http://www.dailygazette.com

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Gazette cuts 12
full-time posts
through layoffs
   SCHENECTADY — The Daily Gazette notified employees Thursday that it is eliminating 12 full-time positions through layoffs.
   The job cuts, which affect all departments of the company, were made necessary by difficult business conditions, according to Gazette general manger Daniel Beck.
   “This is unfortunate and difficult,” said Beck. “At the same time, we are proud of the 100-plus year history of our company, and will continue to publish a quality newspaper to serve our readers and advertisers.”
   The cuts bring the number of full-time employees at the company to 170.

Maybe they need to be a little more CONSERVATIVE in how they handle things, whether it be in how they run their business, or HOW THEY REPORT THEIR NEWS.

I absolutely agree. If you notice, most of their news is from other reporters from all over the state/country. I have been disappointed that The Daily Gazette is in fact suppose to be our 'local' newspaper. And yet as the weeks, months and years go by...there is much less local.

If you notice it was the Times Union who put the story out 'before' the gazette itself.

I guess I would just like to see more 'local' news.

I honestly have to say, though, that the coverage of the Times Useless is just as bad, if not worse.  There's almost no "right-wing" coverage.

All of the news outlets are liberal..but I would have hoped that the gazette would have focused more on local issues. And they clearly do not do 'investigative' reporters. It appears as if the politicians or 'people of concern', have the reporters in their pockets. The reporters just report the fluff and still put their own spin on it. NOT ALL OF THEM! But you clearly know the ones that do! And they are not the ones they let go, unfortunalty!

OK, here's why I ask this question.  I was looking through a paper a while ago and thought that the following would be a nice little article.  This is exactly how it was in the Gazette.  This is one of those little corner things that they use and just squeeze in a story...

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Canada tightens grip on disputed Arctic

By ROB GILLIES
Associated Press Writer

TORONTO (AP) -- Canada announced plans Monday to increase its Arctic military presence in an effort to assert sovereignty over the Northwest Passage - a potentially oil-rich region the United States claims is international territory.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said six to eight patrol ships will guard what he says are Canadian waters. A deep water port will also be built in a region the U.S. Geological Survey estimates has as much as 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas.

U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins has criticized Harper's promise to defend the Arctic, claiming the Northwest Passage as "neutral waters." But Wilkins declined to comment on Monday, said U.S. Embassy spokesman James Foster.

Well, OK, quite the liberal story, if I do say so myself, but that is how it was stated in the Gazette.  Well, I wanted to copy the article over, and not being subscribed to the Gazette, either the paper version (I go out and buy my own when I get it) or the on-line edition, I decided that since it was an AP story, I would go right to the AP and copy the story.  After all, it's small enough, right?  Well, no.  

Here's the website that I copied the AP story from:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s.....amp;TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

And here's the story as it actually appeared in the full AP story, bold sections are what was NOT posted in the Gazette.

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Jul 9, 9:28 PM EDT



Canada tightens grip on disputed Arctic

By ROB GILLIES
Associated Press Writer



TORONTO (AP) -- Canada announced plans Monday to increase its Arctic military presence in an effort to assert sovereignty over the Northwest Passage - a potentially oil-rich region the United States claims is international territory.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said six to eight patrol ships will guard what he says are Canadian waters. A deep water port will also be built in a region the U.S. Geological Survey estimates has as much as 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas.

"Canada has a choice when it comes to defending our sovereignty over the Arctic. We either use it or lose it. And make no mistake, this government intends to use it," Harper said. "It is no exaggeration to say that the need to assert our sovereignty and protect our territorial integrity in the North on our terms have never been more urgent."

U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins has criticized Harper's promise to defend the Arctic, claiming the Northwest Passage as "neutral waters." But Wilkins declined to comment on Monday, said U.S. Embassy spokesman James Foster.

"It's an international channel for passage," Foster said of the disputed waterway.

As global warming melts the passage - which now is only navigable during a slim window in the summer - the waters are exposing unexplored resources such as oil, fishing stocks and minerals, and becoming an attractive shipping route. Commercial ships can shave off some 2,480 miles from Europe to Asia compared with current routes through the Panama Canal.

The disputed route runs from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the Arctic archipelago. It gained historical fame among European explorers who longed to find the shorter route to Asia, but found it rendered inhospitable by ice and weather.

The search for the passage frustrated explorers for centuries, beginning with John Cabot's voyage in 1497. Eventually it became clear that a passage did exist, but was too far north for practical use. Cabot died in 1498 while trying to find it and the shortcut eluded other famous explorers including Henry Hudson and Francis Drake.

British Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin and 128 hand-picked officers and men perished mysteriously in 1845 on their expedition. Franklin's disappearance prompted one of history's largest rescue searches from 1848 to 1859, which resulted in the discovery of a passage.

No sea crossing was successful until Roald Amundsen of Norway, who took three seasons to complete his trip from 1903-1906.

Canadians have long claimed the waters. But their government has generally turned a blind eye to the United States, which has sent naval vessels and submarines through what it considers an international strait.

The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says the ice cap is warming faster than the rest of the planet and ice is receding, partly due to greenhouse gases.

"The ongoing discovery of the north's resource riches coupled with the potential impact of climate change has made the region a growing area of interest and concern," Harper said.

Professor Anthony D'Amato, who teaches international law at Northwestern University, said Canada's attempt to secure future economic gains as the area thaws and becomes more navigable was unlikely to change the international community's view of sovereignty in the area.

"For Canada to now come in and take advantage of the ice break-up is just unacceptable," said D'Amato. "Just because there's a change in the weather doesn't mean there's a change in the law."

Canada also wants to assert its claim over Hans Island, which is at the eastern entrance to the Northwest Passage.

The half-square-mile rock, just one-seventh the size of New York's Central Park, is wedged between Canada's Ellesmere Island and Danish-ruled Greenland, and for more than 20 years has been a subject of unusually bitter exchanges between the two NATO allies.

In 1984, Denmark's minister for Greenland affairs, Tom Hoeyem, caused a stir when he flew in on a chartered helicopter, raised a Danish flag on the island, buried a bottle of brandy at the base of the flagpole and left a note saying: "Welcome to the Danish island."

The dispute flared again two years ago when former Canadian Defense Minister Bill Graham set foot on the rock while Canadian troops hoisted the Maple Leaf flag.

Denmark sent a letter of protest to Ottawa, while Canadians and Danes took out competing Google ads, each proclaiming sovereignty over the rock 680 miles south of the North Pole.

Some Canadians even called for a boycott of Danish pastries.

Harper did not name the location of the new port but said it will serve as a naval operating base and for commercial purposes.

Patrol ships with steel-reinforced hulls will be able to go through ice a foot thick and will be armed and equipped with helicopter landing pads to accommodate new helicopters being purchased by the Canadian military.

Harper said the government opted for a more versatile fleet than heavy icebreakers because there is little need to patrol the area during the winter when ice prohibits shipping through the route.

Interesting what happens when we play telephone, or should this be telegraph??

Ya know...the gazette has the responsibility to print 'truth'! My God...they even have their own ammendment...'Freedom of the press'! Well it clearly does not mean the freedom to print BS! And that is unfortunatly what they do!  They not only print the liberal slant, they print half truths and BS!!!!!

The gazette is suppose to be our 'hometown' paper and there is more than enough stuff in our hometowns to fill the paper. And yet they print news that other reporters have printed in other cities, states and even countries. Is it that the gazette reporters just don't want to work too hard and just want to go after the 'fluff' stories? God, I think we have all posted more interesting stuff on this site than the gazette does! We have probably done more investigating and informing one another than the gazette has.

http://www.dailygazette.com

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SCHENECTADY
Gazette wins 11 awards in AP contest

   The Daily Gazette picked up 11 awards in the annual writing contest of the New York State Associated Press Association, which announced the winners on Friday.
   Four of the awards were fi rstplace honors, in the categories of Spot News, Business/Finance, Continuing Coverage and Arts/Entertainment Writing for newspapers with circulation between 25,000 and 50,000.
   In the Spot News category, reporters Daniel DeVries, Kathleen Moore and Edward Munger Jr. were awarded first place for coverage of flooding in the Capital Region.
   First place in the Continuing Coverage category was also for the Gazette’s coverage of the devastating floods last year in the Capital Region and went to reporters DeVries, Moore, Munger, Pam Allen, Joe Maher, Justin Mason, Michael Lamendola and former Gazette reporters Michael Mullaney, Eli Fanning and Matt Volke.
   Honorable mention in the Spot News category went to Lamendola for his “Falling birds” story about an accidental poisoning of pigeons on the grounds of a local hospital.
   Gazette reporter James Schlett was awarded first place in Business/Finance for his story, “It’s not just chicken feed,” about ethanol’s role in corn prices and the ripple effect on farmers.
   In the Arts/Entertainment Writing category, Gazette reporter Wendy Liberatore was awarded first place for her “Cool dance moves.” Liberatore also received a second-place award for her dance reviews in the Arts/Entertainment Criticism category. Reporter Karen Bjornland received the third-place award in arts criticism for her visual arts reviews.
   Gazette reporter Jeff Wilkin was awarded an honorable mention in the Features category for his story, “Mystery woman.”
   In the Sports category, former Gazette reporter Steve Amedio was awarded a third place for his “Freeman triumphs on, off court.”
   Gazette reporter Stephen Williams received an honorable mention for his weekly “Off the Northway” column.
   Gazette reporters Sara Foss and Moore were awarded honorable mentions for their stories on combating gangs in the Depth Reporting category.  

  
  
  

Some of these reporters are young and have done a great job. I just would like to see more follow ups on stories that they first print.

http://www.dailygazette.com

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Concentration of media ownership hurts communities
Gazette Managing Editor Tom Woodman’s Editor’s Notes column appears monthly in the Sunday Opinion section. Send questions and comments to woodman@dailygazette. com or by mail to 2345 Maxon Road Extension, PO Box 1090, Schenectady, NY 12301-1090.

   As we ink-stained wretches of The Gazette have been laboring in our humble pursuit, the Titans of journalism have been thundering from the mountaintops.
   Maybe tycoon is a better word than Titan, though, for Rupert Murdoch, who has reached a deal to buy Dow Jones.
   And probably media is a better word than journalism to describe the occupation of the tycoons who are trading newspapers large and small in this country, consolidating ownership, reducing the ranks of the independents and homogenizing what traditionally has been a richly varied menu of news options.
   With Murdoch’s purchase, The Wall Street Journal will become part of a conglomerate that includes tabloid newspapers and Page Three girls, Fox News and MySpace.
   Murdoch promises to preserve the paper’s editorial independence and to invest in expanded news coverage. Unfortunately, his record and the evidence from other media consolidations isn’t encouraging.
FEWER VOICES
   The trend is toward fewer voices, less local character and shrinking resources. And Murdoch is known for personally shaping news coverage to reflect his politics.
   I was happy to see the reaction to Murdoch’s offer from James H. Ottaway Jr., an important shareholder of Dow Jones.
   Ottaway ran a chain of smaller newspapers for Dow Jones after the larger company bought them from his father in 1970.
   I happened to begin my journalism career at a couple of Ottaway papers and as far as a cub like me could tell, Ottaway valued the independence of its various papers. In Plattsburgh and Middletown, we served and respected our communities and gave them news unslanted by agendas of distant owners.
   And that’s the stand Ottaway took in opposition to the sale of The Wall Street Journal and other Dow Jones publications to Murdoch.
   He couldn’t have been clearer:
   “To me, the first biggest issue is more media concentration in the hands [of the] people who use their media power for personal, political, and business interests, as Murdoch does so blatantly with the New York Post, FOX News network, Star TV in China, Phoenix TV in China,” Ottaway told the Columbia Journalism Review.
   “It is clear that any promise of editorial independence will not be honored,” he said.
   Ottaway speaks about how individuals can abuse this concentrated power. But even if the tycoons act in good faith, the reader suffers.
   The mushing together of news organizations is happening across this country. Concentration of ownership moves decision-makers outside of the communities they serve and leaves them calling the shots for many publications, maybe dozens. This promotes one-sizefits-all solutions and mass-market planning.
BETTER SITUATION
   I am lucky to work for a familyowned newspaper whose owners remain committed to its independence.
   The owners have been here for generations and make decisions based on a first-hand understanding of the newspaper’s role in the community and what our customers expect of us. Those who work here make mistakes sometimes, but not because we’re detached from our community or trying to please absentee tycoons.
   The Gazette is working through the same difficult business environment that most newspapers are, and has had to cut staff and other expenses. Still, it’s unlikely that our readers would see the amount or quality of coverage they now receive if we had to conform to standardized measures imposed from afar.
   The growing concentration of news media ownership means fewer choices for readers, fewer distinct voices and less independent journalism. Consolidation may enhance shareholder value but journalistic values get lost along the way.

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And probably media is a better word than journalism

Isn't that the truth? I don't see too much goo journalism these daya. Just a handful locally and even less nationally. The rest is just a media circus!

The only news I enjoy is Fox News and the Drudge Report on the net. Drudge has the breaking news well ahead of the TV channels and is more accurate too.

It's Fox News for me. I switch to CNN every once in awhile,  just for a laugh! And of course my favorite is still Michael Savage on WGY Monday - Friday from 7 to 10pm! Check out his website...www.michaelsavage.com

Fox news is not news......They have just as many 'experts'  that like to blah blah blah blah.....just like CNN.....
I used to watch O'Reilley-----I cant stand him now
I used to watch Glenn Beck----he is like that irritating kid behind you in math class
I used to listen to Anne Coulter----she is the cheerleader from hell
I used to watch Wolf Blitzer---he is Ben Stein in Ferris Beuhler

Where is the 'true' news.....WITHOUT the blah blah blah?????