ProJo Scapegoats Unions, Ignores Wall Street
It’s fine if the Providence Journal editorial board wants to espouse a right wing philosophy, even if such ideas are largely out of touch with the people of Rhode Island. It’s not okay for the Providence Journal to blame organized labor for their policy positions when unions have nothing to do with it. The latest [...]
Rhode Island’s Economy: A Moral Failure
The most important news story Rhode Islanders can read this week is the front page of today’s Providence Journal. “The Face of Food Stamps Nearly 1 out of 5 in R.I. Depends on the Program,” reads the headline. It’s a sort of follow-up to the Washington Post’s recent stunning Sunday front-page examination of Woonsocket, where [...]
Class Warfare Disquised As ‘Healthy Gridlock’
Kyle Scott’s op-ed in today’s ProJo, “Gridlock comes out of healthy conflict” maintains that “as frustrating as the gridlock in Washington may be to most Americans we must keep in mind that this is the way it is supposed to work and that the gridlock is actually a good thing.” Scott’s piece draws on the [...]
ProJo Should Stop Using ‘Openly’ Gay
Cheers to both the Providence Journal and Fall River Herald News editorial boards, both of whom reaffirmed their support for marriage equality in Rhode Island and called for swift passage of this long-overdue equal rights legislation before it becomes part of the political horse-trading on Smith Hill in the springtime. This is an important point. [...]
This Just In: Media Can’t Steal From Social Networks
In what Reuters calls “one of the first big tests of intellectual property law involving social media” a judge has ruled that news organizations can’t freely use photos posted to Twitter. Reuters reports: “Agence France-Presse and The Washington Post infringed on the copyrights of photographer Daniel Morel in using pictures he took in the aftermath [...]
ProJo Belittles, Misinforms Unemployed Letter Writer
The Providence Journal is entitled to its opinions. But as the state’s paper of record, it should also respect the opinions of others. Instead, the ProJo editorial page has a habit of tacitly belittling those it disagrees with – one of the most insidious forms of mainstream media bias – evidenced today by a demeaning [...]
Did a Progressive Coin Term ‘Right-to-Work’?
One need look no further than the opinion of the Providence Journal to see just how extreme the anti-labor laws misidentified as right-to-work rules truly are. Even the right-skewing ProJo editorial page calls them “right to be paid less” laws. “There’s a strong argument to be made that since all in a union shop benefit [...]
ProJo Stories Show Where Gina Values Transparency
There was an interesting juxtaposition of articles relating to pension politics and Raimondomania stripped across the top of A1 of the Providence Journal this morning; one was about the outside money coming into the Ocean State, and the other was about local money leaving. In the first article, about pension reform politics being funded in [...]
Story Isn’t Whether to Sit Down, But Who’s At Table
Sorry, Providence Journal, much as you might not like it, we are no longer debating whether or not the state should be negotiating pension reform with organized labor as your over-hyped headline and otherwise great long-form story on the drama this morning suggests. Remember, after all, on Tuesday when you broke the news that the [...]
Progress Report: RI Tops Region in Food Insecurity; Pension Compromise Talk; Roger Williams and Thanksgiving
We’re now the number one state in New England for food insecurity, reports the ProJo this morning. 15 percent of households in the state can’t afford the food it needs. This is a crisis of epic proportions that goes largely unaddressed because the influential class doesn’t tend to know many people that are affected by [...]
Progress Report: Tax Fairness; the End of Reaganomics; Free Market Lesson for Mike Riley; Curating the News
If Obamacare’s survival was the biggest policy victory of the election, a close second has to be tax equity. In his first post-election presser, Obama said yesterday the nation needs to ask the richest 2 percent of the population to pony up a few more tax dollars if we’re to avoid a fiscal disaster. Congressional [...]
Progress Report: For, and Against, Fox; Patch on Walmart; Warren for Banking; Belcourt Castle and Karen Silkwood
There’s an interesting – and small – mix of conservatives, moderates and populists who seemingly aren’t supporting Gordon Fox’s effort to be re-elected speaker of the House. His detractors from the left – Reps Scott Guthrie of Coventry and Spencer Dickinson of South Kingstown – have a disdain for pension cuts in common. Guthrie may [...]
Heartfelt Sympathies to Laid-Off ProJo Employees
The big local story of the day will be neither the 2012 election or the Son of Sandy, as the Providence Journal cleverly called it this morning … rather it will be the employees of said newspaper who lost their jobs yesterday. I hear 26 people were let go – 16 union and 10 non-union [...]
Progress Report: Election Day! Dixville Notch Results In; Baited Breath in CD1; Obama Enjoys 92% Chance of Victory
The votes are already coming in … up in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, traditionally the first town in America to report its results, Obama and Romney have battled to a draw among the 10 voters there. Let’s hope the David Cicilline fares better in the 1st District than Obama did in Dixville, though it could [...]
Progress Report: Defining Moment in Cicilline, Doherty; Ugliest Campaigns; What EG Is Debating; Guy Fawkes Day
A defining moment of the David Cicilline v. Brendan Doherty campaign was captured by Phil Marcelo of the Providence Journal this weekend … both candidates were in a South Providence fruit store when a Cicilline “Spanish-speaking emissary,” according to Marcelo, said of Doherty, “He shouldn’t be in this neighborhood. He talks about undocumented immigrants posing [...]
ProJo Endorses Doherty; But Clinton Backs Cicilline
The Providence Journal may have endorsed Brendan Doherty but Bill Clinton endorsed David Cicilline … and, really, who’s endorsement would you rather have? Kidding aside, the ProJo lays out a pretty honest assessment of the Cicilline/Doherty race with its editorial this morning. They call Cicilline a good mayor who was dishonest at the tail end [...]
Progress Report: Ugly Campaign Olympics; Brien Down to Last Strike, ProJo for Warren; NEA-RI to NK: We Bat Last
I’m starting to get the feeling that Brendan Doherty doesn’t even want to serve in Congress. If he did, he’d probably audition for the job a just little bit rather than just trying to convince voters to reject incumbent David Cicilline. This campaign has become ridiculously negative, and their debates remind me of when my [...]
Progress Report: Whitehouse Stands with Middle Class; Romney Plan Would Hurt RI; SNL on Undecided Voters
While Senator Sheldon Whitehouse stood with the middle class, saying social security and Medicare must be preserved, Barry Hinckley stood with, well, Grover Norquist, saying he wouldn’t consider any tweaks to our tax code until the whole thing gets revamped. The two candidates for Senate had no shortage of differences in their first debate last [...]
Local News Victimized by Trickle Down Economy
While progressives may not always agree with the Providence Journal, we ought to at least appreciate its efforts. It’s been said before and it’s well worth saying again: The Providence Journal is the single biggest and best news and information provider in Rhode Island, and everyone here owes it a huge debt of gratitude. And [...]
Progress Report: Doherty Ducks Civil Rights Debate; Fox Faces Binder; ProJo Layoffs Imminent; Veep Debate
If you want to know why Brendan Doherty didn’t want to participate in a debate his fellow CD1 candidates on civil rights issues, try reading the first paragraph of the ProJo’s story. “The 1st Congressional District candidates who attended this forum agreed on just about everything — that Republicans want to ‘roll back’ reforms that [...]
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