The Phoenix New Times has been far more critical of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio than any other media–and now we see the ugly results. Arpaio and Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, with the help of a special prosecutor, have targeted the newspaper with an extraordinarily invasive investigation on truly chickenshit grounds. This is not the pursuit of justice; it’s the pursuit of vengeance through the power of the government. To think that Andrew Thomas wanted to be attorney general…
This article appears in Oct 18-24, 2007.
this is exactly why i read the new times on a regular basis even though i live in tucson. they’re not afraid to cover issues that matter.
I read through much of the New Times article and I have to say, it’s rather non-journalistic, isn’t it? An article written by the very people who are a key part of the story isn’t likely to be objective and dry, of course, but they fail to make the facts of the story clear. Instead they launch right into various details, constantly slathering those details with damning adjectives (like “breathtaking abuse” or “grandiose statement”). Whatever it is, it ain’t journalism. It’s anger-writing.
Case in point: “The seemingly picayune matter of Sheriff Arpaio’s home address getting printed at the bottom of an opinion column on our Internet site.”
Um, no, that isn’t “picayune.” That’s a serious issue and the New Times article completely glosses over it. Why didn’t they give us the background of what led to the lawsuit to begin with? Is it because they know they might have really done something wrong? You don’t list somebody’s home address! (Even if it’s “at the bottom.”)
— Whatever it is, it ain’t journalism. It’s anger-writing.
nah, it’s alternative journalism but with balls and claws.
you’ve become soft reading jimmy-james so-called “alternative” erma bombeck missives:
“A little more than a year ago, I was blissfully ignorant of online social networking. I wasn’t on MySpace or Facebook or any of that stuff.”
oy!
i nearly drove my golf cart into a cactus tooling around saddle brook when I read this week’s pearls and fell into an instant coma(i know, freinds don’t let friends read and drive but i was late for pottery class).
Worse Jim, to think that Thomas is being considered as an early pick for Governor!!!!!!! Now THAT is scary.
What is it with constantly slamming Jimmy Boegle over his “note from the editor” bits? It’s a note, not an editorial. It’s shorter than an editorial. Not much real estate is used to print it, so there’s no substantial opportunity lost. It personalizes the Tucson Weekly.
As for writing about Facebook, it’s a pretty major part of the culture now. Alternative Newsweeklies’ mission, in addition to investigative journalism, has always been analysis of culture and subculture. For the editor of an alternative newsweekly to discuss his new familiarity with a major cultural trend seems entirely appropriate. It’s not like he went into it at length: “Yesterday I met Bubby; then later today, I met Twinkie and we both were ROTFLOAO! LOL!”
“Alternative journalism with balls and claws”? Sounds like a squirrel.
I’m sure the Phoenix New Times is in the right on this issue, and Joe Arpaio is scum. But they could have done a better job setting the background for the story. Glossing over the entire basis for the subpoena sends of alarms for me. They either know they did something wrong or they screwed up their story. That essential background should have appeared within the first few graphs.
— “Alternative journalism with balls and claws”? Sounds like a squirrel.
now that is fuckin hilarious.
i’m such an hyperbolic asshole.
i find myself agreeing with most of your points on this too.
however, the jimmy thing i’m not down with.
the weekly could really have an impact in the community with a strong editorial voice about the tough issues facing tucson: enviro, crime, sexism, racism, hunger, poverty, education and so on.
i’m not sure why that is not happening.
sure there are columns which have opinions.
but a paper with a distinctive personality needs to have an editorial voice, which i’m guessing jimmy is, and we need to hear more than simply fluff.
ever hear jimmy/jim/james nintzel on arizona illustrated.
half the time i wish i could read in the weekly some of the opinions/insights he shares as an editorial.
when i read about myspace etc. it comes off as a limp dodge to avoid offending readers, without some sort of editorial about the serious issues facing tucson such as the mission dev. mari pointed out (why was there nothing on that in this issue?)
facebook/myspace is really old news to most readers.
most recent media coverage i’ve read about ms and facebook details how the demographic is growing older not how people are suddenly discovering it.
reading about jimmy discovering social networking is like hearing a recently deflowered virgin talk about his/her first time at sex. i’m thinking: good for you and all. but we’ve all been doing it for years and yeah its great but it’ll get even better. welcome to the club.
if there was a strong editorial stance/presence i’d have no problems with the andy rooney schtick.
in fact i might even embrace it.
but with the constant shit hitting the fan du jour in town seeing that space used the way it is is limp. if i want to read that stuff i’ll pick up a copy of the desert leaf or tucson lifestyles.
anyone remember what the fluff space was used for before if anything?
was there an editorial voice before jimmy took over?
i’m really curious if this is new or what.
Seems to me “A Note from the Editor” is intended to be a personal link between the TW staff and the Tucson community. Looking at the archives it almost always concerns internal TW stuff, like “We have a new writer,” or “Our excellent graphics guy left for greener pastures,” “We got a new crossword,” or “We have been working hard on the TAMMIES.”
There’s also, “I had a stressful experience at the airport,” “I hate the monsoon season,” and “The Sizzler in Blythe, CA sucks ass.”
The recent editorial on Facebook explicitly is a direct result of Jimmy’s recent work on the new Club Crawl thing. Club Crawl is something they put a lot of time into, and I don’t blame Jimmy for touting it. Since Jimmy’s editorial duties now include managing the Tucson Weekly’s official Facebook and MySpace pages, his note serves both to advertise those pages’ existence and to discuss his experience with those new sites. There are a lot of people who haven’t put up a Facebook/MySpace page (even experienced net nerds) so I don’t think the virgin/deflowering simile is fully apt.
Much of the TW editorial stance is reflected in the Skinny. It can be quite acerbic at times. The choice of cover story and supplemental news stories is also a reflection of editorial stance. TW’s yearly inclusion of “10 stories the mainstream media missed” is a personal favorite.
I don’t recall the Tucson Weekly’s editor in chief ever having a regular editorial voice. If so it was through the Skinny and various news stories, not an individualized editorial.
I’d be all for seeing Jimmy Boegle write more serious pieces, or adding other editorial types of content that offset the “Editor’s Note.” But I don’t really think his “editor’s note” stuff deserves as much criticism as you give it. Even if one granted that it gets too fluffy, I think your response is a little out of proportion.
Aw crap!
I told myself fukm, I’ll just igore kmwtf, but you keep bringing it up. Next issue: you will see an article on Mission Peaks… I’ve been working on it since last Thursday, but needed additional research. Too late to make it into last issue (this happens when you need additional sources, etc.), but good timing prior to Oct. 31 planning meeting. Without telling me how to do my job, can you at least tell me we can drop what happen to the story?
The Phoenix New Times does explain why they printed Joe Arpaio’s address. John Dougherty was writing about Arpaio’s multiple real-estate properties that he hid from public view. It would appear that Arpaio was funneling himself money he got illegally somewhere. He used an arcane law regarding the privacy of law-enforcement officers’ to shield people from finding out about his properties. The New Times’ writer found out anyway and in the course of reporting on this he published Arpaio’s address. He had obtained the address from online sources including the website of the County Recorders Office. For the newspaper this was legal too. But when the newspaper was published online it was not legal, due to a recent law that says it is illegal to publish somebody’s address online (this law likely emerged due to harassment cases).
The New Times doesn’t get to this information until page 4 out of the 5 pages of this article. It’s a little confusing because one is still left uncertain what writer John Dougherty was trying to accomplish by publishing Arpaio’s address. Surely Dougherty knew that the publication of the address would lead to people screwing around with Arpaio’s house. As it turns out there was at least one case where an art student left a sculpture of a spider on Arpaio’s front lawn (which Arpaio interpreted as a death threat). The New Times seems to suggest that Arpaio’s claims of various death threats are exaggerated or fabricated. But the man does have plenty of enemies. While criminals might not have the wherewithal to track down Arpaio’s name via a relatively obscure county records website, they certainly wouldn’t miss it in a popular, widely distributed news weekly.
I was unable to discover if the New Times’ article with the offending home address is still online. The New Times article does not seem to link to it.
There is a lot of inside baseball in the article. The New Times’ feud with Arpaio goes back several years. From reading the article it sounds like Arpaio is trying to get payback against the New Times for being a constant irritation to him. The PDF of the subpoena is ridiculous. It calls for the New Times to turn over all information, notes, source materials, contact info., etc. for several articles. It also calls for the IP addresses of everybody who looked at those articles, and cookie information such as their previously viewed websites. (Trying to connect an assassination plot to somebody who might have seen his address?) That information could very easily consist of millions of IP addresses. How this information is relevant to the New Times’ single legal infraction is anybody’s guesss.
Since the editor’s note has become a topic of such fascination, I’ll explain how it came into being. Back when I was running the Weekly, two editors ago, the then-new publisher told me to do it. He wanted something kind of personal that would tout what was in that week’s issue. Although I did use the space for a few little pro-civil rights, anti-war rants after 9/11, there was never never space to say anything very meaningful, I didn’t much like writing the thing, and one of the other staffers and I privately referred to it as the “loathesome spew.” I can’t speak for Jimmy or for Michael, the editor between us, and their approach to/opinion of the piece, but originally it wasn’t intended to be much more than a house ad.
How many other publications hve turned down king marlowe’s pitfhes.
He’s a wannabe writer whi no doubt has had his ideas turned doen by the Weekly. I almost fell sorry for him; having to carry such bile around with him all day is sad.
— I told myself fukm, I’ll just igore kmwtf, but you keep bringing it up. Next issue: you will see an article on Mission Peaks…
mari, why ignore? is that the point of this blog? ignore reader questions? it is an important story. you told me so. i was only wondering when i would learn more by reading your words.
thank you for explaining why the story did no run and i look forward to reading it.
but as for: “Without telling me how to do my job” … ya know sister i thought that was why this space was here, to discuss the weekly with the weekly. and if something can be improved i don’t see why can’t it be discussed.
journalists tell us public folks all the time what we’re doing wrong, how we can live better lives, how we can vote and so on.
seems kind of thin skinned to say we can’t do it back.
— I’ll explain how it came into being.
james, thanks to you too. now i understand why it is in place. i’ll still hope for some sort of meaningful editorial content in the future, but now i get what jimmy’s doing.
— How many other publications hve turned down king marlowe’s pitfhes. He’s a wannabe writer whi no doubt has had his ideas turned doen by the Weekly. I almost fell sorry for him; having to carry such bile around with him all day is sad.
it’s so true vanda the writer.
oh wait.
i can tell you are a WRITER in all caps.
aren’t you?
at least that is what you tell people over cocktails.
i bet you can prove it too on a little card you carry in your wallet.
emobssed in silver, cream and puse it states:
Wanda.
The WRITER!
i’d wager writer is even underlined and in bold.
it must be something to behold.
sigh if only, if only, if only i too could be a writer and be published like you.
i want to be a writer so badly but i know in my heart it will never happen.
here i am, about to celebrate my 83 birthday, and the only job i’ve been ever able to find is that of turnip exterminator.
but now that the turnips are gone work is slim.
i thought i would never find a new outlet for my never ending writing frustration. then i discovered this forum.
praise be to bob dobb on high!
every day i print out the blog and tape it to the wall.
my words shine like gold. my eyes are filled with typewriter visions.
then i cover myself in black ink from head to toe and dance till dawn grunting: “me. writer. me writer. me. writer.”
i know it’s not much of life i know, but hey it gets me through the night.
so wanda, do share, what did you write this week?
or better have you been published beyond bot/the weekly?
i bet you and maureen dowd are close buds.
sharing gossip over drinks before filing you pulitzer winning prose.
help enlighten a poor turnip exterminating schlump like me about the art and craft of WRITING!
many more times in many more publications, km. and I even got paid for them.
Puce is not my color.
You know KMWTF, I have agreed with you in your ramblings, but after awhile they can grow a bit meaningless (such as the BOT thesis). I like being a thorn in the side and support you being a thorn in the side. I think this blog is for many things, but can also grow pointless – perhaps you are proving otherwise. I really don’t try to take myself seriously, which is why ignoring seems the best option to help me accomplish this. At least you’ll know where I’m coming from. But perhaps that is the wonderful (OMG did I write wonderful) thing about you KMWTF, you are good reminder that we WRITERS(UNDERLINED), or simple reporters who live in this city with you, should just stop taking ourselves so seriously. Your ramblings are fun. I’ve enjoyed them. If your goal is to get the Weekly to live up more to its alternative press credo, I support you. If your goal is to remind us we tend to look down from a hill of credibility bull shit, I support you. And at the same time, who the hell cares if I support you or not. I am an unimportant scribe asked to at least write three blog postings a week, a news feature a week, along with T Q&A and cover stories. But I also love this work and have for a long time, I love Tucson will all my heart, and people like you who make people like us uncomfortable should just keep on trucking. If our mantra is afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted… I guess you can be the guy who afflicts us. But from time to time, you should consider these discussions happen over drinks (to offer comfort) at a place with a good jukebox – your treat, since this would be when you are doing the comforting. Chocolate is also helpful. But I know, you don’t want to go too crazy with any comfort, so bring it on. You can also always send ideas to mherreras@tucsonweekly.com if you feel that you have additional time during your acts of affliction. Have a great weekend. If you find youself unable to be nice to the alternative media this weekend, I hope you are nice to animals, nice to your mother and call her once in a while, and are a good neighbor, especially to the noisy kids and old folks.
— if your goal is to get the Weekly to live up more to its alternative press credo, I support you. If your goal is to remind us we tend to look down from a hill of credibility bull shit, I support you.
okay. you’re for real.
and yes i know i can be a dick.
but i like to think of myself as a dick with a point which must be why i can never get a date.
i honestly look forward to reading your mission story and what is to come.
if you ask me before the lexipro kicks in i’ll tell you every times that this town is in dire need of an hard core (not lite)alternative rag more than ever.
between the economy, children shooting children, enviro, hunger, racism, sexism, gender bias, classism, war, desert deaths etc. readers are hungry for some original/investigative news with their happy pabulum.
so from here on, jebus bless bot for all i care if that funds better news (although i still think listing the vote count would give credibility).
now if you’ll excuse me the weekend is here and i need to call my mom before she starts her shift at club turbulence.
I hope you did call your mother this weekend. Hey, I’m just a person, flawed and all. As I’m sure you are too, KMFU. Best wishes.
— I hope you did call your mother this weekend.
i did. poor girl was having a devil of time getting her tassels to swing counter clockwise again. later she ran off with one of those mission creeps. but that was okay. we wanted to stick around and watch people play with fire anyway.