[RP TownTalk] Reporters on the list serve

Fri Feb 27 15:32:07 UTC 2009

The reporter in question was asked by one person that we know of not to 
cover this topic out of concern for the rooster. However, the reporter 
contacted me off list and offline for a quote on the story. I didn't 
raise any concerns about the coverage and told her my story. I don't 
know of anyone else that expressed this issue.

And, there seems to be a huge diversity of reactions to the rooster - 
from it should be turned into code enforcement, to it should be 
protected from code enforcement.

Incidentally, I haven't seen or heard from the rooster since before the 
article was printed so he may have already moved on to greener pastures 
literally or figuratively.

Lisa

On Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at  5:09 PM, Nina Faye wrote:

Maya, I think the point of the complaints pertains to the reporter being 
asked not to discuss an "illegal" bird that has become part of the 
neighborhood.  Printing the information showed a lack of sensitivity to 
community desires, code enforcement issues, and community culture.  It 
is understandable to troll for stories, but it is also understandable 
that there would be backlash when "lines" are crossed.  By the way, we 
used to stay at a bed and breakfast in a very upscale area of 
Philadelphia near Fairmount Park, where the neighbors had pet chickens. 
The neighborhood loved those chickens, and we enjoyed them as well.  I 
have also read articles about chickens in Seattle.  When the topic came 
up on the HOPE list, a number of people commented that there was only an 
unpleasant smell when they were not properly cared for--just like  dog 
poop and litter boxes.  Nina

--- On Thu, 2/26/09, thebee32 at aol.com <thebee32 at aol.com> wrote:
 From: thebee32 at aol.com <thebee32 at aol.com>
Subject: [RP TownTalk] Reporters on the list serve
To: towntalk at riverdale-park.org
Date: Thursday, February 26, 2009, 3:39 PM

So, as a former Gazette reporter who covered your town, I decided to 
stay out of this conversation. But considering it's been about a week of 
people complaining about Ms. Izadi's use of TownTalk to find story 
ideas, I decided to add my 2 cents.

Like many people have said, TownTalk is a public forum and completely 
searchable via quick Internet search. Check out your former posts, by 
month, going back to August 2005 here: 
http://riverdale-park.org/pipermail/towntalk/. Anything that is written 
on here completely public. If you don't like the idea of anyone with an 
Internet connection being able to know your thoughts on any given topic, 
don't post it on the Internet. It's that simple.

I can say I haven't read the rooster article, but I do know how many 
articles I've written after getting the idea from the list serve - 
articles that many of you TownTalkers raved about and linked to on this 
list  serve. How else do you think we would know about open houses, 
international nights, mosaic murals at Riverdale Elementary school, or 
different events at the Farmers Market or Riversdale, or the Riverdale 
Railfans? It's rare that we get an e-mail directly asking us to cover 
something, yet these are all things that I was personally thanked for 
writing - things I learned of on TownTalk

While I understand some of you might be upset about the one rooster 
article, think about the numerous articles the Gazette has written over 
the years to highlight the exciting things that happen in your town 
before you call for a boycott of a paper whose entire purpose is to 
feature the things that happen in your community. Think about what you 
can read in the Gazette about Riverdale Park as opposed to the extremely 
negative stories that are usually the only ones to get picked up by the 
bigger papers - such as those two  incidents in the department of public 
works that happened over the past few years that I know we'd all like to 
forget 
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/16/AR2007071601652_pf.html 
and 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/13/AR2007121301540_pf.html).

Just my 2 cents, written from the perspective of someone who thoroughly 
enjoyed covering your town and is saddened by the response I've seen 
over the past week.

-- 
Maya T. Prabhu
Quintana St., Riverdale Heights

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