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Well, let's see how much credit I have built up here over 20+ years.

Those weren’t the days.

I hope this board keeps going.

Hey Lance, can we have more game threads, please? It would be fun and you probably wouldn’t have to moderate those threads.
A freewheeling sentence-construction game, a word association game and a song title game aren't enough for you? They've been enough for the regular posters for years now. Other games have been attempted, but thrived only momentarily, while others were practically stillborn. What makes you think we're all waiting for your words-and-drawings game?
 
Great.

In the aftermath of what is quickly becoming a controversial move regarding a thread involving media coverage of a major situation in the second largest city in America, we are now arguing about ...

GAMES??!!??
 
This isn't about party or personal politics. This is about the rule of law and the Constitution.
For the record, I completely agree.

Also, I want to say that while I have sometimes made posts that were too political (for which I apologize), I don't wish to argue with anyone, and my main reason for being here is to discuss radio and broadcasting.

c
 
You haven’t seen the drawing I did that included James Brown in a hot tub, Howard Stern, and an alien abduction…and it was safe for work!

I am not a moderator. Nor do I intend to become one.

But this thread is about something important. Something that may well determine for a lot of people here whether or not they want to continue posting.

Please, no distractions down side tracks.
 
As one who admittedly took the political content of some posts too far, I have to confess/reveal/disclose that Lance and I have had considerable discussion on where the lines are drawn between pure politics and as subject about radio that is related to political perspectives or affiliations.

I have told Lance that I will be very much conscious of those borders, and this is a good chance for me to say a thing or two worth considering.

First, an apology if anyone was offended by my comments on a subject. As all know, I lost a group of stations in another country due to "politics" under a pseudo-socialist regime, so I am sensitive to the subject of "government and radio". Not an excuse, just a bit of perspective.

We all need to analyze every post as to whether we are discussing the political aspects of content or talking about a radio or TV related subject. Example: if Charlamagne da God criticizes something the "Prez" does, that is political. But if we comment that Charlamagne intervened AOC today to discuss civil unrest, that is topical about radio. These two examples are right at the edge of being "good" or "bad" posts... and like the yard lines on a football field after a rainstorm, blurry at best and hard to find at their worst.

That is my act of contrition, sincerely offered to anyone I may have annoyed, offended or insulted. But at the same time, I'd like to refer to Michael Hagerty's post just three other posts back. It is hard to ignore his points about the overlap between pure politics and "just the facts, Ma'am" (that dates me!) about radio or TV.

The most recent riots in Los Angeles... and their spawn in other cities... have shown a very strong overlap between politics and broadcasting, complicated by the sidebar incident of the firing of a crowd-control device on a journalist. How much of these incidents are pure politics and how much have to do with freedom of expression? To me, the firing on a journalist is a disciplinary issue until proven that he was told to attack news reporters; as such the subject can be about how journalists move in rapidly migrating riots or demonstrations. On the other hand, we have the issues of coverage of the actions of ICE by the media and those are hard to separate between politics and broadcasting.
 
We all need to analyze every post as to whether we are discussing the political aspects of content or talking about a radio or TV related subject. Example: if Charlamagne da God criticizes something the "Prez" does, that is political. But if we comment that Charlamagne intervened AOC today to discuss civil unrest, that is topical about radio. These two examples are right at the edge of being "good" or "bad" posts... and like the yard lines on a football field after a rainstorm, blurry at best and hard to find at their worst.
I know when I input something on a board, sometimes I'll type it, think once, reread, think again, edit and decide if hit the post button or clear the box and move on. Many times I clear the box is when I think something is not relevant to the topic at hand, no matter what forum or comment card I'm posting to.
 
I am not a moderator. Nor do I intend to become one.

But this thread is about something important. Something that may well determine for a lot of people here whether or not they want to continue posting.

Please, no distractions down side tracks.
Sorry, I was just trying to think of ways there could be threads that wouldn’t lead to people reporting posts and the other things Lance mentioned.
 
Sorry, I was just trying to think of ways there could be threads that wouldn’t lead to people reporting posts and the other things Lance mentioned.

Yeah, swell. We were trying to get him to consider this:

This isn't about party or personal politics. This is about the rule of law and the Constitution.


It is also about the role of the First Amendment and broadcasting in a free society.

The vast majority of professionals on this board are qualified and capable of rational discussion about it.

If the board doesn’t want to host that sort of conversation about an issue central to broadcasting’s reason for existing and its future, that’s its choice.

But the subtext to that decision is that broadcast journalists are getting hurt by people sworn to protect them, and RadioDiscussions doesn’t respect those broadcasters and what they do enough to discuss it responsibly.
 
On the other hand, we have the issues of coverage of the actions of ICE by the media and those are hard to separate between politics and broadcasting.

I'm sorry, David, but I have to disagree.

Again, ICE agents, masked, refusing to show ID or warrants are conducting unprecedented arrests in American cities. Many of those arrested are sent to countries that are not their own, and the government has admitted in at least one case "mistakenly" sending someone there (whom it took two months to bring back, despite their protestations that it could not and would not be done).

American citizens alarmed by this who have been no more confrontational than asking to see a badge or other form of government-issued ID (as we have ALL been told to do when in doubt as to the authenticity of someone claiming authority) have been refused, shoved, thrown to the ground and in several cases arrested.

The people have a right to know what their government is doing in their name with their tax dollars. And the people who are covering it are being injured in the process.

Meantime, the President of the United States is disregarding the Posse Comitatus Act, but not (yet) invoking the Insurrection Act, which would allow the use of military forces in civilian law enforcement.

There's a clear separation in discussing this between politics and broadcasting.

The line that seems to be blurry for some folks is between politics and government.

Politics is the means by which public servants are elected and rejected, by which bills become laws---or fail to get enough votes.

Government is the carrying out of those laws within the framework of other existing laws and acts and of the Constitution of the United States.

If the government stops doing that, people stop protesting and the media stops covering, the government stops governing and starts ruling.

Now, if you or anyone else here wants to say they're okay with that----THAT's politics. But discussing the coverage and the actions being covered in factual terms is not political. It's professional.
 
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Sorry, I was just trying to think of ways there could be threads that wouldn’t lead to people reporting posts and the other things Lance mentioned.

Adding "safe" new threads does not eliminate the problem. Those who want to cross the line which causes the thread reports and irritates Lance would shun your "more games" feature and keep posting in the threads that draw the complaints.

And I cannot believe I actually have to say that. It should be obvious.
 
Last week I had two of the other admins get into it and one quitting the site.

Maybe the problem isn't with the regular members then. I didn't see the exchange you're referring to but if you lost Fybush, it doesn't get much worse than that. I can't think of anyone more highly respected on this site than him. What is the other admin doing to resolve this and make it right?
 
Perhaps a banner announcement at the top of the home page that clearly delineates the current 'rules of engagement' on the forum, restating the excellent post that Michael wrote upthread in post #31 should be considered for a brief period of time to help others understand the situation here.

As I understand Xenforo's software, there are administrators and then there are moderators. The moderator position has a portion of the capabilities that administrators do, and might relieve some of the load from the remaining staff.

Early morning thoughts...nothing more.
 
I'm sorry, David, but I have to disagree.

Again, ICE agents, masked, refusing to show ID or warrants are conducting unprecedented arrests in American cities. Many of those arrested are sent to countries that are not their own, and the government has admitted in at least one case "mistakenly" sending someone there (whom it took two months to bring back, despite in their protestations that it could not and would not be done).

American citizens alarmed by this who have been no more confrontational than asking to see a badge or other form of government-issued ID (as we have ALL been told to do when in doubt as to the authenticity of someone claiming authority) have been refused, shoved, thrown to the ground and in several cases arrested.

The people have a right to know what their government is doing in their name with their tax dollars. And the people who are covering it are being injured in the process.

Meantime, the President of the United States is disregarding the Posse Comitatus Act, but not (yet) invoking the Insurrection Act, which would allow the use of military forces in civilian law enforcement.

There's a clear separation in discussing this between politics and broadcasting.

The line that seems to be blurry for some folks is between politics and government.

Politics is the means by which public servants are elected and rejected, by which bills become laws---or fail to get enough votes.

Government is the carrying out of those laws within the framework of other existing laws and acts and of the Constitution of the United States.

If the government stops doing that, people stop protesting and the media stops covering, the government stops governing and starts ruling.

Now, if you or anyone else here wants to say they're okay with that----THAT's politics. But discussing the coverage and the actions being covered in factual terms is not political. It's professional.
I truly enjoy this board and all the interesting posts about radio. I have learned a lot. The political chatter is partisan and the attacks on other posters is unacceptable as Lance has eloquently stated. Please correct me but isn’t the first four paragraphs of this post political. Trying to better understand the line. Thanks.
 
I truly enjoy this board and all the interesting posts about radio. I have learned a lot. The political chatter is partisan and the attacks on other posters is unacceptable as Lance has eloquently stated. Please correct me but isn’t the first four paragraphs of this post political. Trying to better understand the line. Thanks.

Do you mean these four?


Again, ICE agents, masked, refusing to show ID or warrants are conducting unprecedented arrests in American cities. Many of those arrested are sent to countries that are not their own, and the government has admitted in at least one case "mistakenly" sending someone there (whom it took two months to bring back, despite their protestations that it could not and would not be done).

American citizens alarmed by this who have been no more confrontational than asking to see a badge or other form of government-issued ID (as we have ALL been told to do when in doubt as to the authenticity of someone claiming authority) have been refused, shoved, thrown to the ground and in several cases arrested.

The people have a right to know what their government is doing in their name with their tax dollars. And the people who are covering it are being injured in the process.

Meantime, the President of the United States is disregarding the Posse Comitatus Act, but not (yet) invoking the Insurrection Act, which would allow the use of military forces in civilian law enforcement.


If so, no, they are not political. They are a recitation of the facts and the rights of American citizens and the duties of a free press (including broadcast journalism) under the Constitution.

There is no suggestion of a remedy (stop him/impeach him/call your Congressman/join the protest). That would be political.

There is no cheering on of the actions being taken (good for him/whatever it takes/those people are asking for it). That would be political.

Let's go back to four other paragraphs further down in that post:


There's a clear separation in discussing this between politics and broadcasting.

The line that seems to be blurry for some folks is between politics and government.

Politics is the means by which public servants are elected and rejected, by which bills become laws---or fail to get enough votes.

Government is the carrying out of those laws within the framework of other existing laws and acts and of the Constitution of the United States.

This is reporting about the actions of the government. If those actions don't fall within the framework of other existing laws and acts and of the Constitution of the United States, that's news.

If that reflects badly on the current government, pointing that out is not political. It is the duty of a citizen and of a free press. It may have political ramifications down the road, but shielding elected officials from that-----that's political.
 
Why is this a problem now? Because one man has co-opted a lot of non-political things and made them political.

Public broadcasting isn't political. This has all been discussed many times. But the followers of one man have made it political. They can't name a single host or reporter. They don't really know the names of the shows. But they read Uri Berliner like it was the bible and know every line in it. That's all that matters to them. I see it every time the subject comes up. A lot of these people recognize that corporate broadcasting hasn't gotten better. The problems that led to the formation of public broadcasting still exist. But none of it matters. I saw an article posted in the Boston Globe by the daughter of Newt Minow. The comments after the article attacking her personally were awful.

I can name a bunch of conservative republican congressmen from midwestern states who love public broadcasting and are dependable votes whenever it comes up. Unfortunately, it's starting to look like all of them have been co-opted, and are on the verge of voting for a bill that will take millions of dollars away from their states, and cause their governors big problems.

One man has made Disney political. It's absolutely crazy. He made the Kennedy Center political. It never was before. He's holding up the sale of Paramount. No logical reason for this at all except for the interests of one man. I agree with all those posters who emailed Lance about the political content. I'm sick of it. I wish there was a button I could push that would make it all go away. But there isn't.
 
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Seriously, Lance? The entire damn thread has been about broadcast media coverage of what's going on in Los Angeles, including the televised shooting (with a less-lethal round) of a television journalist while on live TV.

SRG said something dumb (sorry, SRG, but honest to God, when you "don't know" you don't say "maybe", you go with the facts), CT made a dopey joke and K.M. doubled down on it.

And while I think SRG's post was off-target, it was at least on-topic. The only two posts that didn't have to do with broadcasting were the last two, which could easily have been dumped and a verbal warning, if necessary, issued.

Yeah, you're within your power to close the thread as the owner of the board. But "What about this thread has to do with broadcasting?"








C'mon.


It wasnt dumb and please don't insult me like that again, youre a pro.. im a pro. I likely side with most in the case of the australian news reporter getting shot with a rubber bullet.. absolutely wrong and she was targeted. but.. IF she was asked to move and didnt.. that brings a new dimension to the story. if you ran a story on what we know and assumed and later found out she was asked to mvoe and didnt, youd have to issue a correction/admit you get it wrong. as a single staffed station/no news person here, ive wporked real hard on social media/m,essage boards/anywhere to never claim anything as fact unless i can prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt.. and ive come clsoe to believing one side of a story and finding out more facts later on.. and had it almost bite me in the ass. in the time of issues with media and journalism and public media, im taking no chances

If one wants to see the comment hes referring to, check out this:

i consider this a personal attack on me, my character and me as a journalist of sorts, not cool, not professional.... and not what i expected from you. i stated my point respectfully and you call me out in more than one place in a less than professional manner.
 


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