Independent Record

Editorial Judgment at the IR: Let’s Give Dennis Rehberg a Labor Day Column

September 5, 2011

Twelve hours after first reading today’s Independent Record, I’m still amazed that the editors in Butte felt it appropriate to give an opinion column over to Representative Dennis Rehberg on Labor Day. After searching for an apt analogy to describe just how inappropriate that decision was, I kept coming back to Rehberg. Presumably the IR [...]

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The Best News Money Can Buy

August 21, 2011

There are certainly signs that the Independent Record isn’t doing as well financially as its parent company, Lee Enterprises, would like: they’ve downsized staff, fired laid off their editor(*), and implemented a paywall blocking online content. Today’s paper seems to brazenly demonstrate a new way to increase revenue, offering a news story and opinion piece [...]

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Today in the Independent Record: Badly Misleading Information About Graduation Rates

August 18, 2011

I actually feel like kind of a jerk for writing this post, but today’s story in the Independent Record about graduation rates in Montana is such an effective example of why a local newspaper needs an on-site editor to ensure accurate, quality information gets to the public that I felt compelled to call attention to [...]

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Montana News and their Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Coverage of Representative Rehberg

July 30, 2011

I’d like to thank Pogie for the opportunity to do a little writing on his site. This morning’s story about Dennis Rehberg’s vote yesterday in the House of Representatives makes clear just how bad modern journalism can be. It’s nothing more than a press release from the Rehberg camp, touting his entirely meaningless vote. What [...]

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An Epically Short-Sighted Move at Lee Enterprises

June 23, 2011

The Independent Record is confirming what has been rumored around town for the past 20 hours or so, that Lee Enterprises has decided to consolidate the editorial staffs of the Montana Standard and Helena Independent Record, placing both papers under Standard editor Gerry O’Brien. That means that one of the state’s oldest newspapers, and the [...]

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Let’s Play News, Not News at the Helena Independent Record

June 13, 2011

Not News: A national story about Representative Rehberg jeopardizing health, food safety, and tobacco prevention. News: Running a news story about the 12 person Constitution Party’s state convention that included their press release word for word. This, my friends, is news: The Constitution Party of Montana stands without apology in its commitment to the principles [...]

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Health Curriculum OUTRAGE Continues…

April 24, 2011

Could someone please explain to me what would make the 14 angry parents who oppose health information being presented to Helena children happy? Would it involve letting them personally create and deliver each day’s curriculum? Perhaps closed-circuit television connections that would allow them watch and then tase any teachers who express an opinion with which [...]

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Huge Credit (And Two Complaints) About the Independent Record

April 6, 2011

One of the most read posts I have written on this site was a diatribe about what I thought the Independent Record needed to do to remain relevant and profitable in an environment that has become increasingly challenging for traditional newspapers. At that time, I wrote in part: Take on some of the sacred cows [...]

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