October Notes: celebrating some strong local journalism!

Sorry, I've been working on some stories that aren't quite there yet - but have felt bad about not posting! A little-known secret in journalism is that sometimes they never get there. My former editor at The Hook and I have often talked about the many strong stories we didn't publish because we had too many doubts about the sources, the facts didn't quite add up, or even because something didn't quite feel right. Of course, no one's going to complain about getting less news. ;)

One thing that never occurred to us — extorting people for money by threatening to publish negative coverage about them. But that appears to be what one local podcaster has done. Let's be clear. No serious journalist or news organization would ever consider extorting someone with the threat of negative coverage. And if they did, they would lose all credibility.

And speaking of credibility.…