Patrick Murray is not happy, nor should he be. The poll he conducted and subsequent press release has been near universally criticized for being false, misleading, and even biased. I would not imagine that brings joy to a pollster (or anyone for that matter). But what are his objections to the objections?
most of the criticism has come from people without expertise in the field of survey research. Some has, which I will treat more seriously.
To start, Murray's piece is the first public or private defense I have seen of a poll that was released nearly three weeks ago. Let us also admit that polls are not beyond the understanding of the average person or non-experts in survey research - let alone the people quoted on Blue Jersey that publicly criticized the poll:
A Scholar,Bruce Baker, who is an expert in the field of survey research. A professor at Rutgers focusing on education policy generally with a particular interest in school finance.
A Policy Expert,Matthew Di Carlo, who is a senior fellow at Albert Shanker Institute in Washington D.C. where he focuses on education policy. Di Carlo has a PhD in sociology and is also an expert in the field of survey research.
A Practitioner,StoptheFreezeNJ, who is an actual teacher and therefore has perhaps the best perspective on what are fair and proper characterizations of the profession and its practices. It's not theoretical, he lives it and understands the issues from first hand experience.
Despite the different backgrounds all agree it was a bad poll and press release.
(But unfortunately there has to be more after the jump)
It has been almost three weeks since Monmouth University/NJ Press Media put out the poll on "Education Reform." The response to the poll, particularly the use of the headline "New Jersey Supports Education Reforms: Public Likes Merit Pay, Limited Tenure, Vouchers, Charter Schools." in the press release has been decidedly negative from those in the education community who have seen it and those who study the issue. No one has even, to this moment, offered a detailed defense of the poll. The headline was an unfortunate way to frame the poll for two reasons:
1. It misleads policymakers and media that "education reform" has broad support.
2. The poll itself proved that headline to be false.
A Monmouth University Poll came out today claiming New Jersey residents support Education Reform, which is not surprising because everyone does. I don't know anyone who thinks the current system is perfect - no one, anywhere. Though one should not confuse reforming education with "Education Reform" (aka privatization/corporate takeover).
Question 1: In general, how would you rate the job the public schools are doing here in New Jersey - excellent, good, only fair, or poor?
Excellent 13%
Good 43%
Only Fair 31%
Poor 10%
Don't Know 3%
* So much for a "crisis", at least in confidence. Only 10% thought public schools in New Jersey are doing a poor job. Not a mandate for privatization on any level.
Question 2: Do you think appropriate measures are in place to hold your own local schools accountable for how well they educate students or are better measures needed?
Appropriate measures in place 29%
Better measures needed 63%
Don't Know 7%
* Talk about a gimme question. I'm actually amazed 29% are happy with current "accountability" measures. Everyone wants more accountability. It's the equivalent of asking if people want more presents at Christmas. The more the merrier.
Question 3: In your opinion, do you think public school teachers are paid too much, too little, or about the right amount?
Too Much 15%
Too Little 38%
About Right Amount 41%
Don't Know 7%
* A good first question would have been to first ask "How much do you think public school teachers are paid?" There might be some interesting correlations between what people think public school teachers are paid - the reality of what they are paid - and the opinion that public school teachers are paid too much (or too little).
Now we get into the murky area.
(More after the jump)
Star-Ledger announced some news of the own last night. They're doubling their staff at their statehouse bureau to cover Gov. Christie, the legislature, and the NJ Supreme Court. And, for their part, Politicker is launching their State Street Wire March 1. More coverage isn't necessarily better coverage. And we compete with both, for readers and to provide context for those readers. But I'm glad to see this happen in commercial news coverage because they've taken a lot of hits over the last few years, and both the Ledger and politicker have, and I read them both.
Three years ago, Star-Ledger laid off 40% of its newsroom staff, which the New York Times noted at the time was one of the largest reductions in a single move by a major American paper. The Times had just had its own round of editorial layoffs - a first for the Times - and was soon to lay off another 100 newsroom staff, and the national paper of record no longer covers New Jersey news as closely as it once did. Across the country newsrooms were and are hurting; advertising down, and costs up - from bedrock papers like the Times and Ledger to smaller, locally-essential weeklies. The Delaware Valley News, which covered the river towns along the New Jersey and Pennsylvania banks of the Delaware, closed three years ago too - the first paper I ever worked for. Around the same time, Politicker's national expansion took a dive, shutting down 12 state sites. (Juan Melli, who became Associate Editor at politicker.com 3 years after founding Blue Jersey, was out with that round of layoffs).
With massive shifts in editorial staffing have come changes, new ventures like newjerseynewsroom.com, formed out of the ruins of the Star-Ledger layoffs by journalists whose experience "adds up to over 1,000 years". And into the reporting void, hyperlocals are springing up to catch news a new way, in very focused geographical areas. Citizen's Campaign's new NJ Hyperlocal News Association is helping hyperlocals develop, an effort Blue Jersey is involved in, in our own small way.
The latest bad news for newspapers came in a one-two punch over the last few days. It was the last day at work for nearly half of Gannett's editorial staff with job losses at Courier News, Home News Tribune and Daily Record. One of those let go, Daily Record's political columnist Fred Snowflack, who outed himself as a Democrat on his way out the door. And - bad timing - that bill that would allow municipalities to post legal notices on their websites rather than requiring them to pay newspapers for the service. Newspapers, the Star-Ledger in the lead, are charging that this is less a cost-cutting option for government and less an effort by government to control their content and cripple them financially. Jury's still out on that one, for me.
So, I'm liking new reporting muscle at the state house. Good luck, Star-Ledger. Politicker too. Good luck.
Each week, Blue Jersey Radio streams LIVE with Jersey's latest political buzz, interviews with newsmakers, and your stimulating calls Number: (646) 652-2773.
Tonight's guest Bob Ingle is senior political reporter for Gannett NJ. He also wrote the bestselling book Soprano State which was made into a movie to premiere later this fall!
He'll update us on that plus share his thoughts on hot topics du jour like Sheriff Speziale's dramatic exit or the scandal-plagued DRPA.
It'll be hot hot hot.
So, tune in tonightand every Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. to laugh so hard you'll get an ab workout. Seriously.
You won't want to miss an episode - and of course, you never have to. Listen to them all on Blogtalkradio, or download any show on iTunes.
Now remember, this is the endorsement of the Asbury Park Press for Chris Christie. Before rambling on about how terrible Democrats are and have been, this is the best they could give him:
It's time to give someone else a chance. Republican Chris Christie offers New Jersey voters the best hope for turning things around. We support his candidacy, but only as a better alternative to four more years of Corzine.
As if that wasn't enough, they followed up that enthusiastic support with this synopsis of Christie's campaign and proposals which they've jumped on board with:
Christie has run a disappointing campaign. He has made himself vulnerable on a number of ethics-related issues. He has provided no specific plan for property tax relief. He says he will balance the budget with a projected $8 billion to $10 billion deficit next year while reducing income taxes, corporate taxes and estate taxes. We're highly skeptical of his ability to do so.
And this is the guy they endorsed? It's really pretty amazing that a Gannett paper, which has been so critical of Democrats, who the Governor chose not to meet with, could only get themselves motivated enough by Christie to say give him a chance cause he isn't the other guy. You can see our recap of the endorsements in the race here.
Earlier in the year Christie appeared a potential shoo-in for victory. He had built a reputation as a corruption-busting U.S. attorney, a resume that resonated with New Jerseyans terribly weary of dirty politicians in their midst. He also carried with him the promise of a cost-cutting Republican who could rein in the Trenton Democratic spending machine devouring the state.
But that message has gotten lost. A few minor skeletons tumbled out of his closet - a poor driving record, an undisclosed loan to a co-worker. But the overriding negative perception of Christie is also entirely unfair, that he's a would-be tax cutter without a plan. Blame a poorly constructed campaign for that, not Christie.
But who put together the people that are running that campaign if not Christie himself? That's like saying that the car is responsible for causing an accident, not the driver who was steering. According to their endorsement, the impossible has happened. What once seemed like a foregone conclusion to them is now in doubt, but none of that is Chris Christie's fault.
We've had leaders in the history of our country who have said, "the buck stops here." Unfortunately now, even the media is buying into Christie's buck stops there mentality. Throughout this campaign, Christie has:
blamed a motorcyclist for hitting him when he caused the accident
said it was a tow truck operator identified him as US Attorney during a separate traffic incident
blamed his secretary for his lavish expenditures
said he had no knowledge when a long time associate, who he claimed to be just a volunteer, bribed Rick Merkt to get out of the primary
And on those minor skeletons, since when is abuse of power a minor issue? In what world are violating the Hatch Act and failing to pay taxes nothing to take a second look at? Christie used his position to get out of problems and then blamed other people for getting in them in the first place. If this is the opinion of the editors, it's not worth the paper it's written on.
(Are you going to watch Christie and Daggett? - promoted by Hopeful)
It looks like Governor Corzine figures he won't get the Gannett endorsement anyway, so why go talk to their Editorial Board. While Chris Daggett and Chris Christie interivew with Gannett, the Governor is scheduled to speak at the Elizabethtown Gas Customer Care Center ribbon cutting. You can watch the Gannett Editorial Board interview at 11am here:What do you think of the Governor not attending to talk with the Gannett Editorial board? He already met with the Star Ledger and the Record of Bergen County Editorial Boards. You can also see his interview with the Atlantic City Press Editorial Board here:
Newspaper publisher Gannett Co. plans to cut 1,400 jobs in the next few weeks, about 3 percent of the work force, as it faces a prolonged slump in advertising revenue.
Bob Dickey, head of the company's U.S. community publishing division, informed staff of the layoffs in a letter Wednesday. He told employees that "there have been some promising signs of a recovery, but the reality is the improvements are not broad-based and the economy continues to be fragile."
The majority of layoffs will come by July 9, he said.
The move follows a 10 percent cut at Gannett in 2008, which left the company with about 41,500 employees.
Talk about putting a damper on the holiday weekend for your employees. I'll put the full memo they sent to employees below the fold. In New Jersey, Gannett papers include the Asbury Park Press, Courier News, Courier-Post, Home News Tribune, the Daily Record and the Vineland Daily Journal. It remains to be seen how many of those cuts will hit these NJ outlets.
A glimpse into what might happen has been offered up by a new study out of Princeton University. Assistant Professor of economics and public affairs Sam Schulhofer-Wohl and Miguel Garrido looked at communities affected by the closing of the Cincinnati Post at the end of 2007, and it's not an attractive view.
The study is very small in scope, since the Post had a total of only 27,000 subscribers in Cincinnati and northern Kentucky. And it measures only the outcomes in northern Kentucky, since Ohio has not had municipal elections since the Post's closure. But even with those limitations, a few trends seemed to emerge: in towns the Post regularly covered, voter turnout dropped, fewer people ran for office and more incumbents were reelected. That is, when there were fewer stories about a given town, its inhabitants seemed to care less about how they're being governed.
In the only possible hint of a bright spot, it seemed that smaller towns were much less affected by newspaper closures than larger ones. Voter turnout in the smaller communities did not change.
You can view a pdf of the full study. While it was only a limited look, the results may indicate what we could see happen on a larger scale when papers close:
While the study only looked at one newspaper, if the larger findings hold true, it?s not just areas in which a newspaper folds that will be affected. Municipalities covered by newspapers that have sharply scaled-back newsrooms, such as the Newark Star-Ledger, may also see similar trends emerging, because the papers simply cannot cover as much local news as they had previously.
the latest setback for the Star-Ledger newsroom, which has already seen the cutback of 131 staffers through buyouts last fall; threats of closure; and the merging of its statehouse bureau with longtime rival The Record of Hackensack.
In the Princeton study, they started with the quote, "Give light and the people will find their own way." That light certainly isn't as bright anymore making it much harder for people to see.
Two years ago today, New Jersey enacted a civil unions law by a wide margin. Compelled by the New Jersey Supreme Court to deliver full equality to same-sex families, the Legislature copped out and chose to demean thousands of New Jersey families (denying over a third of them equal rights like health benefits, hospital visitation, financial security, and more), because they were politically afraid to support marriage equality. A few legislators bravely spoke out in favor of true equality, realizing you cannot have Equality and Diet Equality, you can only have true equality or a sham.
Were some legislators justified in the political fears that led them to support civil unions over true equality? No.
A new poll, commissioned by Gannett (the news org that operates the APP, the Home News Tribune, the Courier Post, and other papers) shows that New Jersey voters support marriage equality 50%-40%.
Every time, there's been an excuse from legislators too politically afraid to stand up for what's right. But that's all they are: excuses. There are no excuses anymore. Gannett has no axe to grind here, no political agenda. And it is straight-up reporting that the voters of New Jersey respond favorably to marriage equality, based on credible and unbiased polling. If the poll is at all biased (which we doubt, as Monmouth University is a renowned, fair NJ pollster), it likely skews to the right. The numbers remain. A strong majority of New Jerseyans support marriage equality.
So, we're paging Steve Sweeney, Dick Codey, Diane Allen, and other members of the New Jersey State Senate who have appeared lukewarm or quiet on the issue of marriage equality. Senators, you have no more room for excuses. Fundamentally, you either support full equality or you don't; you must either stand up for what's right or cave in to baseless political fear and timidity. New Jerseys same-sex families have suffered because of civil unions; that's not in doubt. You can either recognize that suffering and fix it by enacting marriage equality this year, or you can turn a blind eye.
The truth is, there are no half-assed attempts at equality. It's time for members of the New Jersey Senate to stand up and be counted, and it's time for members of the Blue Jersey community to turn up the heat and call these wavering senators today.
Gannett (GCI), the largest newspaper publisher in the U.S., reported Q3 revenue of $1.6 billion, a decrease of 11% over the year, while meeting analysts? expectations. EPS of $0.76 was lower than the market?s expectations of $0.78 and was down 25% over the year.
Gannett Co. Inc. is eliminating positions today at six newspapers in New Jersey due to declining advertising revenues and the severe economic downturn afflicting the state and the nation.
The company began notifying the affected employees this morning at the Asbury Park Press, the Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, the Home News Tribune in East Brunswick, the Courier News in Bridgewater, the Daily Record in Parsippany and the Daily Journal in Vineland
The latest casualties to media cutbacks are four Gannett New Jersey statehouse reporters: Tom Baldwin, Michael Rispoli, Lisa Ryan, and Greg Volpe. That cuts Gannett?s statehouse bureau from six reporters to two, with only Bob Ingle and Michael Symons surviving the budget cuts.
Gannett Co. Inc will take pretax write-downs of as much as $3 billion in the second quarter, as the publisher of USA Today contends with a slumping newspaper market.
The MyCentralJersey.com site (owned by Gannett, publishing the "reporting" from the Home News Tribune and Courier News) had this headline today (emphasis added):
Update: No relief as heat wave continues
Followed two paragraphs later by this sentence:
And while similar conditions are expected Tuesday, there is some relief in sight.
Gee, I wonder why that chain is losing billions? It couldn't be that they've gutted their local news staffs so badly that their headline writers can't even read the articles?
What's happened to local media in New Jersey and this country is a shame. Media consolidation is a disaster.
For those of you looking ahead for your next political fix, tune into the Asbury Park Press website (www.app.com) tomorrow between 11am-1pm to hear the Democrats running for US Senate compare their visions and records.
And the cool thing is, the proceedings are interactive and stream live on the Internet. Gotta question for a candidate? Then what are you waiting for? Email Randy Bergmann (Gannett's "community conversation editor") at rbergmann@app.com.
Bob Ingle -- the Trenton Bureau chief for Gannett, their lead political columnist and Friday regular on the Jersey Guys show on 101.5 - has declared war on Jon Corzine. We're not sure why, but Ingle has decided that Corzine is corrupt and a terrible person and he is out to get him.
The only problem is that, like with his Chris Christie love affair, Ingle has to make up facts out of whole cloth in order to make the case.
Why is it when people get elected to high position they assume an air of arrogance? President Bush, under fire on all fronts but lately because of firing prosecutors of what looks like political reasons, says he will make White House aides available to Congress for questioning but only in secret and not under oath. What good is that? When the federal prosecutor in New Jersey, Chris Christie, sprinkled subpoenas on the Legislature and the Governor's Office, Gov. Corzine questioned why Christie just didn't ask for documents without the formal subpoena.
Let's look at these two issues. Back in February when Corzine received the subpoenas from Christie, here was the immediate reaction:
Anthony Coley, a spokesman for the governor, said that Mr. Corzine's office would comply with the subpoena and that Mr. Corzine had directed Attorney General Stuart Rabner and his own counsel's office to oversee that compliance.
Here's Bush's reaction from last night to the possibility that Congress may issue subpoenas to Karl Rove and Harriet Miers if they do not agree to testify on the record and under oath:
I will oppose any attempts to subpoena White House officials.
Corzine will comply, Bush says - before any subpoenas are issued - that he will fight. See the difference? Bob Ingle doesn't! Why? This line from Corzine on the day after he got the subpoena:
"The only question I have is, `Why are we doing this?' We'd be more than happy to give this without a subpoena," Corzine said.
For some reason, Ingle thinks it's damning that Corzine would have given Christie whatever he wanted without a subpoena, but Christie had never asked for it. Corzine is hiding nothing, and is willing to hand over whatever Christie wants.
Ingle does have a point that Corzine's refusal to talk about his financial connections to Carla Katz is fishy, and is right to bring it up as a potential conflict of interest. But Corzine also has a point that, assuming he is telling the truth, the relationship was personal and predated his term in office so may be out of bounds. Either way, however, only the press has been interested in seeking answers and the Governor has the right not to answer questions from the press. If a subpoena is issued, my guess is that Corzine will comply.
But my guess or Ingle's guess on the Katz conflict issue is immaterial to the Christmas tree investigation or the Bush Fires US Attorneys imbroglio. Ingle is twisting and spinning and misleading his readers into making connections that are not and have never been there.
Sounds to me like Bob Ingle has a case of Corzine hate, or he's just plain lying to sell newspapers.
