{"id":9699,"date":"2010-03-29T07:00:28","date_gmt":"2010-03-29T12:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=9699"},"modified":"2016-10-01T16:31:40","modified_gmt":"2016-10-01T21:31:40","slug":"outtake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=9699","title":{"rendered":"OutTake"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is the Uptake – the left-leaning but ostensibly higher-aiming “citizen news” outlet – on the outs with the Capitol Press Corps?<\/p>\n

Sarah Janecek at PIM writes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

At least two media organizations currently renting space in the Capitol press room are objecting to The Uptake also renting space in the basement of the Capitol. The Uptake is a Minnesota-based citizen journalist organization operating on a low budget and perhaps best known for its live streaming of the various proceedings attendant to the 2008 U.S. Senate recount.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We’ve written about the Uptake before.\u00a0 Since basically anyone can contribute to the Uptake, their efforts can be all right<\/a>, and they can be pretty stupid<\/a>, and in any case they depend on the restraint and “journalistic ethics”<\/a> of the people involved.<\/p>\n

And while I’ve broadly supported<\/a> the Uptake, there’ve been some real veers into partisanship.<\/p>\n

So have they, again?<\/p>\n

Mike Dougherty, the local news editor for the Rochester Post-Bulletin, sent an email to Commissioner of Administration Sheila Reger (Admin is in charge of leasing the space), objecting to The Uptake\u2019s presence. Wrote Dougherty:<\/p>\n

\u201cMy concern is that they [The Uptake] are not a nonpartisan news site, which compromises the efforts of all the media in that complex that have built their reputations over time. Including The Uptake in this area with access to information about what many of the news organizations are working on with no guarantee someone else\u2019s work won\u2019t appear on their site or be Tweeted via Twitter \u2026 the media we represent are very different than The Uptake and we hope you will address our concerns by not allowing them to lease space in our current office or within the current press corps complex. We believe our concerns are shared by other news media organizations.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

TPT\u2019s political reporter and \u201cAlmanac at the Capitol\u201d host Mary LaHammer confirms that TPT also has concerns about The Uptake\u2019s presence in the press room, noting that TPT is \u201czealous\u201d about anyone or any organization using any TPT resources for partisan purposes, because of the public television company\u2019s nonprofit status.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So what’s the problem?<\/p>\n

Several people have said there have been some highly partisan tweets from some Uptake staff. We\u2019ve checked the official Uptake Twitter account, and can\u2019t find any specific, objectionable tweets other than the overriding liberal bent that is The Uptake.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We\u2019re told the most partisan tweets are coming from Erin Maye, who is an Uptake intern. Specifically, Maye was tweeting from a House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher (DFL-Minneapolis) press conference while covering it for The Uptake. Maye allegedly tweeted that Kelliher would be a great governor. A check of Maye\u2019s tweets doesn\u2019t show that happened. So either the tweets were deleted or they didn\u2019t happen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The smart money would go with “deleted”.\u00a0 We carried one of them last winter:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

…in reference to a story where she was alleged to have done some fairly dodgy editing based, it might be surmised, on political bias:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

UPDATE:\u00a0 The years have played hob with some of my graphics.\u00a0 The quote I refer to comes from Erin Maye, then an editor at the Uptake:\u00a0 “\u201cI\u2019m Editing.\u00a0 I feel important because I can make people say things they may not have said<\/a>.\u00a0 Muhahaha\u201d. “<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 – MBerg 10\/1\/2016<\/em><\/p>\n

And Luke Hellier at MDE has another, the one from the presser above:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Both are from “Erin Maye”, an “intern” whose bio notes that she’s a “progressive” and was a “peace studies” major.<\/p>\n

The Tweets are pretty much par for the course – if you’re a political blogger whose biases are part of your entire identity.\u00a0 But if you’re trying to present yourself as a genuine news organization that’s “detached” from its staff’s individual partisanship, this is a real blot on the Uptake.<\/p>\n

If you read through the PIM report’s comments, Mike Mcintee of the Uptake claims this is a battle of old media versus new media.<\/p>\n

I’m sure that’s in the background. But then, it’s in the background of every story where new media and old media collide<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More to the point – what do you think would happen if someone, even a dime-a-dozen intern from, say, MPR or WCCO or the PiPress<\/em> would do what Maye did?\u00a0 Flout their biases, giggle about their ability to misrepresent and, says Hellier, go on to do it?<\/p>\n

Do you think that “news” organization is going to get open, unfettered information from, say, the opposition party?<\/p>\n

It’s the kind of thing “interns” and cub reporters and newbies get fired for doing at “real” news outlets (although it could be argued<\/a> there’s a statute of limitations on that standard).<\/p>\n

So there are several explanations for this:<\/p>\n