Rumor Central
By Mitch Berg
I got a rumor from someone connected with the press that The Uptake – the controversial left-leaning “citizen journalism” outfit that has spent the past few months striving for respectability with the Capital Press Corps – has been denied credentials to cover the MNGOP Convention this weekend.
A liberal commenter might response “aw, that’s just because they’re afraid of left-leaning media!”
Well, no. In addition to the Strib, PiPress, WCCO, KSTP, MPR and KARE, the MNGOP has given press credentials to…
…KFAI, the obstreporously “progressive” Pacifica affiliate. I used to work at KFAI; the place makes no bones about its’ sympathies. But apparently its news department has spent some time in recent years trying to develop a reputation for fairness, at least, in its news coverage.
Again – it’s all rumor.
So far.
April 28th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
I love much of KFAI’s music programs. I will have admit….a couple times recently I heard their local news people read a story….and they covered the subject very straightforward. I was very surprised, especially if you ever listen to their outside news sources (no matter how many times I hear their case, KFAI’s affiliations will not convence me that MSM/network news is ultra right wing).
April 28th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
The problem with the UpTake isn’t that it is left leaning (which is an understatement) but that it claims itself to be a legitimate media outlet that creates independent journalism when most of it’s members don’t have any journalistic training.
National Guard members are called citizen soldiers, in the vein that we are citizens who can be called upon to take up our soldierly duties when needed. I think that is the idea that the UpTake has in mind for itself, but they left out the training part. “Citizen Soldiers” that decide to train and organize themselves are usually referred to as militia. If that word didn’t have such negative connotations, it could be their catchphrase.
Uptake-the Journalist Militia
April 28th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Will Tommy “Cheeto boy” Johnson be there? Curious minds want to know.
April 28th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
Ummm, I want to track these people down. I’d like to show them that a young conservative can challenge and debate them. Isn’t KFAI the previous AA station?
April 28th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Mitch, check the Star Tribune web site. I think we need a Chris Coleman thread. Good bye St Paul. I will never spend another penny there (and I do patronize many businesses in that city).
April 28th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Dave,
Citizen journalism isn’t quite the same as being a soldier, these days – it really IS more like being in the militia used to be, back when a guy with a Kentucky rifle and years of hunting would walk in out of the field and make a world-class scout/sniper. As blogs have shown, over and over, it doesnt’ take formal credentials to be a “journalist”; just the ability to relate facts (while being clear about ones’ biases and being scrupulous about reporting the facts fairly, which doesn’t mean “without bias”) and knowing a few basic rules, like “what IS defamation?” (We have a few bloggers who might well learn that one the hard way).
But in the case of the Uptake, your analogy fits better. They want to be treated a serious news organization – and did a few of the things that were necessary. But they also held to the “anyone can contribute” model, which has led to a lot of not-very-credible garbage being released under their name. Imagine a National Guard infantry battalion with a Lieutenant Colonel, no NCOs and 700 motivated, fully equipped privates.
Swiftee,
Dunno!
Ben,
No, that’s KTNF. KFAI is a tiny little public station (not affiliated with NPR or MPR, although they get grants from the CPB), at 90.3 on the dial with studios on the West Bank on Riverside by Cedar. They run a grab bag of community programming, most of it relentlessly “progressive”. They are a Pacifica affiliate – Pacifica is the news/talk collective that believed Air America was too centrist.
I used to work there in the news department, mainly to keep my toe in the game and, hopefully, earn brownie points for a gig in public radio. Back then there were “news” people who giggled about their practice of fitting in little “progressive” bits and cheap shots at Republicans. To their credit, their current news department (as opposed to programming department) is working on trying to be a credible news operation.
Chuck,
Tomorrow.
April 28th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
there was a group of people that thought Air America was too centrist?! holy f***ing s***. Jokes on Air America though apparently since Pacifica is still on the air somehow. Probably funded by Soros & Co.
April 28th, 2010 at 11:54 pm
Dave, Mitch, anybody:
Have you checked into what training people get at the UpTake? Do you know which of their people applied for credentials?
If not, this is rumor. And Luke Hellier should get capitol credentials.
April 28th, 2010 at 11:57 pm
Charlie,
I got it on very good authority that they applied for credentials to the MNGOP convo, and were denied.
I don’t know about their training. I know that at least two of their “reporters” either got none, or flunked it.
April 29th, 2010 at 12:07 am
While their editorials leave something to be desired (I heard a local interview with a 9/11 truther the other week), and Democracy Now is almost self-parody, KFAI is still criminally unnoticed. It’s worth the support, even if just for “Crap From the Past” and other music shows that gives the hipsters over at The Current hives.
April 29th, 2010 at 12:11 am
Mitch,
Perhaps you could share who among your tribe was denied admittance to the DFL convention.
And thanks for the answer on “they” and “training.”
April 29th, 2010 at 6:32 am
Charlie-
I got interviewed by the Uptake at several events related to the RNC Convention in ’08 (including the rally organized by Mitch). I talked a fair amount with a couple of the Uptake guys (they were very polite and fun to talk to) and they both said that the only training they got was technical stuff, as in how to frame the shot, how close to stand for the microphone to work, and how to edit and upload the final product. Maybe things have changed since then.
Look, I have no problem with a citizen journalism concept, except that I don’t think buying a camera and a microphone confers legitimacy. I once took a video camera into a congressman’s office, but that doesn’t make me an investigative journalist. I wasn’t unbiased, and wasn’t able to independently verify all my information. I was a blogger with a camera. But the difference between me and the Uptake is that I never called myself a journalist, and I never expected anyone else to either.
Since you are implying you know otherwise, perhaps Charlie could enlighten the rest of us about the training the Uptake provides.