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The Week Ahead
Week three of the legislative session gets rolling this morning. Check out the House calendar and Senate calendar. Links to all committee agendas are found on the monthly calendar.
Tuesday night, President Bush attempts to recapture the national agenda with his State of the Union speech at 7 p.m. If you want to join a GOP house party to watch the address with other Republicans, click here.
Media Watch
Are Newspapers Dead?
Respected National Journal columnist William Powers, who writes about the news media, doesn’t give newspapers a lot of respect:
“Going out to walk the dog a few days ago, I grabbed one of those plastic newspaper-delivery sacks that make such a fine canine-cleanup tool, and had a sad thought: If newspapers ever disappear, I'll sure miss these bags. … Inside the media, where the demise of hard-copy newspapers is widely assumed to be inevitable, the shadow has now fallen on magazines.”
Despite Powers’ pessimism, I love newspapers and I think they’ll be around for a very long time, although there will be many changes. I think newspapers provide an incredible value with amazing variety delivered daily to my doorstep (well, at the bottom of my driveway).
I like the fact that smart reporters and editors have gathered and organized the most important news of the day on dozens of different topics in quick-read fashion that I can scan in 20 minutes and stay informed about my community, state, country and the world. I love newspaper layout and typography, with editors guiding me through the most important information with appropriate headlines and story placement. I like the amazing variety – politics, government, local news, national news, international news, prep sports, college sports, professional sports, obituaries, comics, crossword puzzles, food, automobiles, real estate, investing, business, weather, stock quotes, editorials, letter-to-the-editor, local and national columnists, and so forth. I even like glancing through the ads.
Probably the only place there is more variety (but a million times more junk to sift through) is, you guessed it, the Internet. Young people prefer to read their news on the Internet, so as readership of the printed paper declines as people like me get old and die, newspapers will increase readership of their on-line editions. They will also likely deliver a version of the paper electronically that retains many of the of the layout and typographic advantages of the print edition. We’ll also see a lot more collaboration between newspapers and radio/TV stations as broadband Internet access becomes more ubiquitous and news consumers expect to see news stories containing text, video and audio.
Newspapers are definitely going to change. But with their large staffs of skilled reporters, editors, photographers, and graphic designers, they will find ways to gather, organize and deliver the news in serviceable and profitable ways.
Blog Watch
At the Senate Site blog, Sen. Pete Knudsen and Trib editor Dan Harrie clarify perceived mischaracterizations (see also here)... The UAC blog has a post on County Officials Day at the Legislature... Gospel of Mark praises and explains Rep. Steve Mascaro's H.B. 122... Planet Legislature says former Sen. James Evans is claiming false credit... Charley Foster says of this: "5,000 words in need of a little perspective. Rocky's relationship with the media is positively Nixonian" -- and of this: "If using the state symbol on Utah’s commemorative quarter represents for you 'another flash point for Utah's religious divide,' then I submit that to a great degree Utah’s religious divide is a figment of your carefully cultivated and finely tuned sense of petty resentment"... Paul Rolly has the rest of a story involving the S.L. County Council, Karl Hendrickson, and David Yocom.
Sheepherder Jokes
Funny and insightful essay by Clark Caras, who provides a sheepherders’ perspective on Brokeback Mountain in the Sunday Tribune.
Washington Watch
How does Sen. Orrin Hatch’s popularity in Utah stack up against the popularity of the 99 other U.S. Senators? With a 62% approval rating, he ranks 22nd, according to Survey USA analysis of surveys done nationwide. Hawaii’s Daniel Inouye and Maine’s Olympia Snowe are the most popular, while Montana’s Conrad Burns is the least popular.
Hatch: NSA Surveillance Legal
Sen. Orrin Hatch on the NSA surveillance controversy: "You want an opinion legally, the fact of the matter is there are at least two Circuit Court appeals cases that would have backed, that have backed, in essence, what the President has decided to do. There are also inherent powers of the President that cannot be done away with just because of congressional actions. And keep in mind, the 4th Amendment itself says 'unreasonable searches and seizures.' I think most every American if it’s really put to them and they really are concerned about terrorism should come to the conclusion that you aren’t going to call these 'unreasonable' approaches to try and find out who is against us" (Human Events); Hatch is also quoted on need to develop new energy supplies in op-ed defending oil industry (Star-Telegram).
Matheson Notes Blast Anniversary
Rep. Jim Matheson notes a "somber anniversary" -- 55 years since the first Nuclear Test Site blast (see press release).
D.C. FAIR Act Wouldn't Muddle Utah Political Districts
Op-ed says the D.C. FAIR Act, which would temporarily add a House seat for Utah, wouldn't change the makeup of Utah political districts since the proposal would make the temporary seat at-large, eliminating the need for redistricting (Washington Post).
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