Young black man is victim of Reading Eagle’s sensationalism

by Steve Reinbrecht

This sensationalism by our pseudo-newspaper borders on the criminal. It is another example of how the Reading Eagle is obviously run by editors clueless about news judgment and ethics. They do what they are told and seek to sell papers to keep their cushy jobs.

Which is going to hurt this guy’s life more – smoking pot at college or this story, that proudly reaches 114,000 readers?

Is the Eagle keeping track of all former athletes, and will it publish their photos every time they commit misdemeanors?

Or is this such a rare occurrence it deserves a 500-word story?

Or is this pretty much a lynching?

“Former standout athlete at Schuylkill Valley High School faces drug-possession charges”

The headline shows that the Eagle is so trapped in the Drug War sensibility that it still lumps all recreational substances in the same category, even with “pot” such a good headline word, and all its award-winning work on heroin addiction. 

The cops, who apparently got a warrant after smelling smoke, didn’t even find any pot on him. “Police found a marijuana grinder with pot residue in a laundry basket in Yarde's room.”

It was in Indiana, Pa., on July 9, more than two weeks ago.

He was charged with misdemeanors.

He was sent a summons.

Reading Eagle’s business reporting paints Berks Countians as economic rubes

by Steve Reinbrecht

Information about real estate and the housing industry is important. 

Don’t trust me. Trust Forbes: “If you want to look at telltale indicators that reveal whether a specific local real estate market is outperforming – or underperforming – during the national rebound underway, check out these two: The median number of days from listing of a house to sale, and whether the local drop in available homes for sale has been above or below the national norm.”

Therefore, I clicked right through to the Reading Eagle’s latest post about June’s statistics. I love economic statistics. I can’t get enough of them.

But once again, the Eagle proves it is a pseudo-paper that wants to LOOK like a newspaper but not really be a newspaper.

At the top of the article, the Reading-Berks Association of Realtors writes: “Educating the public on current market data is a key component of our outreach to the greater Reading community, and we are privileged to provide the current market statistics for Berks County as of June.”

I think that’s great. Sort of like citizen journalism.

But the Reading Eagle just slopped the association’s news release on the page unedited. If I wrote it, I’d be pissed. Little of it is relevant or even makes sense.

Editors don’t let sentences like this appear in the newspaper: “The average percentage of listing prices for which homes sold increased 0.89 percent to 97.63 percent, from 96.74 percent in May.”

It even botched the headline.

How is this treatment of “business news” going to appear to prospective investors who might expect a savvy business community?

And how does this kind of “journalism” promote a business community in Berks County that is savvy enough to deal with those prospective investors?

A recent headline on its latest “Business Weekly”:
Businesses find many reasons to relocate to Berks

[Tautologic when you think about it. If they didn’t have many reasons, they would not locate here.]

The article says six companies have moved into Berks in the past two years.

The editors should ask the reporters to find out why the same people have been in charge of economic development for so long without achieving much and still have their jobs.

Reading Eagle health articles seem designed to scare, not inform

by Steve Reinbrecht

In 2014, there were 79 cases of Lyme disease in Berks County, a rate of 6 out of every 100,000 people, according to the Pennsylvania health department. [About 414,000 people live in Berks. Don’t ask me how state epidemiologists crunch their numbers.]

In its typical level-headed style, the Reading Eagle explained the risk in July:

“But of late, Pennsylvania has become unfortunately synonymous with something else: Lyme disease.”

On the other hand, Berks residents suffer nearly 4,400 cases of chlamydia a year, a rate of nearly 355 per 100,000.

Chlamydia is a common sexually transmitted disease that can infect men and women, according to the taxpayer-funded federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It can cause serious, permanent damage to a woman's reproductive system, making it difficult or impossible for her to get pregnant later on. Chlamydia can also cause a potentially fatal ectopic pregnancy.

But the Reading Eagle editors would never think such an uncomfortable topic as an STD is suitable to explore, even though better awareness of this and other genuine health issues would improve the quality of life in Berks County.

Horrible as Lyme is, I’m more scared of salmonella, which struck 205 Berks Countians, though not much more scared, because that’s just about 16 of out every 100,000 of us.

Want to be scared? The cancer rate in Berks is 442 per 100,000. Still, I’ll take those odds, and worry instead, wallowing among invisible ticks, about how to keep the rabbits off my clematis.

The Reading Eagle shows us the alleged whores, but never the alleged johns

by Steve Reinbrecht

Why does the Reading Eagle degrade women charged with prostitution so badly?

In the latest story, Reading police arrested eight women between 9:30 and 11:30 p.m. Tuesday on blocks associated with prostitution. The women, one 22 years old, went to jail in lieu of $5,000 bail.

I’m certain that if the woman are selling sex there, men come and meet them there to buy it.

But the police don't seem to ever catch the clients, so we don't get to see their photos. I bet publishing a john’s mug occasionally would be much better deterrent. I guess I'm getting all old and soft, but I believe these defendants are being victimized by this process.

I found five stories in the Reading Eagle since the beginning of June about men charged with or convicted of child-pornography charges. Not one had a photo of the defendant or convict.

But many stories about women accused of sex working had photos.

The editors might earnestly respond: “We run what the crime fighters give us.”

Which would be expected. It appears the newsroom leaders didn’t get their jobs asking questions and challenging authority.

How did the Berks County media get two sets of these mugshots, to further the humiliation? WFMZ had a different batch.

I know the editors at the Eagle and the TV station know how many hits a story like this generates on their websites.

And another indignity, a stupid lead sentence in the Eagle’s story:

“Eight women were arrested over a slightly more than two-hour period for agreeing to perform sex acts on an undercover police officer, Reading police said Tuesday.”

No one agreed to do anything with an undercover police officer.

Berks County really needs better journalism to help solve its problems.

Reading Eagle risks bank panic by under-reporting holdings by a factor of 1,000

by Steve Reinbrecht

The Reading Eagle tried to look like a real newspaper Thursday and tell us about banks in Berks.

But the editors are so clueless they didn’t notice their numbers were off by 1,000.

They reported that the banks in Berks have $9.8 million in deposits. Perhaps because my background in philosophy and poetry leads me to question the world around me, that number struck me as a bit low. I checked their source, the FDIC, to find that it’s really $9.8 BILLION in deposits, a more comforting number. 

Did an office full of journalists, entrusted to keep Berks residents informed about important news that affects our lives, catch this silly mistake as they were collecting and editing the information and proofreading their pages?

Nah. As usual, the main focus seems to be filling pages with words.

The Eagle wants to appear like a real newspaper and have business news, but it’s easy to see it doesn’t work too hard to get to the truth.

Probably because business is so behind the times here in Berks County, and the Latino population has been so neglected by established banks and businesses, that the Eagle’s advertisers don’t want to see the truth posted next to their ads.

Berks would better prosper if Latino entrepreneurs got easier credit, I bet.

In fact, the very edition of the Eagle's “Business Weekly” supports my idea.

In an interview with James Buerger, senior vice president and chief lending officer for Community First Fund, the Eagle asked “What is the greatest need in lending in the Reading area?”

“The Latino market is under-represented in the Reading market," he said. "We're [the fund is] involved in the Main Street program. It has a lot of potential and a long way to go. But it will help the core of Reading be revitalized, which will help revitalization spread out. As the core gets revitalized, then the next block will get revitalized and then the next block and so on. We're seeing this in Lancaster and elsewhere. … That's the whole concept: to start with the four or five blocks of Penn Street and work with the business community.”

But the Eagle rarely if ever has thoughtful stories about:

• Lending to Latinos
• The lack of progress with Reading’s Main Street program
• The city’s micro-loan or façade-improvement program
• Reading’s economic development efforts
• The city’s plan for downtown 

If it’s all smoke and mirrors, the Eagle should report that.

Business people are generally good at detecting bullshit. But they have reasons they don’t want people knowing the truth, so they are really good at producing bullshit.

Check out some of this week's business content:

 Duh.

 Frigid weather is over?

So which is it?

It’s the media’s important job to find the truth.