Tag Archives: reporter

‘Freedom of information,’ except…

By Joel Thurtell After all the hoopla about the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News’ battle to open more of the Kwamegate text messages to public view, I wanted to learn what the legal issues were. So I headed for … Continue reading

Posted in Bad government, Kwamegate | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

No files? It’s circus court

By Joel Thurtell Who ever heard of a court that works without files? Sounds like something Franz Kafka would make up. You know, that insane novel of his, “The Trial,” where a guy spends his life trying to make contact … Continue reading

Posted in Bad government, Kwamegate | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ethics “Paralysis” Charade: I

By Joel Thurtell All of a sudden, journalists are dissing John Conyers. Time was when no reporter in his or her right mind would criticize the congressman from Detroit, the second-most-senior member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Time was … Continue reading

Posted in Bad government, censorship, JC & Me, Joel's J School, People | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Double standard at the good ol’ Freep

By Joel Thurtell Back in 2003 when I was investigating U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr.’s abuse of staffers, I had anonymous sources for the first stories, and that was very okay with editors. Something changed, though, and I was prohibited … Continue reading

Posted in Bad government, censorship, JC & Me, Joel's J School | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Message from the Messenger: You’re fired!

By Joel Thurtell Guess they showed me who’s boss. The door did not slam behind me — I got the news at home, by phone. After three months of writing for a liberal blog, I’m out. Liberal or conservative, it … Continue reading

Posted in Joel's J School, retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Kwamegate + Sludgegate = elitism, entitlement

By Joel Thurtell A few minutes after six this morning, having brought the day’s issues of The Detroit Free Press and The New York Times in and while I measured coffee into the java machine, it occurred to me that … Continue reading

Posted in Adventures on the Rouge, Bad government, Bloggery, censorship, JC & Me, Kwamegate, People | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Slantmeisters of the Times

By Joel Thurtell [donation] Good morning. Welcome to another lecture at Joel’s J School, where we teach the principles of news gathering and writing as they are actually practiced in the real workaday world of Journalism. Here at Joel’s J … Continue reading

Posted in Joel's J School | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rebellion at joelontheroad.com

By Joel Thurtell [donation] Oh boy. Have I got trouble. The staff at joelontheroad.com is up in arms. Absolutely PO’ed. Nobody’s writing articles. They’re all griping about me. Luke Warm, my roving reporter, is boiling mad, and that’s not like … Continue reading

Posted in future of newspapers, Joel's J School | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Wayne County Circuit Court file room: Closed till further

By Joel Thurtell [donation] Imagine the most populous county in Michigan with nearly 2 million people, more than 768,000 households and nearly 35,000 businesses located on 2,000 square miles. Now imagine that county closing its court files to the public. … Continue reading

Posted in Bad government | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Fourth of July revery

By Joel Thurtell What if we lived in a country where companies could ban employees from voting? How democratic would that be? Well, it hasn’t happened. But it could. And there is an industry where political activity already is looked … Continue reading

Posted in Joel's J School | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment