Tag Archives: VTDigger

Lest We Forget: The 15 Who Didn’t Support PR.4

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This November, we’ll all get a chance to vote on adding an equal protection clause to the Vermont constitution, something our state sorely needs — especially in a time when the federal administration is actively fighting equal protections. The equal protection amendment known as PR.4 has now cleared every hurdle in the marathon course required of constitutional amendments — passage through the Legislature in two successive biennia, which takes a minimum of three years to accomplish.

The final vote came last week in the House, and the tally was 128 in favor and 14 against. The corresponding vote in the Senate was 29-0 — with Republican Sen. Steven Heffernan taking the coward’s way out and ducking into the restroom when it was time to cast his vote.

I’m not making that up. It comes straight from VTDigger’s Shaun Robinson, who reported that Heffernan “got up from his seat right before the roll call vote was taken… because his stomach was feeling ‘agitated’.”

It’s a convenient and time-dishonored way to avoid going on the record. Heffernan barely bothered to devise a convincing cover story, telling Robinson “My pizza hit at the right time, I guess,” and acknowledging that the timing was “convenient.”

Especially when you’re a conservative lawmaker about to seek re-election in the blue precincts of Addison County, right?

Well, He Just Made the List — of Republicans whose records deserve closer scrutiny in this election season. The List also includes the nine Republicans who voted against a bill to establish a state vaccine registry. And since no one in the media thought it worthwhile to name the opponents of PR.4, well, I’m happy to oblige.

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House Leadership Suffered an Embarrassing Defeat Last Week, Not That Our Media Took Much Notice

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A former House speaker once told me that they never brought a bill to a floor vote unless they were certain of the outcome. Otherwise they’d put it off while they nailed down the necessary votes.

Last Wednesday, Speaker Jill Krowinski fell afoul of that maxim. Or ignored it, or didn’t care.

The full House was considering Act 181 dismemberment reform, which turned out to be a lengthy floor debate with plenty of amendments. And something happened that only rarely happens: the minority Republicans won a couple of votes. They actually had an impact on the process.

“In all of my 18 years, I can’t remember that happening,” Republican Rep. Mark Higley told the Vermont Daily Chronicle — the only media outlet to report on Wednesday’s events as a noteworthy, standalone story. Which is a depressing statement on the health of our media ecosystem, but we’ll get to that later.

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VTDigger Makes a Good Hire, I Think

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This truly is the Golden Age of cheeseball graphics, isn’t it? Although this one is perilously close to the line between “crafted by a top-shelf management consultant” and “xkcd cartoon.”

Anyway, to the matter at hand: the Vermont Journalism Trust hiring Brendan Kinney as its new CEO. Let’s stipulate off the top that I don’t know Kinney, have never met him, and have spoken to no one about him. This is me standing outside the forest, unencumbered and/or disempowered by inside information.

It seems like a great move in many important ways. But I do have some caveats, and some thoughs on how the announcement was covered.

Judging solely by resumé, Kinney has a lot going for him. He’s been a top executive at Vermont Public for a long time — before and after the merger of Vermont Public TV and Vermont Public Radio. (Not everyone survived that transition.) He was in charge of development, a.k.a. fundraising, for one of the most successful nonprofit organizations in Vermont. He knows the landscape and the audience as well as anyone, he knows what works and what doesn’t in terms of audience engagement in these parts.

And public media is the model for the nascent world of nonprofit journalism. For decades, public media have been raising enough money to build strong, vibrant enterprises. The new wave of nonprofit outlets is playing catchup, and could do far worse than emulate the development successes of public media

So, Kinney’s a home run, right?

Possibly. But I do have questions.

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A Bunch of Bad News for the Bennington Battle Monument — And the State’s Troubled VTBuys System

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A story published a few days ago by VTDigger sparked my curiosity about the status of the extremely phallic Bennington Battle Monument, which I have dubbed Vermont’s “Gilded Age tribute to toxic masculinity.” When last I wrote about this “ponderous pecker,” news had come out that the thing was made of highly absorbent limestone that had, of course, become waterlogged. Repairs were estimated at about $40 million, to which I responded that we ought to just blow the damn thing up.

The latest Digger piece reported that the state is about to hold two public meetings to discuss what to do with the Monument. What it didn’t report is that the $40 million figure is nothing more than a semi-educated guess. Nobody knows how much it would really cost, or the price tag for ongoing maintenance if we do fix it up. That’s partly because the state lacks critical data, thanks to the deeply troubled VTBuys contracting and payment portal — yet another demerit in Gov. Phil Scott’s ineffectual efforts to reinvent state government.

We take you back to February 10, and a hearing of the House Corrections & Institutions Committee that went completely uncovered by the sleepy watchdogs of our news media. I came across it as I poked around for more information about Digger’s latest story. But anyone with an interest in the Monument, or in the orderly function of state government, needs to know what went on that day.

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For Local News Day, I Dream of a Bottom-Up News Ecosystem

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Oh, looky here, we’ve got another billionaire with a plan to “save America’s newspapers.” Have we learned nothing from Jeff Bezos?

I mean, maybe Florida-based 73-year-old David Hoffmann is the real deal who will do what Bezos and Alden Capital and whatever Gannett brands its processed news-ish product these days have failed to deliver: A viable, profitable model for relevant journalism. But seriously, how many eggs am I willing to put in the billionaire savior basket? Especially since Hoffmann is a micromanager who daily pores over the 140 papers he’s invested in with a red felt-tip pen, thinks that the Associated Press leans “sometimes a little to the left,” and believes that ultra-local “boosterism” and “pivoting toward paywalls” are the keys to making money in the news business.

Oh, also, this is his “home.”

Just a regular guy. Puts on his pants one leg at a time. With the help of a valet, I’m sure.

But I digress, bigly. I’m here to spin a fantasy in honor of April 9, “Local News Day,” a “national day of action connecting communities with trusted local news.” (Maybe I’ll see you at the LND event at the Kellogg-Hubbard Library?)

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At VTDigger, the Outward Signs Continue to be Not Great

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Disclaimers and caveats first. I’m a supporter of VTDigger. It’s an essential piece of our diminishing news ecosystem. I shudder to think where we’d be without it.

Also, I have no inside knowledge. This post, as with my other writing about Digger, is based entirely on what I can see from out here.

And what I can see is disturbing, sorry to say.

The latest shoe to drop is the sudden departure of editor-in-chief Geeta Anand. She moved across the country to take the Digger job last spring, and now she’s moving back after less than a year. It follows on the heels of CEO Sky Barsch’s pending departure, announced in late January.

I don’t know why Anand is leaving so soon, and I’m not going to speculate. But her interim replacement, veteran editor and journalist Susan Allen, will be Digger’s fourth editor-in-chief in 16 months, including two interims. (Credit to Guy Page at the Vermont Daily Chronicle for being the only reporter to point that out.)

That’s… well, that’s just bad, for a newsroom that seems adrift from its original focus.

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The Fate of the Innovator Is Not Always Pleasant

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I’ve been thinking for a while about BETA Technologies, a.k.a. The Great White Hope for jobs and economic growth in the post-IBM era. Those thoughts have crystallized around a recently-published story by VTDigger’s Theo Wells-Spackman entitled “An Inside Look at Beta (sic) Technologies’ Big Plans for Vermont.”

(I guess we need an AP Style Guide ruling on whether the name is all caps or not but it’s listed on the stock market as BETA, so I’ll go where the money is.)

The story was well done. But it was an example of how an article can be diligently executed but still compromised by its concept. The most frequent offender in this regard is the class of story about “Local Residents Oppose [insert development plan here].” The usual evils are renewable energy installations, cell towers, and proposals for new housing. By their very framing, these accounts give more weight to the opposition — who get the lion’s share of the quotes and the column inches. Supporters are less often heard from if at all, and developers tend to stay away from active engagement because they fear it will just make things worse.

In the case of Wells-Spackman’s piece, “An Inside Look” is fun and exciting, but no matter how hard the reporter tries, the final product is going to make BETA Technologies look good. The shiny factory, the face time with company leaders and supportive officials, all nice. If you begin with “a private tour” of the factory, and you’re kind of already in the host’s back pocket. Access journalism, I think they call it.

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If Phil Scott Gives a Damn About Affordability, His Health Care “Plan” Doesn’t Show It

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Gov. Phil Scott has chosen to address Vermont’s health care affordability crisis in seemingly the only way he knows how: By proposing a modest deregulation of the marketplace.

The situation as we know it: Health insurance costs are skyrocketing and have been for years. Like many other challenges we face, it’s gotten worse during Scott’s time in office. It’s hitting everybody in the pocketbook. It’s driving the increase in property taxes and putting the squeeze on government operations. Our hospital system is close to collapse. Well, except for the University of Vermont Medical Center, which has become the designated whipping boy for rising costs.

And now we’re facing a dramatic rise in uninsured Vermonters thanks to the Republican Congress’ termination of federal subsidies. Per VTDigger’s Olivia Gieger, more than 2,500 Vermonters have already dropped their insurance plans — a decline of nearly eight percent. In the first two weeks of no federal subsidies!

And a Department of Vermont Health Access official has said that even more people will decide to go bareback as they face the harsh reality of through-the-roof premiums.

This is terrible news for our struggling hospitals, which will almost certainly have to absorb higher costs for charity care as uninsured Vermonters avoid seeing the doctor until they resort to the most expensive kind of care there is — emergency room visits.

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Is VTDigger In Trouble?

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Just can’t get enough of Diggerland, which sounds like a place that would appeal to a nine-year-old Phil Scott and very few others. It must have an audience or it’d be out of business, but I have no plans to visit.

Anyway. The latest from VTDigger seems… not good. Digger published a story on Monday announcing the resignation of CEO Sky Barsch, who arrived at the news nonprofit in April 2023 after the departure (ahem) of founder Anne Galloway. (The story was self-serving claptrap written by “VTD Editor” but read more like the product of a PR firm.)

Necessary disclaimer: I worked briefly for Digger in 2020 and was fired literally for using the word “dick” on Twitter. (Galloway found that distasteful.) Still, I am a financial supporter of Digger and wish them nothing but success. It is a vital component of our already meager media ecosystem.

Since my defenestration, I have had no significant contact with the organization or anyone who works there. What follows is my read of the situation from a completely outside perspective.

I can think of one benign explanation for Barsch’s exit: Perhaps it was simply time to move on for personal or professional reasons. Maybe she needs to move to Cucamonga to be closer to an aging relative. Maybe she’s gotten a better job offer from a larger organization here or elsewhere.

Any other explanation would reflect poorly on her tenure and on the state of VTDigger. I see many troubling signs, and I am concerned.

We know that Digger has suffered financial losses for three straight years, including all of Barsch’s time there. She inherited the issues causing those losses and there are no quick fixes. She did staunch the bleeding, but sustainable operation remains out of reach. Indeed, Digger’s problems seem remarkably consistent from Galloway’s tenure to the present. Her departure should have given the enterprise a chance to mature as an organization. It has yet to do so.

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A Tale of Two Headlines (UPDATED)

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NOTE. After I posted this piece, I became aware that the Agency of Education has issued a press release saying that the original headline cited below was “generated by VTDigger.” I take the Agency’s word for this. It’s a pretty stunning lapse of judgment on the part of Digger’s editorial team. My criticism of Saunders’ essay itself still stands.

Zoie Saunders’ PR team could maybe use a shakeup?

Gov. Phil Scott’s Education Secretary sent an opinion piece to VTDigger echoing the governor’s talking points from his State of the State Address last week. But the original bore an unfortunate headline, and the text wasn’t any great shakes either.

Headline Number One, as published by VTDigger on the evening of Monday, January 12:

“Stupid,” eh? I get the callback to James Carville’s most memorable concoction, but it bore an unpleasant whiff of condescension toward the governor’s critics. Now, Saunders’ boss has no problem with condescension toward his critics, but apparently someone thought better of the headline. Because by the next morning, “Stupid” had been excised:

It’s a shame, isn’t it, that a sharp-eyed correspondent noticed the original headline and sent me a screenshot before it could be altered?

I can’t say for certain whether the first headline came from Team Saunders or someone in Digger’s editorial room, but I suspect the former. Seems a stretch that a Digger functionary would attach a potentially offensive headline to an essay by a prominent state official.

(There’s an editor’s note at the bottom of the essay that says “Correction: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this story contained a misleading headline.“ It doesn’t identify the source of the headline. Also, “misleading’ is a funny way of saying “offensive.”)

But even without the “Stupid,” there’s something off about that headline. “It’s Not All About Taxes” carries the implication that it’s mostly about taxes, right? And I don’t think that’s the argument the Scott administration wants to deploy.

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