Negative Coverage?

mlatsch Aug 11, 2010 19 Comments

Does any photo published in the DNT even exist on celluloid? I would have thought not, but this suggests otherwise. Or read in your own perceptions of bias. From the home page this morning.

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19 Comments

Sjixxxy

about 14 years ago 

I remember seeing this happen on the photos of newborns once. It was A+ Amazing.

dlhmn

about 14 years ago 

It's a technical glitch on the DNT site that has happened from time to time on all kinds of articles for many, many months.

Annoying? Yes. Evidence of bias? Sorry, but no.

And, if I recall correctly, yesterday (Election Day) morning the lead photo on the website was a (normal-looking) photo of Mark Dayton visiting Duluth on a campaign stop Monday. Photos of the other two DFL candidates were relegated to attachments. Again, hardly a sign of bias against Dayton.

tony d

about 14 years ago 

It could be that the image was saved as cmyk, not rgb, and so it appears as an odd, "negative" effect on screen. I've done this before--looks fine in photoshop, but if I attach the same file to an email, say, it looks negative.

Can any techies out there confirm this? Alternate theory?

edgeways

about 14 years ago 

heh, I'd think the thing to blast the DNT here is that they did poor follow through in checking how it looked on-line...

Bias? Well I'd wait for the inevitable Emmer endorsement before I'll haul that charge out. 

Celluloid? Yeah I'd say no one uses celluloid any more.

Sam

about 14 years ago 

edgeways, Do you seriously think the DNT will endorse Emmer?  I can't imagine it happening.

Emmer supports and donates to "You Can Run But You Can't Hide," whose leader recently said that Muslim countries are right to execute gay people.  

Emmer also supports bringing the Arizona Immigration Law to Minnesota, a law that allows the arrest of anyone who cannot prove they are legal.  Heck, I can't tell the difference between a Norwegian American and a plain Norwegian, and I don't carry I.D. all the time, as the Arizona law requires.  

People were angry when Target supported Emmer.  Imagine how pissed Duluthians would be if the DNT did the same.

TimK

about 14 years ago 

Forum Communications endorsed McCain/Palin in the last presidential election. They would endorse Emmer in a heartbeat- hell, they'd endorse Palin on the top of the ticket!

edgeways

about 14 years ago 

Sam, yeah I know about the "You Can Run But You Can't Hide" connection (I actually sent something about that to MinnPost and the Star Trib in the hopes they do a story on it). 

As to will the DNT endorse Emmer, as TimK alluded to, the parent company is a horrible fit for this market, not only did they endorse McCain/Palin but Coleman as well. This in the heart of a major DFL stronghold, the chances of Duluth voting for either of those options was openly ludicrous. 

Will they endorse Emmer? Alright I might have been a bit hyperbolic in saying "inevitable," but I do think it is likely, trending very likely.

Hillsider Newspaper editor

about 14 years ago 

As someone who quite frequently struggles with technical errors in the production of a newspaper, I would say this is just a technical mishap. Every issue has some goofy thing go wrong. If you are lucky it isn't on the front page or in a large paid ad. Otherwise it is par for the course.

Sam

about 14 years ago 

McCain at some point had a moderate reputation for a Republican.  Palin's views were relatively unknown back then.  So the endorsement for McCain was not crazy radical at the time, although misguided for a town that went heavy for Obama (I recall around 70%).

But Emmer is so far from the norm that he is in a completely different category.  I recollect that Target gave to McCain and no one protested, but Target gave to Emmer and people went nuts!  An Emmer endorsement would anger people far more than the McCain endorsement.

topher

about 14 years ago 

Tony D has it right. DNT seems to have trouble saving web images correctly as rgb, but it makes the newborn photos extra exciting. 

You'd think after over two years of the same mistake someone would figure it out.

edgeways

about 14 years ago 

Here is the PDD thread on the McCain endorsement. looks like it was on Nov 2nd of that year, which I think was plenty late in the game to get a handle on Caribou Barbie. An interesting pull quote from that post was: 



In 2007, former Forum executive, now DNT publisher, Steve McLister declared the DNT would be used to "shape and mold the community to be business friendly." He also said "The power of our company is strong. We can change that mindset." 



FWIW "business friendly" was the catch words Target CEO used for justifying his donation. Now that we are beyond the primaries Emmer is going to run to the center, he has two months to convince people he isn't a frightening, gibbering idiot out of touch with MN. In two months time (eternity in politics) I can easily see Forum Com using Emmer's act as a cover to justify an endorsement. 

Will it create controversy, yeah absolutely, but most MSM outlets like that sort of thing, just look at the letters to the editor. I swear sometimes they must intentionally pick the most inflammatory examples just to rile people up. To paraphrase an adage, "they can hate you, just as long as they don't ignore you."

Paul Lundgren

about 14 years ago 

For what it's worth, here is a link to the original context of the McLister quote, from a story I wrote for Business North:

News Tribune publisher sees potential for growth in a stagnant market 

The subject of Republican endorsements also came up on PDD when the DNT dismissed its editor, Rob Karwath, in January.

What annoys me to no end is when people complain about the DNT endorsing Republican candidates as if the problem is the endorsing of Republican candidates itself and the notion that it doesn't match how people will vote, as if a newspaper's job is to predict who will win and endorse that way to be popular. 

The reason the endorsements should be upsetting is that the local paper has no voice for its own community because the ownership in Fargo is making the endorsement. That is a real reason to complain, and all the other whining undercuts it.

Sam

about 14 years ago 

I'm all for a local newspaper taking a stand for what is right over what is popular.  But that isn't what the Fargo people are doing.  They are just trying to increase the bottom line of the company in Fargo, which is not the proper role of a Duluth newspaper.

TimK

about 14 years ago 

I agree with Paul's sentiments about endorsement complaints. However, if the repubs had someone worth endorsing (Ben Boo, Arne Carlson, etc.) I think the "discussion" would actually be more productive.

mk

about 14 years ago 

"You'd think after over two years of the same mistake someone would figure it out."

You'd think that if you realized how friggin' understaffed and overworked the photo department is, not to mention a lack of resources, you'd be a little forgiving for mistakes.  It's not lung transplants, people, it's a human being who has entirely too much on his/her plate.  Surely you've been there before?

edgeways

about 14 years ago 

I suppose that is the heart of it Paul, and the consequences are what get complained about. An out of town/state company seems to dictate certain editorial processes that run counter to the community the paper serves. It seems like the only time the out-of-state aspect of the DNT (in a broad sense) is raised is when they pull such unexpected maneuvers.

I could potentially respect an endorsement that ran counter to the community-at-large if it was well written and thought out... and from a local source, or at least not from a source masquerading as local. 

It was interesting to read the original article you wrote Paul, but it does little to endear McLister to me. I honestly do not want a newspaper trying to mold the community.

Paul Lundgren

about 14 years ago 

I'm not sure it should be characterized as a masquerade. I think it was the Coleman endorsement that was the first to come from Fargo, and if my memory serves me right it was accompanied by a local editorial pointing out the endorsement came from Fargo. A sense of resentment over that was, I believe, also expressed.

But that's enough apologizing for the DNT for me for today. Bottom line: not having local endorsements does stink.

mlatsch

about 14 years ago 

Wow:

I go off to work to harvest some veggies, build a raised bed, and record a board meeting, and I find my post off in an entirely interesting and unexpected direction

All: I still haven't learned the html tag for "snark" or is it "snide side comment" re: the notion of inferring bias from a photo editing mistake. (wordpress won't let you use greater-than or less-than even in quotes?)

@tony d and @topher: thanks for the explination: I can see how that could get ya. 

Everyone else: I can only hope that Forum or DNT editorial board or whoever is in charge in reality can muster the writing talent to come up with a better argued endorsement this go round, whoever they endorse.

Bob

about 14 years ago 

Dear Lord, please let there be a write in campaign for a moderate from either of the two parties. Our politician/clowns are embarrassing us.

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