Unknowingly or knowingly the article, especially focusing on one young man, caused more harm than good. I would be willing to bet today and throughout the week there will be several fights recorded and uploaded all because the paper made it seem like something cool. You made fighting look cool, you made the videographer look cool, and you made being 18 and a sophomore cool. If you wanted to shed light on the subject then why couldn't the paper interview police who are cracking down on this? Interview the families whose children are beaten for sport. Write about how there are campaigns to stop beatings on gays and lesibians, yet you make hetero beatings look fun? If any of those children were gay or lesibian the whole world would already know about it. Show how the community can come together to stop this violence. Not to mention I myself as a reader and a commenter was VERY upset that the horrible comments made by the young man and his family were left up and not deleted, when most of your advid readers who keep coming back to you are deleted for very little.
Mr. Cobler, I found it to be informative when considering Mr. Pauls run for President. As far as the atricle being a commentary, I recognize the point your making but there were some comments from local people published regarding the inpact on our area's economy. My point was I may have missed the article in the Victoria Advocate but the funding hold-up for the barge canal was "news" to me. Did the Victoria Advocate have any coverage at the time in question?
Our position is that this is a community problem the requires action by the police, the schools and every parent. We don't solve anything by pretending the issue doesn't exist.
I think it is laziness on the editoral dept's responsibility , to run a poll in the paper to get the next days headline.... where is the editor when it comes to heading it up.......
It's a commentary about how Ron Paul's positions affected Victoria Barge Canal funding in 2006. It's an interesting piece, but I'm not sure it fits the point you're making of refraining from making the news. Some would argue going back and reviewing an issue from 2006 is making the news. Certainly, the author's conclusions would differ from those of the congressman's supporters.
Vet43, We are working to get information on the shooting. Our Sunday reporter made cop rounds, but was not told about this then. In the meantime, she was reporting on other news, including a traffic fatality involving a Hallettsville woman. The police still today have not released any information on the bar shooting, but we will post the information we get as soon as we get it.
Re the Chronicle story, we haven't seen that, but we'll check for it. Thank you for alerting us to it.
BTW, I don't sit around waiting for the advocate to err so I can pounce. I read the article title and about 3 sentences and knew instantly that yesterday was going to be a comment heavy environment.
It had all the right ingredients to get people opposed to it... even after the 3rd reading, I felt the same way.
It would have been better to write an article without "glorifying" the person doing the video work.
When you splashed his happy face all over the paper and added the commentary from him and his mom, you made it look as if it was a wonderful activity. That may not have been the intention but it certainly came across as such.
This wasn't an article about stopping bullying or directing people on how to prevent the activities, it was an article letting everyone know that this John kid is doing this and it appeared to be widely accepted(by the advocate).
I think the comments yesterday let everyone know how well accepted it was and what the talent level of John truly is.
I found the comments almost as disturbing as the article subject regarding mindless violence as entertainment. As a community we as a single voice must tell our local leaders, law enforcement and educators that this in not acceptable. Might not hurt for parents to stand up and start raising their children and not let television, video games and internet interest be the prime motivators of our youth..
On a equally concerning note, there was an act of violence involving 4 people having been shot. This incident occurred at least 24 hours ago and not word one in the Victoria Advocated. Has anybody called this to their attention? I, for one, am waiting for the day when newspapers start reporting the new and refrain from creating news. An example would be the Houston Chronicle had a article regarding Ron Paul and how his activity in Congress had caused problems funding needed work on the Victoria Barge Canal. Again, not in the Victoria Advocate but we learn about the issue from an outside source. Our Crossroads area has approximately 250,00 residents and we deserve an information source that is local and reporting the news..
Newsletter
Comments
This comment was removed by the user.
January 24, 2012 at 10:39 p.m.Thank you Justamom, I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way about all of it.
January 24, 2012 at 10:35 p.m.Justamom.
Amen.
January 23, 2012 at 8:18 p.m.I can somewhat understand running the article but there was no reason to put a 18 yo flunky in the spotlight.
No reason to mention his name or interview his mom.
January 23, 2012 at 8:12 p.m.This comment was removed by the user.
January 23, 2012 at 8:02 p.m.Unknowingly or knowingly the article, especially focusing on one young man, caused more harm than good. I would be willing to bet today and throughout the week there will be several fights recorded and uploaded all because the paper made it seem like something cool. You made fighting look cool, you made the videographer look cool, and you made being 18 and a sophomore cool. If you wanted to shed light on the subject then why couldn't the paper interview police who are cracking down on this? Interview the families whose children are beaten for sport. Write about how there are campaigns to stop beatings on gays and lesibians, yet you make hetero beatings look fun? If any of those children were gay or lesibian the whole world would already know about it. Show how the community can come together to stop this violence. Not to mention I myself as a reader and a commenter was VERY upset that the horrible comments made by the young man and his family were left up and not deleted, when most of your advid readers who keep coming back to you are deleted for very little.
January 23, 2012 at 2:20 p.m.I don't recall what we reported in 2006, but I agree it would have been a good story to report then, if the players involved were willing to comment.
January 23, 2012 at 1:32 p.m.Mr. Cobler, I found it to be informative when considering Mr. Pauls run for President. As far as the atricle being a commentary, I recognize the point your making but there were some comments from local people published regarding the inpact on our area's economy. My point was I may have missed the article in the Victoria Advocate but the funding hold-up for the barge canal was "news" to me. Did the Victoria Advocate have any coverage at the time in question?
January 23, 2012 at 12:51 p.m.We encourage you to consider Sunday's editorial when expressing your views:
http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/...
Our position is that this is a community problem the requires action by the police, the schools and every parent. We don't solve anything by pretending the issue doesn't exist.
January 23, 2012 at 12:49 p.m.I think it is laziness on the editoral dept's responsibility , to run a poll in the paper to get the next days headline....
January 23, 2012 at 12:33 p.m.where is the editor when it comes to heading it up.......
I think I found the piece you're referencing:
http://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2012/...
It's a commentary about how Ron Paul's positions affected Victoria Barge Canal funding in 2006. It's an interesting piece, but I'm not sure it fits the point you're making of refraining from making the news. Some would argue going back and reviewing an issue from 2006 is making the news. Certainly, the author's conclusions would differ from those of the congressman's supporters.
January 23, 2012 at 12:07 p.m.Vet43,
We are working to get information on the shooting. Our Sunday reporter made cop rounds, but was not told about this then. In the meantime, she was reporting on other news, including a traffic fatality involving a Hallettsville woman. The police still today have not released any information on the bar shooting, but we will post the information we get as soon as we get it.
Re the Chronicle story, we haven't seen that, but we'll check for it. Thank you for alerting us to it.
January 23, 2012 at noonBTW, I don't sit around waiting for the advocate to err so I can pounce. I read the article title and about 3 sentences and knew instantly that yesterday was going to be a comment heavy environment.
It had all the right ingredients to get people opposed to it... even after the 3rd reading, I felt the same way.
January 23, 2012 at 10:56 a.m.It would have been better to write an article without "glorifying" the person doing the video work.
When you splashed his happy face all over the paper and added the commentary from him and his mom, you made it look as if it was a wonderful activity. That may not have been the intention but it certainly came across as such.
This wasn't an article about stopping bullying or directing people on how to prevent the activities, it was an article letting everyone know that this John kid is doing this and it appeared to be widely accepted(by the advocate).
I think the comments yesterday let everyone know how well accepted it was and what the talent level of John truly is.
January 23, 2012 at 10:53 a.m.I found the comments almost as disturbing as the article subject regarding mindless violence as entertainment. As a community we as a single voice must tell our local leaders, law enforcement and educators that this in not acceptable. Might not hurt for parents to stand up and start raising their children and not let television, video games and internet interest be the prime motivators of our youth..
On a equally concerning note, there was an act of violence involving 4 people having been shot. This incident occurred at least 24 hours ago and not word one in the Victoria Advocated. Has anybody called this to their attention? I, for one, am waiting for the day when newspapers start reporting the new and refrain from creating news. An example would be the Houston Chronicle had a article regarding Ron Paul and how his activity in Congress had caused problems funding needed work on the Victoria Barge Canal. Again, not in the Victoria Advocate but we learn about the issue from an outside source. Our Crossroads area has approximately 250,00 residents and we deserve an information source that is local and reporting the news..
January 23, 2012 at 10:19 a.m.