave a consensus for discussion. Take MJ cultivation for example. A libertarian would take the position that it is a right as a free pseson to do what they want in their property but a more Republican righter would take it as an infringement of their lifestyle to live next to a garden therefore justifying government intervention with criminal consequences. there are many such issues that unless resolved make it impossible to set an common standard for discussion. Take foreign intervention as an example. Would a supporter if Ron Paul's somewhat isolationist views be right or left?

[Russ Steele]

Gregory@02:06

I wrote some of those pieces that Jeff declare should never appear in print. It was the reason that I started blogging. My other voices and letters seem to go in the a black hole at The Union. I started the NC Media Watch blog to publish my views and call out The Union under Jeff's editorial guidance. We had many confrontational email exchanges. After he was dismissed as the Editor, I lost interest in blogging a NC Media Watch and started another blog. With Jeff gone it was not as much fun when Ackerman moved more to the center of the road.

[Paul Emery]

Russ

Does that mean the publisher of our newspaper should not be center of the road? What should he (or she) be?

[Paul Emery]

Sorry Russ after rereading i realize misinterpreted your 3:05. Ignore my 3:11

[Bonnie McGuire]

George, we've subscribed to the Union for over 63 years along with writing opinions. It's always had more left than right submissions. However, because it encouraged both, my understanding was that page page was the most popular. Why? Because local people expressing various opinions. Can you imagine how boring and dumb to limit ideas? Being center of the road means you have an inquiring mind and prefer to read and investigate all opinions so that you can understand and make intelligent decisions. Those considered hard left, or hard right have the same dictatorial mentality. The hard left are usually the hot heads who go on the rampage if they don't get their way...like Fergerson and Baltimore. Amazing that our Presidents qualification was that he was a street demonstration organizer, whereas the lady governor of Alaska wasn't qualified to be Vice-President. Go figure...

[Jon]

"The hard left are usually the hot heads who go on the rampage if they don't get their way...like Fergerson and Baltimore".

Now that's deserving of a hearty- WTF..

[George Boardman]

Re Dr. R at 12:07 p.m.:

I'm willing to take up your challenge, but not right now. I have a lot of family commitments for the rest of the year and won't be spending much time writing. I'm not sure the subject's worth a column, but I'll see how it goes.

[George Rebane]

PaulE 251pm - This conversation is just about as silly as has been the national one on our political spectrum ever since TeddyR decided to become a progressive. Yes we all know that the ideological spectrum is not one-dimensional, but that common dimensions captures the lions share of people's ideological diversity. A better one was covered and debated in these pages some years ago here -
http://rebaneruminations.typepad.com/rebanes_ruminations/2010/11/the-latest-volley-from-the-local-left.html

and then here -
http://rebaneruminations.typepad.com/rebanes_ruminations/2013/02/ideologies-and-governance-a-structured-look.html

[George Rebane]

GeorgeB 410pm - Thank you, I do look forward to posting your perspective on the middle's ideological credo, and hopefully your added assessment of it.

BTW, in my humble opinion if you did a creditable job on the piece, it would be a landmark contribution - The Union should be honored to print it - more suitable for the New Yorker or The Atlantic. You see no one has the remotest idea what the middle believes because all they have been able to do is differentiate themselves by stating or snarking what they don't believe from the more pronounced ends of the spectrum. You may yet write the commentary which will become the lynchpin of your legacy.

[Gregory]

"Does that mean the publisher of our newspaper should not be center of the road? What should he (or she) be?"

Honest, competent journalists. For an example, look at Tim Russert era Meet the Press episodes. No one in their right mind would think he wasn't Democrat through and through and more than one bulsh*ting Democrat got.put through the Russert wringer and honest, thoughtful pols that Russert would never vote for got treated fairly... most of the time.

[fish]

Oh jeffy......what's the matter....Steve not around to do your internet heavy lifting today?

"....The real danger for The Union is coddling this group of extremists. After all, a paper is responsible for what it decides to publish. Hemig’s statement that “we print what we get” shows an unwillingness to adopt a policy like the New York Times. http://sierrafoothillsreport.com/2015/10/30/would-the-new-york-times-publish-todd-juvinalls-rants/

The Union’s policy reminds me of the adage “Garbage in; garbage out.”

"real danger"......hah!

[Bill Tozeer]

Real danger!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RG0ochx16Dg

[Paul Emery]

So George just for fun does Ron Paul foreign policy as expressed in his "Why We Fight" essay belong left, right or in the middle? Imagine this was published in the Union and graded by your jury.

http://original.antiwar.com/paul/2005/09/10/why-we-fight-and-why-we-shouldnt/

[Walt]

From what I gather, The Union has yet to recover from the last Editor change.
Roseburg got the better end of the deal. And my informants up there say "sorry for your bad luck. We ain't giving him back!" ( not that Jeff even wants to. He's a happy camper there.)

Whoever's bright idea it was to turn a center Right newspaper ( few and far between these days) to Left of center, in a mostly Right leaning community screwed up big.
Especially when Lefty news print is going down hill.( yup,, smart move)

In contrast, Jeff Akerman has done well plugging holes in the sinking ship he was given.

Now here we are. Still bitching about the aftermath.

[Jon]

Walt, no one wants Ackerman back here in diverse Grass Valley, so I guess its a win/win situation. Roseburg, OR is a pit of a town and gun nut central.

[Walt]

Funny, no one heard of you before he left. The Union was on stable ground in this "diverse"
town when he was running the show,, yet is now sliding down hill. Typical LIB "progress".

[Gregory]

Behind the corpulent curtain earlier today, one former lackey of the Swift Empire writes,"I noticed that Russ, “Earl” and Greg all are making false statements about me on the hard-right blogs to score points with each other (and no one else)."

Gee Geoff, I thought you had majored in Rhetoric... no? One of the core Trivial arts. If I inadvertently erred, an actual citation and request for a retraction is the usual first step. While waiting for a response, here's a blurb from a site that lightheartedly describes different majors... here's the one for Geoff:
"If you really apply yourself, a degree in rhetoric will enable you to sell a gas-guzzling Hummer to the staunchest environmentalist on your block. Read: you will be able to convince anyone of anything. Which is basically the only skill required of a politician. Right?"

The problem the FUE has is that he forgot to learn enough, or to listen well enough to have the intellectual capital to actually convince anyone of anything they weren't predisposed to believe in the first place.

[Russ Steele]

My3:05PM

I need to make a clarification. I started blogging at NC Media Watch before Jeff P became the editor in 2007. However, I did start blogging because my Other Voices and Letters to the Editor were not being published or published after the issue was no longer on the public mind. It was not as I inferred because Jeff was the editor. However, it was not as much fun once he left in 2009. My post needed a little more timeline fact checking, my apology to RR readers.

[Walt]

Russ did submit some great stuff.
But I do believe I'm the only one to singlehandedly crashed the Union's web site on one submission. Jeff was the only editor who had the balls to run the story one the first BIG Tea Party rally down in Sacramento. All the other media (even the LIB SAC bee) had a blackout on the event. Within three hours of the story getting posted, the damage was done.
( a free year subscription was my prize) HELL! I got tracked down by some radio station in S.F. that night! The local Left was fit to be tied. Jeff even had a few of us send in pic.s during the day long event, and posted them as they came in. ( Oh yes... The Lefties were not happy) But it sure sold some papers!

[fish]

As usual Piggly Wiggly swings and misses......the jiggling continues for an usually persistent period following.

jeffpelline says: December 11, 2015 at 5:30 pm

Here’s an example: I don’t think “Fish” (AKA David Larson of Carmichael) could get the Chronicle to publish his “garbage,” so he turned to another outfit: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2011/tle603-20110116-02.html

I wonder if The Union would print “Fish’s” garbage!

Extremists like “fish” hide behind the First Amendment and shout “censorship,” because they don’t want to hear this: “Fish your writing and argument is incomprehensible. Please try again.” LOL.

Of course the Chronicle didn't publish it you bloated ass.....I didn't send it to them. I sent it to your former colleague the....ahem.... "ethnomusicologist" (I swear that you can practically float of the pretentiousness of San Francisco "newspaper boys") directly. I also sent it to the TLE because I knew they would print it. Additionally I'm quite sure that The Union would print a letter that I sent as it's currently "circling the drain" and quite likely prints anything dropped on their doorstep. This shouldn't surprise you....they showed an appealing lack of journalistic and business sense when you, much like everything else received unsolicited, plopped on their doorstep and were inexplicably put on the payroll!

“Fish your writing and argument is incomprehensible."

jeffy....perhaps the reason you didn't understand it is the Obesity Related Early Onset Dementia that I've been trying to warn you about? It's a "thing" jeffy. Perhaps the next time the "Amgen" is on your increasingly feeble mind you might consider actually getting on a bicycle instead of merely being content to watch others peddle by.

....and as always LOL.

[Todd Juvinall]

Pelline does get his jolly's acting and writing like a five year old fish. One thing about a lib extremist hater like him is once they think they have something on someone they resurrect it constantly. That is a slimy political trick I have seen used many times. Pelline is the local example of that. A slimy politician. He and the political class are right there on the list of most despised occupations. Nice thing is though, the community knows him enough to personally hate his guts. He truly is despicable. On the other hand the posters at this and other blogs are well liked and respected and do not have to defend the slimy attack by Pelline.

[fish]

"One thing about a lib extremist hater like him is once they think they have something on someone they resurrect it constantly."

Hah....have something on me.....since he left my e-mail in the body of the text when he posted the letter I sent to his empty headed "ethnomusicologist" buddy I've been getting complimentary e-mails from people who saw it at his site!

I never received any feedback when I originally posted it!

jeffy......always causing the exact opposite of his intent.

[Michael R. Kesti]

Todd Juvinall 12Dec15 07:52 AM

Pelline does get his jolly's acting and writing like a five year old fish.

Rather than the possessive "jolly's", the plural of "jolly" is "jollies" and as written, Todd, you have stated that Pelline acts and writes as does a fish that is five years old. A comma between "old" and "fish" would have indicated that you were addressing your comment to a person named "fish."

[Paul Emery]

Walt

What evidence do you have the Union is "sliding down hill" ? Do you have access to revenue details, subscription numbers etc?

[fish]

A comma between "old" and "fish" would have indicated that you were addressing your comment to a person named "fish."

I certainly wouldn't mind an age related "do over" but Michael is correct; I'm much older than five.

[jon smith]

Speaking of news and former editors complaining about biased reporting . . . He Who Cannot Tie His Shoes wrote an editorial about the (right wing) Good Old Boys Network. It generated a surprising number of comments (nine). Eight of the nine comments are from Jeff Pelline. In the physical sense that's a very wide audience. He should be proud.

[Todd Juvinall]

Hey I never said I was a English writer of renown. LOL!

Pelline does seem to be obsessed with commenting numerous times on his own screeds. I wonder if he turns off the button that keeps his own comments from being added to the totals. Maybe that is how he thinks he can generate money from advertisers?

[Walt]

Paul.. I have my sources.
You may have not noticed over time, that certain stories the Union runs are not "paywalled". 9 times out of 10 those are of Lefty interest.(I wonder why?)
I have yet to see (I could have misses it) a story of particular interest to Conservatives
that was paywall free.

[Jon]

sure you do Walt. We believe you, we really do. :)..

[fish]

Posted by: Jon | 12 December 2015 at 11:15 AM

Don't know why you doubt Walts claim......by their own admission traditional newspapers across the country are in trouble. One of jeffys running complaints is that The Union is no longer printed locally....they obviously made that change to save money.

Ten bucks says that within two years they don't "print" it at all and it's exclusively web based news.

[Bill Tozeer]

Can't argue with the RR take on the Union. They can run or print anything they so please. I prefer the police blotter myself, other are obsessed over the editorial section, others get all upset if there is not front page news about some upcoming event in Nevada City in 10 days.

In the larger perceptive beyond local news (print and radio) and just the free private press in general, who ever put this in terms of "requirements of equal time" with the demand that anything much include contrary opinions
.
Remember that little dust devil we had here on RR because someone was upset that the local chapter of the Tea Party and State of Jeff(erson) rented the arena area and a picnic area at Western Gateway Park? Oh boy. Besides the usual complaints about the unsightly gathering in his noble eyes, the gist of it was "if you are going to rent an area in a public park, then you should rent/ promote gatherings of the Leftist crowds there too. It's biased!!! Mix that with a good dose of free speech should be silenced in the public park, as opposed to no complaints about what goes on in purple parks. What will people think???

Obviously, the answer provided was not satisfactory. A simple "hey, the libs are free to rent space at Western Gateway park anytime they choose, provided advance notice to see if the date question had an open slot, and drop by the deposit to hold the date, thank you. But no, that answer was not addressing the equal time issue. My thoughts at the time nudged me to believe that it was not about equal time, fair and balanced, or any of those demands. Nay, it ended up just the view from afar of those people "disturb me so much I cannot enjoy playing the disc golf course in the distant oaks with my son", (my interpretation, needless to say).
Silence them! How could the Union ever print their dangerous extremist opinions?? What will people think? The Union single handily is scaring millennials from moving here or staying here. Probably blaming The Union for his son wanting to get away from home with every breath he takes, lol. Oh, I forgot. I am supposed to say "You can't make this stuff up!", ROFLMBigFatAO!!
I am the God of Hell Fire and you must print only what I approve of. It's not fair! There is not enough equal time! Stop mentioning or printing anything by those dangerous people!

[Todd Juvinall]

BillT, my guess is Pelline as the UE at the time started the procedures he now claims are in need of fixing. He was posting liberal propaganda at the time and I heard he was tossing conservative stuff in the round file. The stories of him rampaging around town dissing the citizenry were everywhere. Ackerman did us all a favor and booted this chub's ass off the paper. ROTFLMAO!

[Walt]

Hay "jon". At least ol' "missing in action" JoeK made a submission to the Union before chasing the roadrunner into the sunset.
How bout you? anything? When you get something in print that rocks the readership of this community,, let us know.
I recall when Frisco folk were sticking their nose into the workings of The Union.
Just because they had "friends" in Nevada city, they tried to influence things here, from "there". More than one were "couch surfers" here for a time, and when they had worn out their welcome slithered back to "the bay".
The Union had a great comment section until pissed off Progressives terrorised it, and got it shut down.

[Todd Juvinall]

Ah those were the days Walt. We sure gave those libs a run. It was really really fun. Then the libs got the comments section booted, censorship is their stock and trade. Whatever happened to "alwaysright"?

[rl crabb]

As Mark Twain once said: "It is better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." Having an open ended policy in Other Voices is a great tool for the community to identify the fools in our midst.

[Bill Tozeer]

Todd, I liked Stan the Man, Devil Dog, and some goof ball named Dirtmover. My handle shall remain undisclosed since those sock puppet days. Opps, make that handles as I kept getting barred for life. Now, it's just plain ole run of the mill "Bill", a kinder gentler version of what was.

[Bill Tozeer]

In other news related to complaints about equal time in our one and only beloved The Union, a presidential candidate has found the time to weigh in on the tissue at hand.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/bernie-sanders-releases-statement-blasting-campaigns-blackout-in-corporate-media/

[George Rebane]

I missed the palpable wisdom in Bob's 354pm. I fully agree with Mr Hemig's "open ended policy", but am not sure who are all the fools along with their astute counterparts that can reliably identify them as such. There is so much that I don't know about which others are so smugly confident.

[Todd Juvinall]

One man's fool is another man's hero.

[Account Deleted]

re Bill's link at 6:16 - Yes, Bernie is being shut out. Bernie and Trump are 2 candidates that are honest but Bernie is far too threatening to Shrillery-the-next-pres so he is shut out. The press does mention Trump about 10 fold over anyone else who is running. It's not exactly glowing press coverage.
I picked up a copy of USA Today at the hotel this morning. They had 3 hit pieces on the The Donald. One was a 'lifestyle' type of comment that played Trump as the bogey-man of childhood terrors. No - I didn't read it. I only have one life to live - I won't waste it on garbage. The political cartoon showed Trump crowing about how classy his 'internment camps' would be. Ha ha - real funny. The pres that really did authorise internment camps for American citizens is considered one of our great presidents by the left. The Money section even contributed with a piece that played on the angle that the entire field of American political discourse was on the road to ruin because of Trump.
But Bernie is complaining that Trump gets more coverage. Does Bernie really need that kind of coverage?
The fact is that if Bernie and Trump both received no coverage at all from the press, Trump would still be just as popular.
I have to laugh at the onset of Bernie's campaign. I was well aware of who Bernie was and yet a friendly-to-Bernie article complained that too many 'intelligent' and 'educated' left wingers had no clue who he was or what he stood for. This was put down as 'evidence' that the 'corporate' media controlled what Americans could know about our political system.
No - it just proved how clueless the left in general is about what is going on in the world.
Information about the various candidates is out there. But you have to look around and dig it out.

[Bonnie McGuire]

Walt, which Tea Party gathering in Sacramento did you attend?
http://www.mcguiresplace.net/Events-Sacramento%20Tea%20Party%202009

[Bill Tozeer]

Scott. In Hollywood they say there is no such thing as bad publicity. Politics and entertainment collide, or is everything political? Much to ponder.

Miss Bonnie. Great pictures. Been years since I have been to Sac (except the airport), but it looks like they painted the Capitol building. The state capital building never looked as good as in those pictures you posted. Maybe it was the crowd that makes it look so great. :)

[Account Deleted]

"...or is everything political?"
Or, is everything entertainment?
That is not to say amusing.
Entertainment and amusement are not always the same.
Although I am often entertained AND amused by most of American politics.
The current topic concerns the choice of content (especially the op ed page) of newspapers.
I must admit the more left-wing the rag, the more amusing it is to me.
I'm left wondering if they actually think about what they have printed?

[Bill Tozer]

Well, we have some real wingnuts that write to the Union, but usually not as crazy as this letter/opinion piece. Ok, maybe just as Cat Lady Crazy, but not as often as in the good old days.

https://www.facebook.com/2WGWaggaWagga/photos/a.252687588118040.73172.174344415952358/910578875662238/?type=3&theater