AFP InDepth | You’re going to make me pay now?
Local paper puts content behind pay wall
Valley newspaper publishers are watching with great interest how the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg fares with its recent move to put its online content entirely behind a pay wall.
“That’s a pretty bold move. It will be interesting to see how it works out. I think publishers everywhere are rooting for them hoping that it works so it opens up a new revenue stream,” said Roger Watson, the publisher of the News Leader in Staunton.
“Online revenues nowhere that I know have shown the potential to support the traditional size and scope of news operations run by newspapers. So it makes no sense for newspapers to put their online products in direct competition with their print products, one giving away what the other seeks to sell. The DN-R’s move, I think, recognizes these realities,” said Lee Wolverton, the editor and general manager of the News Virginian in Staunton.
DN-R editor and general manager Peter Yates said the move, which was effective Oct. 1, is based on “the basic premise that our business has been based on for years.” Continue reading “AFP InDepth | You’re going to make me pay now?” »
Landes: ‘The White House is checking on whether they support the president’
Is Steve Landes using your tax dollars to track down wild partisan allegations that the White House is tracking your blogs and comments?
He told the News Leader for a story on the “Nazi” remark controversy published Friday morning that he has staff engaged in the pursuit of “information out there that the White House is tracking blogs and comments.” Continue reading “Landes: ‘The White House is checking on whether they support the president’” »
Did Pyles initiate the conversation on religion?
“I did not initiate the call nor the question.” That comment might lead you to think that Tracy Pyles was simply responding to a question from News Leader reporter Trevor Brown on the issue that Pyles had raised privately with 20th District Democratic Party nominee Erik Curren three months ago about how Curren’s mix of Buddhist and Christian religious beliefs would go over with voters in the 20th. Continue reading “Did Pyles initiate the conversation on religion?” »
Fellow Democrat raises issue with Curren’s faith
“Do Augusta County Democrats have a death wish?”
That was what greeted me to the desk this morning, an e-mail note from a friend and Democratic Party strategist with a link to a story in today’s News Leader discussing 20th District House candidate Erik Curren’s religious beliefs and criticisms from fellow Democrat Tracy Pyles to the effect that someone with Buddhism among his beliefs is automatically fighting an uphill battle in the 20th. Continue reading “Fellow Democrat raises issue with Curren’s faith” »
The Leader endorses Parshall
Nearly 1,300 words about hatemonger Janet Parshall in Saturday’s News Leader, and the only thing the staff writer could come up with as being even the slightest bit critical is that “not everyone agrees” with her to-the-right-of-Himmler stances on abortion, gay rights and faith, family and freedom. Continue reading “The Leader endorses Parshall” »
Newspaper numbers continue tumble
Local newspaper circulations are continuing their downward trend, based on my analysis of the most recent report of data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
The News Leader saw its Sunday circulation drop 1.8 percent in the six-month period ending March 31, 2009, from where it was for the six-month period ending Sept. 30, 2008. The raw numbers on the total paid circulation count were 18,611 for the period ending March 31, 2009, and 18,258 for the period ending Sept. 30, 2008. Continue reading “Newspaper numbers continue tumble” »
The tea party that happened, not the one they told you about
The tax day tea party at Augusta Expoland in Fishersville turned into conspiracyfest lowlighted by a rambling speech about black helicopters and unmanned drones used by the federal government to take down the Twin Towers on 9/11 and additional such nonsense. Continue reading “The tea party that happened, not the one they told you about” »
Raining cats and dogs
A dog wearing a top hat, a cat wearing a pulled-back veil and holding a bouquet. The dog saying, “Then we said, ‘What the heck … if gays in Vermont can get married, why can’t we?’” And then the kicker – when the News Leader’s Jim McCloskey is pressed on what he was trying to say in the April 8 editorial cartoon, he offered up that “(s)ome might say that two members of the same sex getting married is as unnatural as dogs and cats getting together.” Continue reading “Raining cats and dogs” »
Half-Truths and No-Truths
Saxman reading Drudge
It’s in a video produced by the Capital News Service at Virginia Commonwealth University showing state legislators from both sides of the aisle goofing off on the Internet during the 2009 General Assembly session.
See the video for yourself below. Continue reading “Half-Truths and No-Truths” »
The Rumor Mill Says …
- That Reo Hatfield is going to run for City Council.
- That Cory Alexander is going back to the UVa. bench.
- That a local paper is going online-only. Continue reading “The Rumor Mill Says …” »
An explanation for cuts at the Leader?
A story in today’s Wall Street Journal on the sudden and unexpected retirement of USA Today president and publisher Craig Moon had an interesting nugget about how the decline in travel has been impacting circulation at the flagship newspaper in the Gannett chain.
Moon told the Journal that USA Today has lost about 100,000 papers off its circulation total due to a reduction in the number of papers distributed through partnerships with national hotel chains. Those partnerships account for more than half of USA Today’s 2.3 million-paper circulation. Continue reading “An explanation for cuts at the Leader?” »
Lock this clown up, and throw away the key
Posted by afp on December 17, 2010 · 2 Comments
You might have missed the headlines. There are so many of these types of cases involving adults taking indecent liberties with children that they can become part of the background noise of life. This one means something to me, because I know the family, and had been waiting for a resolution to this case for some time.
It surprised me to read in the paper this week that the prosecutor told the court that the crime committed by Franklin Riley, 31, hadn’t been reported until earlier this year. I know that to be untrue – I was there when it was reported to sheriff’s office investigators by her family. The report was done as Riley was being investigated for his role in the 2006 murder of J.W. Sword, whose throat was slit and head was nearly severed before being left for dead on a county backroad.
According to the account on NewsLeader.com, Riley was playing on a bed with the girl when he disrobed and molested her. A plea deal was necessary, according to the prosecutor in the case, because of the lack of physical evidence and the victim’s reluctance to testify. The reason for that reluctance: “He threatened to kill her,” the prosecutor said.
So injustice wins again. A murderer gets two years for taking a little girl’s innocence because she fears taking the stand will eventually cost her her life. Wonderful. This guy gets out of jail in nine years. I’m sure the victim and her family feel good about their decision to proceed with reporting what had happened knowing that.
The system did the girl and her family wrong. And it did us wrong, because this loser is going to be back out on the streets before you know it, and he’s already murdered a guy and raped a little girl. How many more people have to suffer before we lock this clown up and throw away the key?
Filed under Blogs · Tagged with augusta county virginia, franklin riley murder, news leader, staunton virginia