It's News When We Get Around To it

Last Friday evening two little kids were shot not far from my home. I headed over to the scene, made a few pictures and wrote a little about the fact that the story didn't make the newspapers Saturday. Or Sunday. Or Monday. One TV station mentioned it and one aired a decent report. I figured the Star-Ledger of Newark would get around to it some time. The day of the shooting the Ledger published a story with photos about the residents of the building where the shooting occurred protesting against drug dealers a day earlier. Or was that anti-drug dealer rally two days before?

Either way, I guess reporting a story three days late is better than never.

The Ledger reporter did do a decent job of rounding up what happened in Tuesday's piece.

A teenager was beaten and slashed in the face and two children were shot in the leg in related attacks at an Elizabeth apartment complex that occurred minutes apart and just two days after a rally in which tenants decried a lack of security.

"...just two days after a rally in which tenants decried a lack of security. " ?

Well, the captions under the photos that ran with the first story about the protest described the event as "a rally calling attention to problems at Oakwood Plaza in Elizabeth yesterday."

But in the article the rally took place "Wednesday evening," a day before "yesterday."

So, never mind breaking spot news stories, the Ledger can't get words and photos of a staged rally in print the next morning.

When I worked on daily newspapers, they tended to deliver the news the day after it happened unless it was a feature, an investigative piece or was way past deadline. Both events at Oakwood Plaza happened before any daily’s deadline. Back in the day, if a fire or shooting or accident or drug bust took place before deadline, it was in the paper the next day. If only a few details were available, it was a brief.

By chance I bumped into the Ledger reporter today and couldn't help but mention seeing Friday's news in Tuesday's newspaper.

"Blame the Elizabeth Police," she said. "They are notorious for not releasing information after business hours."

So there you go. It is the cops' fault that the shooting of two children didn’t make the paper for three days. It has nothing to do with laziness or a lack of competition.

Ironic ain't it, that the Star-Ledger won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting?

Not As Local As It Should Be

TWO CHILDREN WOUNDED IN ELIZABETH SHOOTING

Jim Lowney Photo

An Elizabeth Police Officer ropes of the scene.

Old habits die hard. When my brother called from the news desk last night to say a few people just got shot not far from my flat I just had to go take a look. Fifteen years ago I would often spend time in the evening racing around the streets of Elizabeth looking for a shooting scene after hearing the call on the police scanner. Back then I was a staff photographer on the late Elizabeth Daily Journal working the night shift and there were a lot more shootings thanks to the crack.

The wounded were already at the hospital by the time I arrived at the Oakwood Apartments on Parker Road. But there was the yellow crime scene tape, the nervous residents on the sidewalk talking loudly about everyone who was to blame for the two little kids getting shot and the detectives were on the roof and all over the place. It never changes that much.

Details were sketchy. Two kids got shot. Or was it two kids and one adult? There was one dead. No, nobody died. The cops were too busy to ask so I made some frames of them working the scene and went on my way as the sun went down

The cops at headquarters were giving my brother on the news desk the run around. No information was forthcoming. Channel 7 in New York was on the story he told me. But there were bigger stories breaking in north Jersey last night. A massive water main break effecting three counties and a big roundup of fifty bad guys in East Orange in a huge, showy crime crack down were keeping all the news crews busy.

After waiting a while with the hope of getting something more solid on the shooting I called one of the New York dailies and left a message about the shooting with the Metro desk. They never called back.

Channel 7 ran the story on the 11 o’clock broadcast. It was a good report. They even spoke to one of the wounded and her mom on camera. Still, what exactly happened wasn't completely clear. Though it was reported that a jammed door prevented the kids from getting inside to safety. Thankfully, the kids' injuries were not life threating and they will be okay.

This morning I searched online for the stories on the shooting. Nothing. I checked the state’s main daily that acts as our local newspaper since this city of 123,000 no longer has its own paper. Nada. The wires. Again, nothing. Two children get shot and it is barely a story.

The fact that a day early the residents of the very building where the children were shot held a rally against drug dealers made the story all the more important and juicer for a reporter. There was a long story and big picture about the rally in yesterday’s Star-Ledger with quotes from the angry residents and the mayor. Then two little kids get shot there and hardly anyone notices. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Ledger runs a piece about it in tomorrow’s paper. They often take their time running stories. Last night the shooting happened well before deadline and I hope it doesn’t fade away too fast.

Things always seem more important when they happen close to home. As they should. I want to know what happens where I live. What happened and why? Old habits die hard and so does the longing for the “good old days” when there were decent local daily newspapers covering where I live.

Classic Image in Metal

Walking down West Broadway in SoHo the other night I spotted a excellent take on a classic photograph mounted on the back of a pick-up truck. Brilliant.

Jim Lowney Photo

The Best Thing I Read About The Pope All Week

David Remnick has a fine piece about the life of Pope John Paul II in this week's New Yorker. By far, it is the best thing I have read about the late, great pope. It ends with Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete, a friend of the pope, recalling his last conversation with the Holy Father.

The last conversation we had was in Rome. I was there because he was beatifying a Puerto Rican, Carlos Manuel Rodríguez. I said, ‘I protest, Holy Father! I want to be the first Puerto Rican saint!’ He smiled, said nothing. Then I said, ‘You know, Holy Father, I’m feeling a little guilty. I’ve agreed to go on television after you’ve died to say something or other about you.’ He smiled again. Then he said, ‘How do they know that I will die first?’ He was able to joke. He was not afraid.”

Tabloid.net for the 21st Century

Old pal Ken Layne's secret "job" went live today on the internets. This beauty is called Sploid. You should visit it each and every day for brilliantly sharp headlines and pictures of monkeys.

The New York Observer was all over it today in a report about Drudge.

On April 6, New York–based Gawker Media plans to launch Sploid.com, a British-style tabloid site meant to compile breaking news in a similar style to the Drudge Report. Gawker’s publisher, Nick Denton, described its politics as "anarcho-capitalist," pitted only against "all the lazy incumbents who thrive on hypocrisy."

A screenshot of Sploid, provided by Mr. Denton, showed a fairly literal interpretation of a U.K. tabloid sheet, complete with corpulent fonts and bludgeoning (yet merry!) headlines in a style seemingly ripped from Rupert Murdoch’s publishing playbook.

"We want to occupy the space between the whiny left and the ranting right," said Mr. Denton, who said he considered Mr. Drudge a brilliant news editor whose site was likely unstoppable for the foreseeable future.

However, his own project—which will be edited by ex-Gawker editor Choire Sicha on the East Coast and a blogger named Ken Lane on the West Coast—would avoid what he saw as Mr. Drudge’s weaknesses, he said.

"...and a blogger named Ken Layne on the West Coast..."

Hats off to the Observer for breaking the news that Reno is on the West Coast.

And I suppose Mr. Layne is a blogger although that is not the title that springs to mind when I read his novel and journalism, listen to his amazing music live or on one of his CDs, recall the drinks and conversation together in Budapest, California, Mexico and every stop along the way as we drove across the U.S. of A from D.C. to L.A. Old buddy Ken is a true, fresh and way too intelligent talent and it will be a sinful pleasure to see his art again each day.