[Boston-editorial] Bryan Pfeifer

Thu Jun 16 20:17:04 PDT 2005

I don't think it would be fair to ban anyone from the
possibility of getting a centered article without
first coaching them on improving the quality of the
article.  

We know Bryan writes from a certain perspective, but
we don't know that he is tied to limiting his scope to
that perspective.  Maybe he would cover these other
major things if someone like sharpie emailed him about
the oversight.  

We could see how he reacts to this sort of thing.  

We may not like his politics but his coverage is
fairly good, especially his choices of what to cover. 
And people have been known to change.  No one in our
group has ever had a real conversation with this guy
or even met him in person, am I right?

-Pete

--- Matthew Williams <mw21 at mindspring.com> wrote:

> Sharpie, you raise interesting issues vis-a-vis
> Pfeifer. We've had 
> issues with him before. He once did a report on a
> protest and really 
> played up the involvement of WWP and its front
> groups, listing a whole 
> bunch of them and very few other groups (if
> any)--Pete e-mailed him 
> about this and apparently Pfeifer got really upset,
> although in future 
> articles he didn't play the same game--not until
> recently with this 
> Phelps article anyway. And there was a question of
> factual accuracy 
> with a previous article of his as well, where he
> blew something totally 
> out of proportion--somebody being shoved into
> somebody being punched or 
> something like that.
> 
> On the other side of the coin, he is one of our more
> prolific writers 
> and I fear we wouldn't have any coverage of some
> important events if it 
> weren't for him.
> 
> We are thus left in the odd position of relying on a
> group--Workers 
> World Party/International Action
> Center/ANSWER/insert front group 
> here--that many of us don't like or trust (and
> although Pfeifer seems 
> to be their main writer, other WWP people have
> contributed articles as 
> well) for much of our coverage. I have often found
> myself wishing a 
> member of some local group I actually trust took as
> much time as 
> Pfeifer to report on events. But I suppose WWP can
> assign people to 
> certain tasks in a way more democratic groups can't.
> 
> So, we could just stop featuring his articles out of
> concern for their 
> accuracy--but then we'd not have coverage of
> important events. I'm 
> frankly ambivalent, although if most people felt
> like we shouldn't 
> feature anything by Pfeifer or other WWP members in
> the future, I 
> wouldn't argue.
> 
> -- Matt
> 
> On Jun 16, 2005, at 1:03 PM, sharpie at riseup.net
> wrote:
> 
> > I'll be attending. I'll also write up a report and
> work with the 
> > author of
> > the previous article in order to make it more
> fitting. I think it is a
> > really important event and should be featured, if
> a stronger article is
> > written about it.
> >
> > Also, thanks whoever hid red herring's idiocy.
> >
> > Lastly, I have some questions for the group
> regarding features. The
> > initial feature that caused me to think abotu this
> is Bryan Pfeifer's
> > article re: the Phelps event.
> >
> > I was also at this event, in fact I was assaulted
> by officer 58700, 
> > along
> > with a number of other individuals. My issue is
> that, while the story
> > itself doesn't appear to have any real profound
> factual errors, it 
> > really
> > is just a reportback by an IAC operative, and
> totally fails to mention 
> > a
> > number of the most notable events of that day, for
> example the fact 
> > that
> > no less than 3 individuals were assaulted in no
> less than 5 incidents 
> > by a
> > plainclothes officer.
> >
> > At least one of the socialist/authoritarian group
> members assaulted
> > members of the Phelps crew and grabbed their signs
> away.
> >
> > White Revolution's relatively new, but burgeoning,
> New England chapter 
> > was
> > also present.
> >
> > All of these major details, much more interesting
> than the plain "some
> > people showed up, they yelled at some
> bigots/fascists, and we won!" 
> > format
> > of this piece.
> >
> > anyway, i just wanted to get folks thoughts about
> this, as we are 
> > trying
> > to revitalize and rethink the editorial process.
> >
> > peace
> > sharpie
> >
> >> I have to agree that this is more of an event
> announcement than a news
> >> story or a commentary or anything like that. Once
> the meeting happens,
> >> it would be cool to have a report on it though.
> Is anyone planning to
> >> go anyway? -- Matt
> >>
> >> On Jun 16, 2005, at 11:10 AM, Sofia JarrinT
> wrote:
> >>
> >>> I agree with Jon.  It reads more of an
> invitation to
> >>> people to participate in their next meeting and
> >>> survey, which I think it's great.  But it really
> >>> doesn't qualify as an article.  I would love to
> see,
> >>> like Jon said, something about concrete goals
> reached.
> >>>
> >>> peace,
> >>> sofia
> >>>
> >>> --- "Jonathan D. Proulx" <jon at csail.mit.edu>
> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>>
> >>>> I'm ambivalent about hte article as it stands. 
> It's
> >>>> more than an
> >>>> event anouncement but not much, I think it
> would be
> >>>> stronger if it was
> >>>> more specific about what whas accomplished
> and/or
> >>>> discussed on the
> >>>> 12th
> >>>>
> >>>> It seems very vauge and generalistic, we got
> >>>> togather and talked about
> >>>> stuff.  What?  Were any decisions or plans
> made?
> >>>> What grievances were
> >>>> aired, and was there any resolution?
> >>>>
> >>>> If we could get some of those questions
> answered it
> >>>> would be a much
> >>>> stronger story and one I'd like to feature.
> >>>>
> >>>> -Jon
> >>>>
> >>>> On Thu, Jun 16, 2005 at 07:28:55AM -0700,
> >>>> sharpie at riseup.net wrote:
> >>>> :hey folks, i know its kinda short, but i'd
> still
> >>>> like to see it featured,
> >>>> :or know what people think could/should be done
> to
> >>>> it o make it more
> >>>> :feature-able.
> >>>> :
> >>>>
> >>>
>
:http://boston.indymedia.org/newswire/display/38616/index.php
> >>>> :
> >>>> :peace
> >>>> :sharpie
> >>>> :
> >>>>
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> >>>
> >>>
> >>> "Truly, there is no future without forgiveness."
> Desmond Tutu
> >>>
> >>> "Non-violence is not inaction. It is not
> discussion. It is not for 
> >>> the
> >>> timid or weak...Non-violence is hard work. It is
> the willingness to
> >>> sacrifice. It is the patience to win." Cesar
> Chavez
> >>>
> >>>
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