It was hard to miss The Ledger's outing of Julian Mullis. It ran across the top of the local page, arguably the most read spot of real estate in the printed paper. Quick synopsis: Mulberry police arrested a man they described as in a domestic, live-in relationship with Mullis after accusing the man of throwing a plastic beer bottle at Mullis during an altercation at Mullis' house. That's right. Mullis is the victim of an alleged assault with a plastic container. And for that, his personal life gets splashed across the top of B1 as the featured local story of the day. This story, which exists solely as the means for somebody to broadcast that Julian Mullis is in a gay relationship, is an object lesson of everything that's wrong with institutional journalism in this country. It's a great example of what I think Chris was saying in his Defeatism column a few weeks ago....
By chance, I discovered the work of Central Florida photographer Rachel Absher. Before you visit her site, maybe a few words as an introduction to her portraits of people in love...
Every single paper along the I4 corridor is losing reporters, editorial staff, and positions from every other department. Are Central Florida readers turning away from the news, or did newspapers lose a quality relationship with their news organizations? That stems from a question asked 14 years ago during a panel on "The New Economics of Journalism." Seated at the head table were Esther Dyson (Forbes columnist), Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. (New York Times, Publisher), Walter Isaacson (Time, New Media Editor), and Frank Daniels III (Nando.net publisher). The question was from NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen...
A sign of the times: Cheap eats: Food bargains can hide in unlikely places A sign of the season: Can your home weather storms? If not, listen up A sign of how far we're gone since 2000: Shielding Press Empowers The Public Bonus: If you still can't recount them do they exist? New voting machines: Paper trail to nowhere? Is the News Chief next? Cypress Gardens to Test Weekends-Only Presented without any comment whatsoever: Amtgard! Battles Begin With Swords Of Foam
Bio: Billy Townsend was a longtime government, political and general assignment reporter in Polk County and the wider I-4 corridor. He wrote extensively about Polk's unique regional identity and the issues shaping it, including USF Polytechnic, the Heartland Parkway and the CSX rail deal. Billy recently left professional reporting to take a corporate writing job, but he keeps close tabs on news of all stripes (especially political news) and the changes in modern journalism. Billy's wife is Julie Townsend, executive director of the Downtown Lakeland Partnership.They live with their three children in the Lake Morton area. His work at Lakeland Local is his first as an amateur hyperlocal writer.