Welcome Megan Reiter to the Scranton Times-Tribune

Formerly of the Punxsutawney Spirit, Megan Reiter is a new reporter at the Scranton Times-Tribune. It's not clear who she is replacing.

Reiter rides along with a constable in '04

Reiter isn't a technology buff

Bob Kadluboski was the man behind controversial CV advert

The towing company operator put an ad in the Voice before this week's election -- an ad that criticized two candidates but didn't say who paid for it. Publisher Scott Lynett and ad director Mark Altavilla both say they are very, very sorry, James Conmy writes. It only took Comny and the Voice four days to catch up to Jon Fox's TL story about the same topic.

Earlier:

The TL writes about the screwed-up political ad in the Voice

CV gets ripped by J-prof at libel trial

CV reporters Ed Lewis and James Comny were portrayed Thursday as inferior reporters and editor Justin O'Donnell was portrayed as asleep at the switch. Not a good showing for the Voice, if you believe a Temple University professor called by the plaintiffs to testify as an expert witness about how slipshod the CV's coverage about Thomas Joseph was.

Also:

Terrie Morgan-Besecker's other Friday story about the trial

Tim Gulla writes Friday's CV story about the trial

Weather man loses arbitration case against WYOU

Phil Yacuboski of WYOU was trying to get out of a one-year no-compete clause, according to Kevin Amerman's story. No dice.

CV might be a little screwed in its libel case

It's hard to tell, but if you read Terrie Morgan-Besecker's story closely you learn (or think you learn) that the CV wants to put its confidential sources on the stand, but the judge won't let it. As it is, the judge has tossed as evidence the search warrant affidavit, an affidavit "that, in some instances, is similar" to what the anonymous sources told the newspaper. In other words, the CV has no evidence that its stories were true.

The TL has decided to go wall-to-wall with two stories in Thursday's newspaper. The CV had one, by Robert Kalinowski. The Scranton Times-Tribune has taken a pass on the story.

Read the Citizens' Voice version of the story

Read the TL's other Thursday story about the libel lawsuit

How the pros report the potential sale of their newspaper

With relentless, well-sourced, astute reporting. That's what the Philadelphia Inquirer, in the same situation as the TL, has been doing. To bad the readers in Wilkes-Barre aren't enjoying similar reporting.

Frank Andrews Shimkus wins in primary

The former (and perhaps future) WYOU-TV news director won the democratic primary Tuesday in his bid to join the Pennsylvania state legislature after a race where he got a free pass on his professional ethical lapses. The victory seems to have emboldened the people who oppose him chiefly for personal reasons (problems with booze and women):

The man behind Dohertydeceit.com unveils plans for Shimkusdeceit.com

Also, be sure to read what Howard Beale and his commenters have to say over at Beale's Bites:

Beale's Bites (NEPA TV news blog)

The TL's Matt Golas lays out the newspaper's goals

"We will continue to be the only media here to take chances, try something different, break a rule once in a while, surprise you." Etc. etc. etc. Sounds like the results of a brainstorming session of some kind.

CV libel case goes to trial

Terrie Morgan-Besecker was at day one of a trial involving the CV and a businessman who the newspaper alleged had ties to organized crime and Billy D'Elia. James Conmy and Ed Lewis wrote the stories in question. Too bad TMB didn't describe how they looked sitting at the defendant's table. Neither the TL nor the CV get into an obvious question: Will the newspaper be forced to reveal its confidential sources as part of the trial? If push comes to shove, will Lewis and Comny pull a Judith Miller and go to jail to save their source?

Read Robert Kalinowski's CV story about the case

Read the 2001 stories that triggered the lawsuit

Casey Jones talks about Scott Lynett's hot body

You can't beat a column about a publisher's "pale, pasty body." Casey also ensures that he won't have a job in the new world order with another TL column/editorial/story about how horrible life will be in the non-TL future, and only the Lynetts are to blame. Worth reading for the camp value alone.

Enjoy the wild reader responses to the AP's W-B story

The Times Leader apparently does not moderate comments during the weekend, otherwise it would have stripped out the shots at the newspaper left in the comments section of the AP's story about the newspaper.

Letter writer: Two-paper town is good

Michael Stair of Mountain Top (or Mountaintop, if you like) writes the CV editor to report that he likes having two papers. It's far down in the letters column.

Your mom will be reading about Wilkes-Barre on the AP wire

Times Leader alum Mike Rubinkam wrote a takeout about the Wilkes-Barre newspaper war that moved on the wire Friday. Matt Golas, Dave Iseman, Larry Holeva, Jerry Kishbaugh (!) and Scott Lynett all make appearances. It does a good job of looking back at the bad old days of 1978 when the newspaper strike started and today's battle lines were drawn.

Hanover Area school board asks judge to toss TL FOI lawsuit

John Davidson reports that the lawyers for Hanover Area want to sit on the terms of a settlement it reached with the parents of a disabled student. The TL says freedom must reign. A judge will decide.

TL's Golas to CV's Dobo: Drop dead

Well, not quite. But TL editor Matt Golas is crying in his beer that Nichole Dobo didn't use his money quote in her Sunday takeout on the future of newspapering in NEPA. "Nichole is a reputable reporter. I hope this was just an oversight and not a case of censorship, an example of managing the news," Golas writes at the end of his newsroom note. Maybe it was a case of the reporter picking the quote she felt was most newsworthy! What a chickenshit thing to cry about -- the reporter didn't use the quotes he thought was most relevant. You could fill Public Square with interview subjects who have the same complaint about TL reporters... or about reporters at any newspaper in the land.

Golas should know better.

Here's another self-serving story from the TL about how its demise would be a loss for humanity

Seriously, read it all the way to the end of this Renita Fennick story. When it's not crowing about how much the newspaper cares about the community ("The Times Leader has dedicated a full-time reporter, Mark Jones, to the community advocate beat") or bragging about all the money it dispenses ("The Times Leader gives about $130,000 in cash each year") it is blowing publisher Pat McHugh, detailing his humble beginnings in Miami and his rise to the most benevolent man in Wilkes-Barre ("Since Pat McHugh came aboard, the employee and corporate financial contributions (to the United Way) have gone up fourfold").

Yuck. Talk about a story that should not have been written, much less published.

Shit: CNHI visits Wilkes-Barre, may buy the TL

Iseman and his cohorts will be wishing the Lynetts swooped in if Community Newspaper Holdings Inc., aka the Alabama public employees retirement system, buys the TL. CNHI makes Pat McHugh look like Joe Pulitzer. However, Renita Fennick's inside sources say a sale to CNHI seems unlikely.

The TL, according to the Voice, may be fucked

An uncommonly solid read on the future of the TL, as well as the future of the larger Wilkes-Barre newspaper market. There's real reporting, CV Publisher Scott Lynett's remarks aren't taken at face value, and historic perspective. Kudos to Nichole Dobo for departing from the CV's usually shrill, partisan "reporting."

Dave Iseman says it's tense in the TL newsroom

Don't read this if you're looking for a real peek into the newsroom or into Dave Iseman's recent experiences there. Do read this if you're looking for the usual bragging about how "scrappy" the TL is ("get close and we might try to look up your pant legs"), mixed in with kissing the ass of the editor ("no sacred cows...our top editor, my boss, lives by that") and the publisher ("a congenial newshound in publisher’s clothing").

Scranton Times publishes puff piece on Frank Andrews Shimkus

Incredible. The Scranton Times profiles a guy who a) lied about his name, b) worked as a TV news director while publicly kicking around running for office c) is still "consulting" for a TV news station while running, d) puts on his resume master's and doctoral degrees from an unaccredited school (which he uses to teach at the University of Scranton), and e) appeared on the cover of a pay-for-play "magazine" under questionable circumstances.

And the Sunday profile, from Borys Krawczeniuk, only addresses the name lie -- and gives him a free pass on it. The rest, all documented and on the record, is ignored. The profile is the definition of uninsightful. Except for the disclosure that his favorite movie is "Pay It Forward," reason enough to not vote for the guy.

What a disappointment.