How Circle-Jerk Journalism Screwed Up Oakland A's Las Vegas Ballpark Financing News - ATLNews

As the Nevada Legislature turns toward the matter of a type of financing package for the proposed Oakland Athletics Ballpark for Las Vegas (which means the A's are leaving Oakland), what I will not soon forget is the dramatically bad news reporting on the matter of how the bond issue funding is supposed to work. The problem is those who, first, insist above all else in calling themselves journalists, and letting you know they're just that. They spend more time doing that than actually learning about municipal finance, or why something called tax increment financing was identified for use in the A's Las Vegas Ballpark political theater. The main problem is that the practitioners of this particular brand of journalism don't believe in reading, just finding someone to ask a question of, and then calling that person a source. More often than not, the “source” is not someone actually working on the ballpark project, but really, someone else who calls themselves a “journalist”. And that means we're infected by “circle jerk” behavior. But what's a “circle jerk”? Well, a “circle jerk” is defined as: A situation in which a group of people engage in self-indulgent or self-gratifying behavior, especially by reinforcing each other's views or attitudes. "those award ceremonies are big circle jerks". That's what's happened with the reporting, so an article or “tweet” (which in itself has killed news platforms) gets passed from one person who wants to be thought of as a news-type and is then passed on to another person who wants to be thought of as a news type, and both work for what are identified as traditional news sources, or they're working for a news platform which is new, but they, themselves, come from a history with traditional news. For me, who has an actual history doing public financing work for the City of Oakland, City of Emeryville, small developers, and what was then called Pryor McCllendon Counts Investment Bankers, and then bult the only online model simulation of the business of the Oakland Athletics, the behavior of the “circle jerk” mob has been a sad something to watch. I have my friends who work on these projects consistently tell me the “circle jerk” mob gets it wrong, and I get it right. They do not quote me for a set of very silly reasons: I have my own media company and I'm black. The only person who does not fit that mold is named Casey Pratt with ABC 7 KGO San Francisco Bay Area. But Casey's the lone exception to the rule and his very existence makes the overall problem more obvious. Let's get it out of the way, because racism is a big part of this, too. Not one of the organizations has anyone black working on the A's story. Not one of the companies is black-owned. They're more interested in what their circle says, than actually getting it right and asking questions of me. Some of these folks would rather pay more mind to an economics student who has no background in municipal finance or urban economics, but who worked at the Oakland Coliseum, and who's white and male. I guarantee you if he were black, they'd pay him no mind. That's the sad fact of all of this. How Journalists Can Improve: Advice From A Video-Blogger My simple advice is to learn muncipal terms as explained in a variety of online sources, and then quote those sources, even over someone you talk to. In other words, use the Internet. Then, find people who have financial models or do that kind of work, like me, and ask them for help. The end result is better reporting than what is going on, now. It's horrible, the journalism of today. Stay tuned.
via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmtZuLiU9JA