Mike DeWolfe : The Daily Edition

A trash removal company found a skeletal body in an abandonned truck in VicWest. A-Channel didn't have juicy footage or a good first-hand report, so they went for the B-Story: desperate Times-Colonist and their sister media, floundering Chek-TV, went for the kill-- photographing the skeleton before the police could cordon off the scene. It's amusing that both of them are trying to make hay over a dead old man in a truck. A-Channel is trying to take the high ground and make an excuse for not getting the shot, standing behind respect for the family. If Chek-TV had any attractive people working for them, I'm sure they'd pimp them out, but short of that, they had a picture of a dead guy. I'm one shut-in and I still scoop these two professional organizations all by myself every now and again. If these two channels and one "paper" had to stand-up against a cadre of organized and diligent citizen reporters, they'd be dead in the water. The only nut to crack:...

We are having a garage sale this weekend! The traditional rigamorole for doing a garage sale is to prep your stuff and then go down to the newspaper (the Times-Colonist). You are supposed to stand in a line-up of advertisers and wait for the first available window. Place your ad and people will come in droves. Hooray! Today, I went to the Classifieds department of the TC. There are two wickets for classifieds-- one was closed. The other one had the only other customer there: an elderly woman showing off pictures of her cats. Eventually, she figured out that I was waiting and she took her cat pictures home. I stepped up. I wanted my ad to simply read the address, what we're selling and the hours. Nope. They gave me three lines to say what I wanted, but they insisted-- INSISTED-- that the ad starts with "Victoria." The "Victoria" ads are all lumped under a sub-heading of "Victoria", so why have line-after-line repeat the same phrase? I said, "That...

The Times-Colonist cares... they really do... Too bad their web site hints at their true colors and intentions.

reporter Originally uploaded by triviaqueen Are bloggers reporters? If they document current events for distribution to an audience, what differentiates them from schmoes who work two floors up from a printing press? Two things make the difference-- or you think they do. First, reports and newspaper photographers get paid. Bloggers don't get paid in any more than online cred. The truth is much blurier. In real cities (I do not live in a real city-- I live in a town with Tiny-Man syndrome-- a town called Victoria), reporters earn good incomes-- five digit and maybe even six-digit salaries. In Victoria, some reporters trade across from reporting to careers at Subway where the money is the same, but the hours and job security are better. Photographers largely go unpaid as volunteers who get the privilege of special access to special events. Bloggers are also mostly unpaid. For every Perez Hilton, there are 10,000 Mike DeWolfes. My blog is my surrogate for a blanket email to people; pe...