THE LEADER & PRESS ALSO THOUGHT INJURED CHILDREN WERE FUNNY

While I'm on this subject, you hear some Ozarkers complain about Gannett run News Leader and how it isn't as good as the old Springfield Leader & Press. One idiotic complaint you see from some of the racist who write Letters to the Editor (and was addressed quite a bit by Brian Lewis when he was at the News Leader) is that the News Leader puts too many photos of African-Americans and gay people on the front page.

I guess they want to go back to 1960, when the Leader & Press thought it was funny to make fun of a little girl with bruised and blacked eyes. This is not funny, it is disgusting and looks painful. Of course, Ozarkers enjoy seeing pain inflicted on children. They also were happy that this child was neither gay not African-American.

BLAKE SHELTON SUCKS

I can't believe this guy won CMA Male Vocalist of the Year. I never heard any of this guy's music until Tuesday night when I caught his performance on the Jimmy Kimmel Show. The only reason I saw that was because I was preparing to watch a DVD (KSPR and my DVD player are both on channel 4). As you readers know, I've been a hardcore David Letterman watcher since junior high.

This Blake Shelton guy screamed some horrible song called "Kiss My Redneck @$$" or something like that. It was one of those songs that the guys that beat me up in junior high would have liked. This kind of music spawns bullies. Sounded like it was written by that doofus that writes that Patriot's Pen column in the News Leader. I CAN'T BELIEVE ANYONE SANE PERSON WOULD LISTEN TO THAT!!! IT IS ALMOST AS BAD AS THAT CHICKEN FRIED SONG!!!

I notice that Shelton is from Ada, Oklahoma and the Oklahoman is promoting his appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel Show. If I was on Kimmel, Conan, or Letterman, The Lebanon Daily Record wouldn't even mention it. Instead they would run a front page story about a housewife who was in Vicki Hartzler's cooking class or a guy who dated Billy Long's sister.

Opinions, like these, are why I'm considered the Super Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

OLD PEOPLE ENJOY NEGATIVE STORIES ABOUT YOUNG PEOPLE

I had a news director at one local radio station that ordered me to write traffic accident reports so that it sounded as if the younger person caused the accident. Even if the Missouri State Highway Patrol said in their report that the older driver was at fault, the younger driver was to be fingered as the cause of the accident because, "Older listeners and the advertisers like it that way. That way if an advertiser caused the accident, they won't be upset with us." That news director also wrote several negative stories about youth because "the older listeners like to hear bad things about teenagers."

Reuters/MSNBC had a story to about research conducted in German on this subject. Yes, old people do like negative stories about young people. I believe that many news organizations in the Ozarks (News Leader???) feel as my former news director did and these German researchers have shown. However, THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE NEGATIVE YOUTH STORIES NEED TO TAKE PRECEDENT OVER POSITIVE STORIES ABOUT YOUNG PEOPLE!!!

After all, you are reporting the news, not writing for 21 Jump Street.

Of course, opinions, like this one, is why I'm considered the Super Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

BEING IN THE MEDIA USED TO MEAN SOMETHING

I've been thinking back to my college days lately. From the moment I entered Missouri State University (then Southwest Missouri State University) in the fall of 1987, I knew what I wanted to major in and what field I want to pursue: media. I felt I could do work in any media field: radio, TV or newspaper. At that time there was no such creature as "the Internet."

After working for over twenty years in all three forms of media, I feel that being a member of the media is being rendered meaningless by corporate greed and their need to pander to those who hate the media.

For instance, at least two of the major corporate radio chains have cut the jobs of local talent and replaced them with inexperienced, untrained, uneducated part-timers, who are simply there to make sure the automation runs a feed from another city. This has already caused some embarrassment for one company during a recent tornado.

The talk radio industry enjoys hiring people who are outside broadcasting or journalism to host shows. A big trend is to hire out-of-work politicians, political consultants or business people to be "the voice of reason." Many of the talk radio host (some local host included) have their "callers" prearranged. These are friends reading from scripts or are political consultants masquerading as "regular people." (How many regular people do you know named "Jack-Jack") Local some of the talk radio shows have very little screening or gate keeping. Part of this is due to time constraints of the "open forum" nature of the show, but also because Bubba Earl Thorndike from Dry Knobb or Betty June Nosbey from Koshginong gets upset if they don't get on the air to give their opinion.

Locally, the News Leader has let go of several well-known, respected and talented journalist in favor of giving a column to people like this redneck idiot.

Websites for local TV stations and newspapers have "comment sections" which allow Bubba Earl and Betty June to slam a story if they don't like it and overrule what ever KOLR's Joy Robertson or KYTV's Ethan Forhetz said. "That'll learn dem thar media folks a lessin."

And don't get me started on the "stars" created by reality TV!

RBR/TVBR reports that a Republican lawmaker in Michigan wants journalist to be licensed by the state. Bad part, I agree with a little of this. A law requiring a journalist to get a license is wrong (especially when you read the provisions), however, holding corporate media management responsible for hiring skilled, educated journalist rather than amateur hacks that "represent the average citizen" when most of these people sound like Klan members.

What in the long run cost less? The salary of a good journalist/media person or a lawsuit after Bubba and Betty slandered someone or didn't air a tornado warning.

I guess what bothers me is the fact that I got into the media to be a "voice" people listened to and trusted. Every place I have worked has forced me into the background while making the amateur the "voice" that I should be. Supposedly, their opinions and interest are more important than mine. That is why I had to start this blog is because some people in the commercial media don't feel I represent the "typical Ozarks view" or my ideas "might upset" Ozarkers.

Of course, that is why I'm considered the Super Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

BTW: Doesn't Paris Hilton make a cute reporter?

MORE GATEKEEPING NEEDED BY THE LOCAL MEDIA

I have come to the conclusion that concern for integrity is lacking in the local media. Part of this comes from the incident this last week involving the News Leader’s editorial page, the other from my own job experience.

I believe part of the problem is the obsession with amateur talent or outside participation. First of all, let’s clear the air on why this has suddenly become popular. It is not to give the common man a voice as much as it is to save money. Amateur talent in the newspaper editorial section or on
talk radio is cheaper than hiring a j-school grad or person with a media degree. Think for a minute how many byline reporters and columnist are no longer with the News Leader. Now the News Leader gives us garbage like the “Patriot’s Pen.”

I have trouble with this guy in the News Leader being called “a patriot.” I feel “patriot” is a title you have to earn after death. A true patriot would never consider him/herself a patriot. A person who dubs himself a patriot is usually a major douche bag.

The overall racist tone of the column was bad enough but the fact the News Leader defended this guy and his use of the term “colored” shows a lack of integrity by management. This is not the News Leader pandering to their redneck critics in the community rather than adhere to journalistic standards.

This leads me to a similar problem I faced in my job this week. A caller on one of the radio programs I produce began advocating violence toward Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig. I cut the caller off. It turns out the caller was a friend of the host. It was a rigged call to make it look like people actually agreed with the opinion expressed by the host. I’ve told my
supervisor I didn’t want to be associated with this kind of stuff as a shows producer. I feel very strongly about what my name is attached to. I may find there are repercussions to this decision, but contrary to what one former talk radio show host and his sycophantic fans would have you believe, I have morals and standards.

I feel we need to work on our integrity when it comes to the amateur commentators. There needs to be more gatekeeping by the local media, if we are going to allow people without any formal media training to "take over" our air waves and editorial pages. They should have to adhere to the same rules as the real media people or we will end up looking like the hillbillies people in the major markets think we are.

Of course, opinions like these are why I’m considered the Super-Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu- HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

BTW: If you haven’t read Rhetorica's Andy Cline’s comments on the News Leader “colored” scandal, I’ve included links to those articles.

1. Failure to Edit
2. Ham-Handed Headline
3. Gannett Blog Reacts to "Colored"
4. On Flux
5. Moving On

NEWS LEADER CARTOON FROM 1960

I found this editorial cartoon in a July 26, 1960 edition of the Springfield News Leader and Press. According to the caption, it was drawn by Lucy Van Pelt of Peanuts. It is unknown if this is in fact the work of Charles Schulz or News Leader's Bob Palmer. It is better than the cartoons the News Leader currently runs (especially those from the guy from Branson).

Of course, opinions like this are why I'm considered the Super-Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

NEWS LEADER RUNS LETTER FROM OZARKER UPSET BY GARFIELD

Everybody knows that I find most of the Letters to The Editor in the Springfield News Leader to be the same old garbage day after day. The fact that the News Leader considers right-wing propaganda written by local hillbillies worthy of print bothers me. Not a day goes by without a media bashing letter. Within the last week we saw a return of the "Springfield-needs-to-stand-up-against-sex-in-entertainment" letters that have been a staple of the News Leader since the early 60's crusades against ballet on Ed Sullivan Show, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and the Normal Heart. Trust me, if any would be O.K. Armstrongs or Jean Dixons spring up, I'll be the first to make fun of them.

With that said, let us look at what will go down as the goofiest Letter to the Editor of the year. It was from Tad Pemberly of Springfield and tackled a serious subject. Apparently, a few days back Garfield said he loved tuna. Tad was upset.

"I find this one word to be the ultimate betrayal to all Garfield fans everywhere. Everyone knows that Garfield loves lasagna, not tuna. The statement that Garfield loves tuna is a slap to the face of all newspaper readers who have enjoyed the rotund tabby cat's 31 years of comic strip hilarity. Furthermore, this strip demonstrates Davis' lack of audience awareness."

Tad goes on to say, " To summarize, Jim Davis needs to put down the pen. This latest strip in a long line of offenses toward his audience is simply too much to bear for one reader. In addition, the comic strip editors of the Springfield News-Leader need to take better care in their reading to ensure the strips printed in their comics section do not offend."

In most areas of the country, this would be seen as a stupid letter. Bad part is this is the Ozarks. There will be about thirty letters that agree with this guy. The News Leader has published many letters from comic strip haters over the years. Dick Tracy and Spiderman were removed from the News Leader and Daily News in the late 70's because of complaints from tight-assed Ozarks parents. Throughout the 80's, the News Leader ran letters from people who hated Doonesbury and the Far Side. Also in the late 80s and 90s there was a crusade from a psycho-idiot (who claimed to live in a dumpster behind the Gene Taylor Main Post Office) to have the funnies removed from the News Leader because "life-is-too-depressing-to-be-enjoying-humor." Boo-hoo, cry me a river.

Reading this letter from Tad Pemberly reminded me the time Steve Allen read a Letter to the Editor of the New York Daily News criticizing artist Zach Mosley's Smiling Jack comic strip for "a lack of realism in dealing with aviation and sex." Allen would usually assign the name of a famous person to the letters he read to make a joke (similar to the e-mails on the Jim Rome Show). Allen said the letter was written by Milton Caniff, the artist behind the rival comic strip "Steve Canyon." Maybe Tad Pemberly is the guy who draws "Heathcliff."

I'm sure within a few days some idiot will write a letter to the editor entitled "Obama Brainwashed Garfield Into Say He Loves Tuna Instead of Lasagna." If I ran the News Leader I would run nationally syndicated liberal columnist instead of letters from crazy Ozarkers. Of course opinions like this are why I'm considered the Super Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

OZARKERS WERE AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF BUT NOT FASTER PUSSYCAT

While looking through some Springfield News Leaders from 1966, I found an ad for the Hi-M Drive-In. They were showing Russ Meyer's Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! The interesting part is that this same week another theater in town was showing Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Oddly enough, there was a noted trouble making preacher leading a crusade against of the Burton/Taylor film. The LTTE were saying the film was filled with "vulgar talk" and "excessive use of liquor." Oooooooohhhhhh! That is scary. They ignored the film where Tura Satana backed over a guy's crotch. It also came with a disclaimer at the beginning of the film.

The more things change the more they stay the same. The good thing is the News Leader only ran letters to the editor on Sunday instead of every day. It would cut down on the overabundance of letters from right-wing nutjobs, but of course, opinions like this are why I'm considered the Super Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

I'M A VILLAIN BUT SHE IS A HERO???

There was an incredibly stupid letter in the Springfield News Leader a few days ago by a woman who bragged about deleting her kids MySpace and Facebook accounts. There were people in the comments section saying "Good for you," "Way to go," and "I applaud you stance."

This is what is wrong with Springfield and the Ozarks. A woman who deletes her kids MySpace and Facebook friends is considered a hero, but anonymous blogger who pokes fun at talk radio scumbags, weenie-bloggers, tea-baggers, right-wingers and cranky adults is considered "a bad guy." This is another example of what I call Ozarks Correctness.

Personally, I think what this woman did is CHILD ABUSE, just like not allowing you kids to watch cartoons or listen to rock music. They should put people like this in prison. Of course, opinions like this are why I'm considered the SUPER VILLAIN OF THE OZARKS!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

ED SULLIVAN OFFENDED OZARKERS IN 1960

My twin brother/roommate has been working on a novel for several years now. The novel takes place in a small southwest Missouri town in the 50's and early 60's. He spends his off hours at the Springfield Library Center looking at old Springfield Daily News and Springfield News Leader & Press from the 50's and early 60's. I sometimes go with him.

I had remarked that I had seen very few of the "typical" anti-media/entertainment letters that have become so prevalent in the News Leader over the years. Then we came across a several letters in the March 1960 Sunday News Leaders (they only ran letters on Sunday back then - Thank God) having to do with "vulgarity" on the February 21st Ed Sullivan program.

I should note that the first letter writer mentioned "not hearing" Jack Parr's "offensive" joke (That is because it was edited out before the broadcast, dummy), but was shocked by the "vulgarity" that was "set to music" on the Ed Sullivan Show. She felt the FCC should step in and the Ed Sullivan Show should be taken off the air. Follow up letter writers said they had not seen the act not the Ed Sullivan Show, but they felt that the FCC and the TV stations should take the Ed Sullivan Show off the air. DOESN'T THIS SOUND LIKE EVERY STUPID LETTER IN THE NEWS LEADER? Just substitute The Simpsons, Roseanne, Twin Peaks, Beavis & Butthead, Ellen, Friends, Seinfeld, David Letterman and MTV for The Ed Sullivan Show and you have about any letter that has ran in the News Leader in the past 20 years.

I found a website that list the guest for each Ed Sullivan Show. I guessing that the Ozarkers were offended by (Are you ready for this?) ballet dancing choreographed by Jerome Robbins. Maybe the tights were exposing too much or Ozarkers resented Sullivan for "puttin on them thar fancy toe daincers in thar underwar instayed of good daincin like dey have on the Ozark's Jubilee."

The people who wrote those letters probably were the parents of the people who wrote the anti-Simpson letters and anti-Normal Heart letters and they are the grandparents of people who complain about Family Guy, Sponge-Bob, Letterman's jokes about Sarah "Moosaloony" Palin and those Illusions Gentleman's Club ads on Jock 98.7.

Yes, Ozarkers have always been a bunch of crazy prudes.

Springfieldian Brad Pitt Nominated For Oscar - The Dark Knight Didn't Get Best Pic (HA-HA)

I was happy to see that The Dark Knight was not nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture since everyone knows I am world famous as "The Guy Who Didn't Like The Dark Knight." One Dark Knight fan said I "suffered from being a douche bag."

However, it was cool to see Springfieldian Brad Pitt nominated for Best Actor in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. All together Benjamin Button received 13 nominations. Here is CNN's report on the Oscar nominations.

Now, soon we will see comments on the News Leader message boards by a bunch of local redneck, right-wing jerks who will brag that they "Don't care about the Oscars" and "Ain't gunna watch'em."

I don't like this attitude. See I'm in radio. I feel I deserve an award of some kind, but unfortunately the companies I've worked for have never given me the recognition I deserve. I, unlike many in the local market, believe that I'm in the same league with Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Sean Penn and others. I AM A CELEBRITY! I AM A GOD WALKING AMONG YOU SILLY LITTLE MORTALS!

You people should have more respect for the Hollywood community. They deserve awards for what they do, unlike you plumbers, bankers, real estate people, insurance agents, tire store salespeople, youth ministers, gym coaches and other riff-raff. After all you Ozarkers are stupid enough to worship talk radio goons, that nerdy lady governor of Alaska and that bald plumber guy.

You people are going to watch the Oscars this year or I'll have to zap you with my death ray, which will reduce you to atoms for me to scatter to the fore winds. It is either that or I'll have my robot stomp your house. Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

At Least Part of My Blog Was In the News Leader Tuesday

Maybe the News Leader does like me after all. A few weeks ago, I had complained about how the News Leader was always writing articles about anonymous blogging yet allowed anonymous bloggers to be hosted by their new website. Then, Monday I wrote a complimentary post about the column Sarah Overstreet had in Sunday's paper about the flooding problem with my 25 cents (most people add their two cents but I believe my opinion is worth 25 cents).

On Thursday, I was speaking with a former co-worker who said, "I liked what you said in the News Leader about the flooding problem." Now, I usually read the News Leader online. For some reason the Local Blogs were not on the Voices page of the website. I dug through the old News Leaders at work and found it in Tuesday's edition.

Now, here is the funny part. As you can see from the photo of the column above, most of what was printed from my blog post was the quote from Sarah Overstreet's column. I guess the rest of my comments (especially the suggestion about the wiffle ball bat) were not acceptable or something.