Another Tracky Tuesday...

Yep.

Up an at 'em on this icy, damp, snowy morning in the Queen City of Burlington, Vermont. An "Inside Track" column to pump out, as they say. [Those watchful eyes are around the corner on Pine Street.]

And this blogger didn't learn until yesterday afternoon that "Freyne Land" had been quoted in the editorial in the distinguished Rutland Herald last Wednesday. It was a Rep. Peter Welch quote taken from our blog coverage of Welchie's meeting with anti-Iraq War folks in the Barre library. Yours truly was cited and identified as "columnist and blogger" [though Seven Days wasn't mentioned].

I confess that now, in the Internet Age, when the Rutland Herald "hard copy" is no longer delivered to Big Bad Burlington, I don't read it as thoroughly as in the olden days when I held it in my two hands.

Then, yesterday, in a Louis Porter story in the Rutland Herald and Times Argus on continuing reaction to Gov. Jim Douglas' intervention in Windsor County marijuana prosecutions, "Freyne Land" got quoted again. Apparently the Guv was not available, so Louis used a quote from Gov. Scissorhands that we got last Wednesday out at the Williston rest area. Mr. Porter gave me credit as "columnist," but, unfortunately, did not mention the existence of the bloody blog!

Hey, c'mon Louis, it's the 21st Century. The brave new world of high-tech.

Got to go with the flow.

Comments

[row]

It has its faults but the Rutland Herald is heads and tails above the Freeps. I guess it's crazy to think they could buy out the Freeps.

[montpelier28]

I wish the Times Argus would take some features of the Rutland Herald. They have astronomy, court news and a lot of other cool things the TA has not. I admit don't read any real news papers much anymore - hate it but my to read pile before I can throw it out pile dosen't clutter up the place - only good thing. Missing the Times Argus pictures - they do have wonderful photogs.

[Marshall McLuhan]

I wish the Vermont press would start publishing some real news--period. Most of what's in Vermont papers is picked up off the wires. The Sunday Times Argus is basically NYT and AP stories, a Porter or Barlow press release or study rehash and a bunch of local fluff. The Free Press is even worse. It's the most lightweight piece of garbage known to man. The media is in a very sad state all over America, but you kind of expect Vermont to be above the fray ("expect" being the key word there).

[independentvter]

Tough to blame the papers; ever tried working at one? They don't pay a living wage, with the possible exception of the most senior positions at the TA/RH, Freeps, and AP. Their margins are shrinking in the face of "social media" like this blog, and they're still trying to figure out how to make a buck for the services they provide on the Web.

They will become more adept at this online game, but the current crop of journalists, meaning publishers, editors, and reporters, are an interim group that are caught in the transition, one foot still in the paper world and the other in the digital. It'll take a while for them to make the move, but they will. Or they'll die.