Crackstarter - Gawker crowdfunding the Rob Ford crack tape: good or evil?

seriously, guys?

The mother of the kid who was in the picture (injured, not killed) was interviewed in Metro yesterday fwiw

while i had been thinking what you had - that the Star didn't *seem* to be talking to people around that neighbourhood. I don't really take it of some sign of any sort of larger problem. they also didn't want to 1- pay for a video due to ethical standards and 2- run with the story when they didn't have the evidence. you're aware of that right? that gawker broke the story and forced the Star's hand, as they were the only media outlet that could verify gawker's claims with what they had at least seen?

you're also forgetting that the Globe - another "downtown" "elitist" monster - HAD talked to all sort of good ol salt of the earth folks around Etobicoke to build their story on Doug.

I would also like for you to expand some more on what an "elitist" is to you exactly. I find that term to be nothing more than a brainless drive-by smear used by conservatives to smear people in cities, or liberals, that they don't agree with. Am I an elitist? I live downtown. Should my opinions be cast aside because I have the gaul to live in the hoity-toity neighbourhood of Parkdale? Am I also a "laté sipper"? Or a "champaign socialist"?

its okay to be an elitist as long as you knock on some doors and do old school reporting

http://www.mikeeiler.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/old-school-reporter.jpg

isn't is spelled "gall"? </elitistANDpedantic>

serious newspaper reporters could have knocked on doors in etobicoke trying to raise $200,000

ha ha!

i actually like to hang out with elitist from southern france. i have lots of Gauls i chill with.

If reporters had pre-existing relations with sources in the neighborhood, then they would have been more likely to get a better response, no? It's like reporting everywhere, you build up a network and keep a finger on the pulse. Noone does that in poor neighborhoods anymore, and the reporting in this case is a result. And I know this because I've seen The Wire. Seriously, they didn't even know who Prop Joe was!

nobody does this in any neighborhoods because its 2013

So who will be first on the air with "The Fords"? David Simon, David Chase or David Milch?

(Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, obviously.)

Well, Aaron Sorkin sort of. They break the story because someone in the room knew that murdered guy from somewhere.

But most of the focus is on how wrong it is to call newspeople 'maggots', since they are doing a really important job and are actually really nice people.

Guys this is Patch.com's job now.

what I learned from the Wire is that reporters just make up stories to win awards. Especially elitist white reporters. That and you evacuate a building, not the people in it. Unless that's, like, your thing.

I think The Star and The Globe are elitist only in the sense that they are much more comfortable with, much more interested in, and much better at reporting on the city's elites. I think Rob and Doug Ford know this - and they leverage it and spin it and shape it to their advantage, by painting themselves as the little guys sticking it to the man.

Kind of surprised to hear some people thinking knocking on doors and old school reporting is such a punchline or outdated idea. Did the list of questions I posted earlier seem unreasonable or irrelevant? I'm not being snarky or sarcastic at all here - just curious. I actually think we'll see more stories on what exactly went down with Price possibly trying to get the tape in the next few days.

the Globe and Mail (which, smugly, has "globe" in the name) – has a more international focus. If they were busying themselves with the non-elitists of Etobicoke, they would be the "Rexdale and Mail" or the "Etobicoke Town Crier" or something.

The Toronto Star, conversely, is CONSTANTLY running pieces on the plights of the regular people of Toronto. Articles I usually, as a loathsome elitist, skip. They have one regular column "the fixer", for example (http://www.thestar.com/yourtoronto/the_fixer.html) - where they help out citizens who are encountering difficulty navigating the elitist bureaucracy of city hall. I'm not aware of the Sun helping out anyone who isn't connected in conservative circles (Rob Ford and Tim Hudak being two of their favourites) (maybe not Ford so much now that the winds have changed direction tho).

I don't think knocking on doors/old school reporting is a punchline in and of itself. I do think that when you ignore one instance of extensive door-knocking that resulted in the story about the Ford family's alleged history of drug dealing as part of the larger context around this scandal and hold up as an example to follow a complete and total non-story that seems to only exist in order to make a grab for page views from people looking for more information about this tape, you are setting yourself up to be clowned. I also think that the lack of stories answering the questions you posed does not automatically mean no one is trying to answer them.

OK I see where you're coming from - first, I didn't mean to hold up the Sun non-story as an example of anything but "This is the first time I've seen any quotes from inside this building or around, and we're weeks into the story."

The Doug Ford story: a) the Globe sat on it for 18 months. b) they didn't get all that much.

Agree that people are probably trying to answer the questions I posed - but I think it's fair to point out there hasn't been much published reporting on those angles by now. I hope

I hope we will see more on those angles, it does seem to me like the natural place to dig now.

maybe toronto reporters just suck at their jobs

like, they're trying really hard, they're just bad

there probably aren't enough of them. most ppl who want to earn a living are not going into journalism in 2013.

everything about this story is so amazing as to stretch credulity. if someone told me that the mayor smokes crack, and allowed himself to be recorded doing it, i don't think i'd follow up either

diminished resources is definitely a fair point - but there are 4 dailies and 3 national broadcasters (as an elitist, I'm not counting Sun News Network) based in Toronto.

xp: anyone who is a public official who is out in a crack house is already showing poor judgment; I wouldn't expect those skills to get better after a few crack hits

nobody does this in any neighborhoods because its 2013

― iatee, Wednesday, May 29, 2013 2:45 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

you know this is not correct right

like i can name 3 dc reporters offhand who i know make it a practice to cultivate neighborhood sources we don't all live in your futurephone new york town

god the way you people live

let's be clear, iatee is an island unto himself

no man is an iatee

pretty great maclean's cover
https://twitter.com/reporterdonpeat/status/339804256955662336/photo/1

the only reporters I know do all their reporting via google glass

reporting live from u face

The Doug Ford story: a) the Globe sat on it for 18 months.

they researched it for 18 months. it's not like they found the story talked to everyone, and did nothing for a year and a half. they worked on it for a very long time. they also claimed they were still working on it before they decided to run with it when other events compelled them to do so. you also claimed they only talked to a handful of junkies, which also is not the case. i have no idea why you're hell bent on bashing the job the Globe did here - it was clearly a lot of hard work.

I'm not hellbent on anything, and I'm not bashing it - it just seems like a thin story to me, and one Doug can plausibly deny, as he has. I think he's lying - but they have no named sources and it's 30 years old. It plays right into the Ford's narrative about what Doug calls "uncollaborated" (sic) stories, and a media vendetta. It's also been folklore for a long time - I'd heard the rumours of high school drug dealing as had others here - so it would have been nice if they'd been able to bring something more to it.

Thermo, I'm not sure why I'm pissing you off - it's nothing personal, just shooting the shit about the Ford coverage. We can disagree.

i'm not pissed off here. just disagreeing with pretty much every point you're making.

OK!

man why don't you two hash it out over a rock?

or rock out with some hash

I'm down for whatever, 2nd option more my speed.

speed would be my preference.

let's hit Mimico and see what happens

downtown speed only!

when i saw that everyone was piling up on brio i assumed he had said something stupid but u all are looking like huge idiots rn

hey now, we just chilled things out and were looking for some speed

heh sorry i was still reading the thread when i posted that... ftr i hope you are wrong cause i don't wanna pay dylan 100 bucks

the latest:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/05/29/rob_ford_former_staffers_email_telephone_records_ordered_destroyed_sources.html

Officials in the information technology department at the City of Toronto are required to maintain the computers and ensure that information — which is all subject to freedom of information requests — is preserved.

come on, IT guys, leak it all

City of Toronto IT department leaks 50 new videos of Rob Ford falling over and/or running into things

ha ha!