Wendy
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Wendy
Regular readers know I've blogged here a number of times about the investigative reporting of the Daily News' Wendy Ruderman (that's her, towering over the newsroom, as she always does metaphorically...if never vertically) and Barbara Laker (far right..in the picture, I mean). Their relentless pursuit of crooked cops in the City of Brotherly Love, at times in the face of withering criticism from the FOP and their politically powerful allies, was the most courageous work of reporting I've seen in three decades of journalism, and it made Philadelphia a better place.
It also won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting -- one of those rare times when great work actually gets the recognition it deserves. But it goes deeper than that. The truth is that 400 North Broad Street was reeling when Wendy Ruderman came here in 2007; in fact, she was one of a number of job cuts of the Inquirer, where she'd been working in South Jersey, and only came to the Dailly News in a last minute deal because we were so short of staff we could barely publish a paper. Talk about a twist of fate! From Day One, Wendy's infectious enthusiasm for the art of journalism reminded a beaten-down newsroom what a dedicated guerrilla band of a just a few relentless reporters and editors can accomplish -- if they try. And when she and journalistic soulmate (inside joke) Barbara Laker won that Pulitzer, the outside world finally saw it, too. All this happened when the building at 400 North Broad was buffeted by relentless waves of bankrupcy, layoffs and hedge-fund idiocy. I honestly believe that if Wendy had not come here and teamed up with Barbara, the Daily News would no longer exist.
And that is a hell of a thing.
How'd she do it? If you're a baseball fan, you probably salivate over your team signing the proverbial "five-tool player" who can hit for average, catch, throw and run the bases. In journalism, most reporters are really great at something like writing or interviewing just OK at something else. I don't know how many tools you need to be a Hall of Fame journalist but Wendy does all of them -- she's a great writer who can sift through a massive stack of documents and then pry information out of actual human beings -- especially that. Wendy's the kind of person who comes by your desk to borrow a pen and you end up telling her your life story, whether you wanted to or not. That's a pretty useful skill for a reporter to have.
So you can imagine the reaction in a Daily News newsroom that is reeling yet again -- this time over the news that Wendy is leaving to become the police bureau chief for the New York Times. In this day and age, every reporter is technically irreplacable -- management won't spend the money to replace them! -- but Wendy is truly irreplacable. I and my colleagues try to focus on the bright side. For one thing, at my age it's nice to be able to effusively praise someone on the blog -- and they're not dead. Instead, she'll be only 90 miles away, in the well-deserved job of a lifetime. Five years from now, there will be more crooked NYC cops off the job or behind bars than ever before, and that is a wonderful thing to ponder. New York City has no idea what's going to hit them. But to be honest, all this stuff that I just wrote about Wendy's amazing journalism isn't the first thing we thought about when we heard that she was leaving -- it was only that we were losing the daily proximity of a great friend.
As usual, I have a lot of thoughts about the future of the Daily News and the future of the kind of journalism that Wendy and Barbara have done -- but for once, on Wendy's last day here, I'll keep my mouth/keyboard shut. For a couple of days, anyway. I will say this. So much is changing in our newsroom -- new owners, a new terror-inducing content management system, and a move to a new office in just a few weeks. All that stuff we can handle. Coming to work Sunday night and looking up -- OK, actually, looking down -- and not seeing Wendy toiling away on her next big blockbuster scoop...that is going to be very hard to take.
- Casinos are a tax on stupidity, and all the rational studies I've seen show that taxes are a net negative.
— Mr. Smith 
So, no matter who cuts taxes, its partisan hackery, so says the statist.— RG- ===}}} So, no matter who cuts taxes, its partisan hackery, so says the statist. {{{===
First, just because in your deluded mind I'm a "statist" doesn't make it so.
Second, not all tax cuts are partisan hackery.
Obama's largely were - but at least there's a viable explanation for cutting taxes for the middle class during a recession.
Rendell's tax cut you linked? Partisan hackery. Corbett's? The height of partisan hackery.
If you aren't limited to a binary mentality, RG - you look at situations on a case by case basis, you look at the comparison of costs to benefits.
Some day, if you keep working at it, you will understand. Keep trying, RG. Don't give up. I know that it's tough for you to move beyond your jr. high school analysis, but I have confidence in you.— Talking point sleuth - Go ahead, bile.pantload.atkins: link one study that shows a long term net positive revenue benefit from casinos.
— Talking point sleuth - Here's a link where you can start, bile.pantload.atkins.
http://www.gofbw.com/news.asp?ID=10090
And that article doesn't even discuss the question of opportunity cost, displacement of local goods and services, etc. The link below would be a place you could start to examine those factors.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/q83k4j80nk312vw1/— Talking point sleuth - @tps- Ok how ever you want to slice it, Platt made the decision to NOT grant her the autonomy or whatever else that is not salary related in order to keep her. He made the same 'tough decision' that he chided Corbett for making with respect to the students and the budget in his opinion piece the other day.
Will was on board with Platt's criticism of Corbett's tough decision the other day. I wonder how his boss will take Will's criticism of his own tough decision that affected happy old school newsroom?
PS- The New York Times- "the top newspaper in the world"? I strongly disagree with that premise, but even if it were true isn't that like being the tallest "little person"?
— Wiseman6 - "Ok how ever you want to slice it, Platt made the decision to NOT grant her the autonomy or whatever else that is not salary related in order to keep her. He made the same 'tough decision' that he chided Corbett for making with respect to the students and the budget in his opinion piece the other day."
wiseman -
My guess is that her decision had little to nothing to do with any of his decisions. I have no idea where you get your confidence that somehow Platt's "decisions" were relevant. We've already gone over this but for some reason you're clinging to some explanation for her actions that seem to me to be fanciful.
She was offered the "job of a lifetime" and took it - not because of autonomy, salary, etc., but because she was offered a job at the newspaper that I would imagine almost any newspaper person would consider as the best newspaper to work for.
Now I suppose based on various metrics, the NYT might not be a slam dunk as the best newspaper in the world, but I would imagine that among the vast majority of newspaper workers, it is absolutely considered the pinnacle of the industry and virtually any newspaper reporter, given the flexibility and life circumstances that would make re-locating viable, would choose a job offer there over any other newspaper. Certainly, we'd agree that very few newspaper reporters would choose a job at the DN over a remotely similar job at the NYT even if they were being offered more money by the DN.
— Talking point sleuth - Judith Miller went to Fox News (where else?) and Wendy Ruderman is going to the NYT? Maybe the NYT is trying to rise from the ashes of their ruined reputation.— Hamlet
- all the news that's fit to print--new york times? not bad..then again didn't they have that guy that plagiarized all his work?— Shemp Howard
- Has anybody heard yet of the Ultra- Left wing Democrat Senatorial candidate from Massachusetts that has spent her whole career in academia passing herself off as a "Native American" to get all the perks. And what did this person, Elizabeth Warren, former obama administration official, give as proof of her heritage when her opponent Scott Walker called her on it? "High Cheekbones". I kid you not. I'm sure some of the investigative "journalists" here at the Inky smell another Pulitzer and are readying an investigation of their own:
http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/great-352668-warren-elizabeth.html— Phishface - Scott Walker is the Wisconsin Governor who is winning his recall battle against the Union knuckleheads. — Mr. Smith
- Walker has a dismal jobs record. Are you guys crying about this issue with Obama or are you engaging in partisan politics as usual? — The Fundamentals of the Economy are Fine
- Walker has balanced the budget in Wisconsin. Obama piled on additional trillions in spending, directly to debt. The largest accumulated debt in the history of humankind. And there are still fewer jobs now than there were when he took office. — Mr. Smith
- The trillions of Bush's continued policies.....you're correct!
Let's not forget the Ryan Budget doesn't balance the budget for another 28 years. Fiscally responsible....lolz. Dopes, no change!
— The Fundamentals of the Economy are Fine - You're thinking of Scott Brown.— RG
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