Police mum about any use of force on man who died in police custody
Greensboro police are declining to describe any techniques or devices used to control man who died in police custody this week.
Articles by Roch Smith Jr
News & Record: How an aversion to innovation devolved into incompetence
The News & Record shows no interest in initiating anything creative or original online. The main page of its website is just as likely to feature headlines linking to some click bait about a far-away nothing as it is to anything of local interest. Its local reporting is down to two or three original stories a day and most of those are stenography — having let go the gutsy Margaret Moffett and gutsy Susan Ladd to retain dispassionate writers who specialize in the grand equivocation of regurgitating he said/she said — but that’s another story. Here is how we know that the News & Record really has completely capitulated to a destiny of digital incompetence.
Discouraging a Teaching Career: The Neglected Salaries of Experienced Teachers in North Carolina
A teacher who starts teaching at 22 years-old in North Carolina and works to a retirement age of 65, will work the last 28 years of her career with only a single $2,000 raise in pay. That is not a typo — that is the state of pay for experienced teachers in North Carolina; teachers who, unsurprisingly, are also the most effective.
Carolina Journal hides relationship between astroturf author, advocacy group and a source
Carolina Journal crossed a line this week when they engaged in some bad ol’ astrotrurfing, the practice of publishing what appears to be an authentic piece of journalism while masking who is really behind it. It is unethical.
A better way to improve City Council’s public forums
These forums are not becoming heated just because people want to blow off steam. People are coming to these forums because they perceive a need for action and, just as in the past, the atmosphere is getting raucous because elected officials are side-stepping concerns and remain immune to facts brought to their attention.
Why does WGHP MyFox8 keep failing to identify owners of problematic apartments?
On February 14, WGHP MyFox8 posted to its website a story by reporter Aleksandra Bush about plans by the City of Greensboro to take over repairs of an apartment complex at which five children died in a fire in 2018. The story erroneously reported the owners of the apartment complex as Arco Realty and WGHP has failed to correct it — it is at least the third time WGHP has done this. To report Arco Realty as the owners of the property, as WGHP did, is not only demonstrably wrong, it conceals the people actually responsible for the building. Why would WGHP keep doing that?
Factually wrong: The News & Record report that Greensboro is the second least-expensive city in N.C.
Dick Barron of the News & Record reported yesterday that “Greensboro ranks second least-expensive for homeowners in the state.” That’s not true and, despite the error being brought to the attention of the reporter and publisher yesterday morning, the article remains uncorrected.
4 questions that must be answered regarding the death of Marcus Dion Smith
These questions are fundamental. Without honest and accurate answers, any efforts by leaders to proceed with policy or personnel decisions would be half-baked.
News & Record: How an aversion to innovation devolved into incompetence
The News & Record shows no interest in initiating anything creative or original online. The main page of its website is just as likely to feature headlines linking to some click bait about a far-away nothing as it is to anything of local interest. Its local reporting is down to two or three original stories a day and most of those are stenography — having let go the gutsy Margaret Moffett and gutsy Susan Ladd to retain dispassionate writers who specialize in the grand equivocation of regurgitating he said/she said — but that’s another story. Here is how we know that the News & Record really has completely capitulated to a destiny of digital incompetence.
Discouraging a Teaching Career: The Neglected Salaries of Experienced Teachers in North Carolina
A teacher who starts teaching at 22 years-old in North Carolina and works to a retirement age of 65, will work the last 28 years of her career with only a single $2,000 raise in pay. That is not a typo — that is the state of pay for experienced teachers in North Carolina; teachers who, unsurprisingly, are also the most effective.
Carolina Journal hides relationship between astroturf author, advocacy group and a source
Carolina Journal crossed a line this week when they engaged in some bad ol’ astrotrurfing, the practice of publishing what appears to be an authentic piece of journalism while masking who is really behind it. It is unethical.
A better way to improve City Council’s public forums
These forums are not becoming heated just because people want to blow off steam. People are coming to these forums because they perceive a need for action and, just as in the past, the atmosphere is getting raucous because elected officials are side-stepping concerns and remain immune to facts brought to their attention.
Why does WGHP MyFox8 keep failing to identify owners of problematic apartments?
On February 14, WGHP MyFox8 posted to its website a story by reporter Aleksandra Bush about plans by the City of Greensboro to take over repairs of an apartment complex at which five children died in a fire in 2018. The story erroneously reported the owners of the apartment complex as Arco Realty and WGHP has failed to correct it — it is at least the third time WGHP has done this. To report Arco Realty as the owners of the property, as WGHP did, is not only demonstrably wrong, it conceals the people actually responsible for the building. Why would WGHP keep doing that?
Factually wrong: The News & Record report that Greensboro is the second least-expensive city in N.C.
Dick Barron of the News & Record reported yesterday that “Greensboro ranks second least-expensive for homeowners in the state.” That’s not true and, despite the error being brought to the attention of the reporter and publisher yesterday morning, the article remains uncorrected.
4 questions that must be answered regarding the death of Marcus Dion Smith
These questions are fundamental. Without honest and accurate answers, any efforts by leaders to proceed with policy or personnel decisions would be half-baked.