Tight relationships between the establishment press and entrenched politicians are a real problem (how do we know what to believe? I think these issues discourage voters and are reflected in the ongoing decline of newspaper readers & tv viewers, while fueling the explosive growth of the internet).
Jon Lauck takes a fascinating look at how an insider relationship can influence reporting, in this case, between long time Argus Leader (South Dakota) political reporter Dave Kranz and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (they met in college).
Lauck has links to memos and additional background information.
Fortunately, weblogs are casting some light on these relationships.
Daily Archives: April 23, 2004
Albuquerque’s Enlightened Airport
ABQ or Albuquerque’s Sunport features free wireless internet access (WiFi). This enlightened approach makes it very easy for passengers and visitors to check email, surf the web or use a VPN (Virtual Private Network), things not possible at our local airport (MSN). I find it astonishing that a supposedly tech savvy area has non existant airport connectivity.
UPDATE: Sharyn Wisniewski in County Executive Falk’s office left me a voice mail today that the Madison Airport will be accepting bids shortly for a paid WiFi service, to be installed this summer. Better than the current situation, I find Albuquerque’s tech friendly approach to be superior (just works, vs digging out a credit card, signing up and going through the login process). The County should rethink this plan (we’re not talking about much money – I would imagine that the administration of a 3rd party contract is more expensive than installing 5 DSL lines with wireless access points).