Home > Political Insider > Archives > 2008 > April > 07
Monday, April 7, 2008
Blogwatch: WGCL missed out on legislative finale
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Live Apartment Fire is the creation of Doug Richards, former reporter for WAGA-TV.
His blog keeps track of Atlanta television, and today he’s got this criticism of WGCL (CBS 46) and its state Capitol coverage:
If WGCL is really serious about becoming a big-time player in the Atlanta news market, you wouldn’t have known it from its 11pm newscast Friday. That was the final night of the 2008 legislative session. WGCL covered it with a thirty-second anchor reader. The other stations had live shots from reporters who’d been at the Capitol since the session opened that morning.
With its midnight deadline, its last-minute dealmaking and the “sine die!” paper-tossing climax, the final day of the session is always worth covering. This year, the issues were accessible to average Georgians. And the infighting among Republican leaders gave it a soap-opera quality that makes political reporters smile. That day, the other three stations showed footage of the always tightly-wound Speaker Glenn Richardson blaming Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle for inaction on tax cuts during a House-Senate conference. WGCL had zip.
For you innocents who don’t know what’s in the name, Richards explains:
“Live Apartment Fire” refers to the bane of the existence of the Atlanta TV reporter. When an apartment catches fire- especially close to news time- it doesn’t matter what good work a reporter has developed during the day. Nor does it matter if nobody is injured by the fire. The apartment fire will be treated like Armageddon, especially if the flames can be broadcast live during a newscast.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment |
NAACP: ‘Racial overtones’ seen in Barbie Bandit sentencing
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The state NAACP will protest what it calls “racial overtones” in the sentencing handed down in the case of the Barbie Bandits bank theft case.
In a press release, the group notes that the two alleged bandits, “Heather Lyn Johnston and Ashley Nicole Miller, both Caucasian, were sentenced to 10 years’ probation and two years in prison, respectively. Michael Darrell Chastang, who is black and was not present at the [theft], was ordered to serve an unprecedented 10 years in prison followed by 15 years on probation.”
Says Edward Dubose, the group’s president: “Let me be clear, a crime was committed and all those involved should be punished. But these sentences so obviously represent a severe miscarriage of justice that’s filled with racial overtones.”
The group has scheduled a 6:30 p.m. press conference in Marietta.
Permalink | Comments (45) | Post your comment |
The end of the 216 Group, the withdrawal of Maggie Martinez, and the clout that fell just a little short
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Notes on a few neglected topics lost in the rush of last week:
— The four-year-old 216 Group, chaired by state Rep. Tom Graves, has disbanded. Named for the room in the state Capitol where members usually met, the 216 Group billed itself as a gathering of true-believing conservatives.
Graves, you’ll remember, is one of the House members punished by Speaker Glenn Richardson for not backing his choice in the contests for the state transportation board earlier this year.
But Richardson — and the rest of House GOP leadership — were also aggravated by the 216 Group’s habit of grading legislation according to its own definition of conservatism. Leadership bills did not always fair well.
The group’s constant advocacy of tighter and tighter anti-abortion legislation also was a chafing point.
In a letter posted on the group’s web site, Graves offered no reason for shutting the 216 Group down. He wrote: “The conservative values which we hold will never die, but the meetings will.”
— Rockdale County teacher Maggie Martinez has dropped out of the Democratic race for U.S. Senate. Her exit statement came shortly after Atlanta attorney Jim Martin, the newest Democrat in the race, announced that he’d raised nearly $350,000 in the last few weeks.
“Unfortunately, our current system carries a heavy burden on the ability to raise the funds to compete with an entrenched Republican incumbent senator.
“After evaluating the situation prior to qualifying, it is in the best interest of our party that we narrow the field and remember that our opponent is Saxby Chambliss and not one another,” Martinez wrote.
So far as we know, the Democratic field now stands at five.
— State Rep. Mike Jacobs (R-Atlanta) corrects a report posted here a few minutes ago. Remember that curious piece of product liability language that the House GOP leadership tried to sneak into a seat belt bill? The original post about it is here.
Five times the House Motor Vehicle Committee rejected the legislation, after Powell Goldstein lobbyists, who wrote the 113-word paragraph, refused to say who their clients were.
The language ultimately made it through the Senate on Friday, tacked to S.B. 305, an emergency management bill sponsored by state Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth).
It passed the House, too. But according to Jacobs, “Mark Hatfield (a Republican from Waycross) “noticed the language, moved for reconsideration, and prevailed on that motion. The second vote on final passage of the SB 305 conference committee report failed. The bill died.”
.JPG)
-1.JPG)
Services »
