If you have questions about how the Daily News makes editorial decisions, this blog has the answers. Editorial page editor Matt Zencey and writers Frank Gerjevic and Rosemary Shinohara will discuss what they're working on, answer questions and ask your perspective on issues facing Alaska.
Matt Zencey
Matt Zencey joined the Daily News as an editorial writer in 1985 and was named editorial page editor in May 2007. He has won several. "Best editorial writing" awards from the Alaska Press Club and was a Nieman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard University. He lives on the west side of Anchorage, where he enjoys the best weather in town and easy access to the Coastal Trail. E-mail Matt at mzencey@adn.com
Frank Gerjevic
Frank Gerjevic has worked at the Daily News since 1978, where he's been sports editor, copy editor, reporter and columnist. He's been an editorial writer since 1998. He began his newspaper career with the Anchorage Times in 1975. E-mail Frank at fgerjevic@adn.com
Rosemary Shinohara
Rosemary Shinohara is an editorial writer who has lived most of her life in Alaska. She has spent most of her career as a reporter or editor at the Daily News. She covered construction of the Alaska oil pipeline, the Legislature, schools and urban affairs. She has also been an editor for NPR's All Things Considered, and has written for the Associated Press. E-mail Rosemary at rshinohara.com
Can't blame gays and minorities for this..... - 6/22/2009 2:33 pm
Permanent Fund Dividend = Loser magnet?? - 6/18/2009 11:10 am
Why only one opinion page today? - 6/15/2009 1:47 pm
Don Young, in classic Don Young form - 5/28/2009 2:31 pm
Gold exhibit at the new museum is secure - 5/27/2009 4:21 pm
The CIA vs. Pelosi flap - 5/20/2009 11:52 am
Announcing: AK Voices bloggers - 5/18/2009 5:46 pm
Why renewable energy? - 5/18/2009 5:33 pm
'Beg the question'? I beg to differ.... - 5/14/2009 5:22 pm
Letters we didn't finish reading.... - 5/12/2009 5:44 pm
Big Brother is not watching... not in this case, anyway - 5/7/2009 4:34 pm
NYT writer says "bad idea" to Bristol Palin's new role - 5/7/2009 10:04 am
Wasilla strikes again - 4/28/2009 3:00 pm
This week's best line from a letter to the editor - 4/24/2009 11:34 am
River fire recycled - 4/23/2009 9:23 am
Who voted to protect the permanent fund? - 4/22/2009 1:37 pm
No TV week - 4/21/2009 3:38 pm
Where's Unfiltered Letters?? - 4/20/2009 1:44 pm
Our jailhouse correspondents - 4/20/2009 1:41 pm
Juneau inaction - 4/16/2009 9:17 am
No room to ramble - 4/14/2009 4:18 pm
National columnist's take on Levi Johnston and co. - 4/13/2009 9:48 am
JUNE 22, 2009 - 2:33 PM
In light of the tumultuous debate here in Anchorage over the gay rights ordinance, this observation seemed worth noting, from the editor of the progressive news aggregator "BuzzFlash":
http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/8786
It's entitled, "Gays, Minorities and Liberals Didn't Bring Down Wall Street: GOP White Males Did."
It's a good point, at least as to gays and minorities. (Some liberals had a hand in pieces of the deregulation/non-regulation that produced the mess we're in....)
A sampling of the full text:
"Here we have the white male Republicans of Wall Street cratering our economy, only to be bailed out by middle and working class taxpayers. The Wall Street river boat gamblers lost their bets and then we gave them hundreds of billions of dollars in welfare. "
JUNE 18, 2009 - 11:10 AM
At ADN's letters to the editor, we received this query from a woman from Florida:
"This may sound very strange...and I really don't know who else to contact, I have heard that your lovely state will "pay" people to come live there, provide a home, a car, etc.
"I was told there is a website to go to that provides this information but I can't seem to get the web address.
"Is this true ? If so, I would really like to get more information about this, as myself and my sister would be very interested in leaving Florida...believe it or not !
"Thank you in advance for any help you can provide me."
JUNE 15, 2009 - 1:47 PM
Opinion has only one page in today's paper (Monday, June 15) and we'll have only one in Tuesday's paper, too. It's only a temporary contraction, as the paper balances the overall amount of space allocated to ads and to news and opinion content. We'll have more opinion for you in the print edition later in the week.
- Matt Zencey, editorial page editor
MAY 28, 2009 - 2:31 PM
Congressman Don Young spoke Thursday to a gathering of “Alaskans for Liberty” at an eastside Anchorage café.
Don was in fine form, alternately bombastic and charming. Here are a few gems from his performance:
About House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her dealings with conservative-leaning House Democrats: “I will give the speaker credit. (Dramatic pause.) She is a mean woman.” (He says she keeps them in line by threatening them.)
He defended his willingness to discuss increasing the federal gasoline tax: “Who likes roads? If you want to have infrastructure, then you have to pay for it.”
MAY 27, 2009 - 4:21 PM
From Rosemary Shinohara:
I got a tour of the $106 million addition to the Anchorage Museum today (Wednesday).
I like the space agey, glass and metallic facade. But the best thing about the addition is that the improvements to electronic security, climate control and other inner workings mean we can now get exhibits like the travelling "Gold" exhibit -- a spectacular show with ancient gold coins and jewelry and bullions worth untold millions.
It's so secure that my group of touring journalists had to wait a bit until the guards reached the floor. Len Anderson from KSKA joked in an aside, "I don't blame them, I wouldn't trust reporters either."
MAY 20, 2009 - 11:52 AM
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting has a great post talking about how the media is taking the CIA's word over Nancy Pelosi in the flap over what the House speaker knew about waterboarding, and when she knew it.
FAIR points out that the CIA is hardly "Honest Abe" when it comes to informing Congress about its activities. The post notes famous instances when the CIA outright lied to Congress. FAIR also links to media reports about errors/corrections the CIA has made about who it briefed and when on the "enhanced interrogation" activities.
MAY 18, 2009 - 5:46 PM
Want intelligent conversation about Alaska issues? Check out our new opinion blog, Alaska Voices. We've recruited a collection of well-informed, thoughtful Alaskans to contribute, and more will be joining them as we go along.
Our bloggers are just getting started this week. Check out postings by Kirk Wickersham, talking about suicide in rural Alaska, and Bill Sherwonit, musing about politics, “literary” writing and the fate of his morning newspaper. Kevin Clarkson notes that many a governor ran for president before Sarah Palin. Dianne Holmes laments the lack of civic involvement in Anchorage - which is only going to get worse with summer arriving and our great run of sunny weather.
MAY 18, 2009 - 5:33 PM
The panel that opened the big renewable energy conference in Anchorage Monday morning offered some good answers to skeptics who might ask, “Why get all hot and bothered about promoting renewable energy?”
Ron Lehr, a consultant to the American Wind Energy Association and a former utility commissioner in Colorado, pointed out it’s not a good idea to depend on one fuel source for 90-plus percent of your electricity. (Almost all of Anchorage’s electricity comes from natural gas, with a bit of hydro power thrown in.)
It’s impossible to predict what fuel prices will be, Lehr said. If you guess wrong, and they’re higher than predicted, you hurt people – utilities just pass the extra costs straight through to their customers. If you guess wrong, and fuel prices are lower – your alternative energy investments can be considered as insurance, or hedging, against higher fuel prices – a prudent thing to do when your business relies so heavily on a commodity whose price is so volatile.
MAY 14, 2009 - 5:22 PM
As a journalist for 20+ years, I have committed my share of sins against the English language. We write in a hurry for people who read in a hurry, so we cut corners.
We use nouns as adjectives, so we can save a preposition or an apostrophe. (We write “The government case” instead of “the government’s case.”)
For variety’s sake, we will use terms interchangeably, neglecting potentially important shades of meaning. (“Jail,” for example, typically refers to a place where inmates are held pending trial or for short sentences. “Prison” is where convicts go to serve longer sentences.)
MAY 12, 2009 - 5:44 PM
We recently received a 2-page, single-spaced letter from one Stanley A. Wilson of Honolulu Hawaii, which began this way:
"Dear Mr. C.I.A. Director:
"During my tour of duty with the 3rd Armored Cavalry, a photo was taken of a C.I.A. surveillance satellite radar beam entering my head. The beam paralyzed me... "
That's a letter I definitely didn't finish reading.
- Matt Zencey
MAY 7, 2009 - 4:34 PM
Maybe I was having a mild case of paranoia this week, but driving to and from work, I couldn’t help notice that just about every intersection has what looks suspiciously like a spy camera. The crossbar that holds the overhead traffic light also has a little box thingy that looks like a security camera, pointing right at the intersection, and right next to it is a big floodlight.
To my suspicious eye, it looked like the kind of rig the city would use if it is going to take pictures of people running red lights. Shades of photo radar, right??
Wrong.
City traffic engineer Bob Kniefel says it’s just part of the system that lets fire trucks and ambulances pre-empt red lights so they can respond faster. The city was slowly adding the units to intersections until it got a $3 million state grant to do the entire city, a total of 260 locations. That’s when I started noticing them on the route I usually travel.
MAY 7, 2009 - 10:04 AM
New York Times columnist Gail Collins wrote in today's New York Times about Bristol Palin's becoming a national ambassador promoting abstinence from sex.
Here's an excerpt:
But surely, when it comes to combating teen pregnancy, the Palin family has done enough damage already. What worse message could you send to teenage girls than the one they delivered at the Republican convention: If your handsome but somewhat thuglike boyfriend gets you with child, he will clean up nicely, propose marriage, and show up at an important family event wearing a suit and holding your hand. At which point you will get a standing ovation.
APRIL 28, 2009 - 3:00 PM
Another letter-writer from Wasilla has come up with the best letters line of the last few days. This is from Stuart Thompson, writing about the U.S. use of torture:
"Does torture work? Burning witches and augury from chicken entrails are historically credited with similar rates of success."
You can read Thompson's letter in the April 29 edition of Web-extra letters here.
APRIL 24, 2009 - 11:34 AM
Jack E. Miller of Wasilla wrote this one, in a letter about how elected officials should represent us:
"We do not want you to vote your conscience; we want you to vote our conscience."
APRIL 23, 2009 - 9:23 AM
One little river fire and they never forget.
The mayor's office wasn't content with the straightforward Earth Day hook for its Anchorage energy savings and conservation projects press release. They just had to remind people that the first Earth Day in 1970 was inspired not just by pollution in general but in part by the burning of the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland in 1969.
Forty years ago. Guess there's no statute of limitations on river fires.
As an old Cleveland boy, it's a painful memory. The City of Dreams takes enough of a beating without resurrecting its past as icon of Toxic Nation.
APRIL 22, 2009 - 1:37 PM
In the waning days of the legislative session, the House took an important vote on protecting the permanent fund. At issue was whether investment rules should be loosened so the fund can invest in an in-state gas pipeline.
It was a reprise of a debate that has run for thirty years: Is the permanent fund to be a savings account, or is it a source of money for politicians to promote favored “development” projects?
The House, in a surprising turn of events, voted to keep the permanent fund a savings account, not convert it to a development project fund. Kudos to Spenard Rep. Mike Doogan (former A.D.N. columnist) for pushing the amendment that removed gas line investment from the list of things the permanent fund could invest in.
APRIL 21, 2009 - 3:38 PM
My son Joe has signed the family to a pledge of no television for a week. It's a school project. I think it means no screens at all - no computer, no movies.
He's six. I wonder if he's old enough to handle a draw knife. Instead of surfing for Spongebob he can take the dog outside and they can bark some logs.
On Monday night he asked me if he could play with his Leapster.
"I don't know. Better check with your mother." I wasn't sure of the rules. Meanwhile the answer was no.
Now that TV is off limits the boys yearn to turn it on. Suddenly Legos are boring, sword fights are dull. And accidental violations are easy.
APRIL 20, 2009 - 1:44 PM
We have discontinued the online forum known as "Letters Unfiltered."
Editor Pat Dougherty explains why:
"Too many of the participants failed to post according to the Web site's terms of use, and we did not have the staff to police it ourselves."
APRIL 20, 2009 - 1:41 PM
Our letters desk receives a steady stream of mail from people in jail.
In the latest batch, Roderick Williams, #15192-006, wrote us from way across the continent in Pennsylvania’s Allenwood federal penitentiary. He seemed to think we might have missed the news about Ted Stevens. He included a “press release” with “breaking news” about the case plus a New York Times clip about recent developments. Williams claimed “my case had 10 times the misconduct and corruption that was in the good senator’s trial.”
A pretty standard jailhouse complaint, but he did make a good point – “If these people are bold enough to commit these acts against probably the most powerful man in the Senate, you could imagine what they would do to a person who couldn’t afford a private attorney.”
APRIL 16, 2009 - 9:17 AM
A note on the House Majority Web page this morning, four days before adjournment, said,
Bills On The Move Today : Thursday, Apr. 16, 2009
No Bill Activity for Today.
-- Rosemary Shinohara
Important warning about e-mails purporting to be from the adn.com staff.
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