Daily News honored in Albuquerque

Alamogordo Daily News photographer J.R. Oppenheim, managing editor Michael Johnson, reporter Duane Barbati and associate news editor Elva Osterreich each were honored with several awards Saturday night during the New Mexico Press Association-Associated Press Managing Editors 2009 Better Newspapers Contest.

[Kathie M]

They can't get the community news reported in a timely manner, but this gets in the paper the next day.

Congratulations to the winners. May we please expect more award-worthy reporting in the future?

[Agnes]

Kinda makes you wonder what the other news reporting was like!

[Just Wondering]

Just goes to show ya anyone can receive an award. Maybe that is one reason the ADN is in a college text book. Well not for that, but for a discrimination lawsuit brought some years ago. Yes I can prove this as a former classmate of mine sent me a copy of the pages from the book.

But I will say congratulations anyway.

[BarbMoore]

WOW, must not be very high standards to win these awards. As many typos, incorrect or NON-reporting, and lack of follow-up reporting, I'm really surprised there are awards given for that.

[Michael Morris]

The full list of winners -> http://tinyurl.com/y9levq6

[Loco Lobo]

The hypocrisy on Topix from Alamogordo people is astounding ... Instead of being proud that your hometown newspaper does something good, you complain about how bad it is, yet you continue to read it. You guys aren't happy unless you have something to complain about. It boggles the mind.

[BarbMoore]

Loco Lobo wrote:

The hypocrisy on Topix from Alamogordo people is astounding ... Instead of being proud that your hometown newspaper does something good, you complain about how bad it is, yet you continue to read it. You guys aren't happy unless you have something to complain about. It boggles the mind.

Notice how smart we are; very few of the people commenting on Topix actually subscribe to such dribble.

[Ha Ha]

BarbMoore wrote:

<quoted text>
Notice how smart we are; very few of the people commenting on Topix actually subscribe to such dribble.

You may not subscribe to it, but you still manage to get your hands on the information they publish. Could it be you're just as nosey but too cheap to subscribe? But what can be expected from someone with a police scanner at home. I would offer to drop off my subscription to you after I read it, but you prefer to be the first to know about everything!!!

[Kathie M]

Ha Ha wrote:

<quoted text>
You may not subscribe to it, but you still manage to get your hands on the information they publish. Could it be you're just as nosey but too cheap to subscribe? But what can be expected from someone with a police scanner at home. I would offer to drop off my subscription to you after I read it, but you prefer to be the first to know about everything!!!

There is nothing wrong with wanting our local paper to actually report the news in a timely and factual manner. As it is pretty much the only source of local news why should we not expect it to actually serve those it CLAIMS to serve? I have lived here 7 years now and have seen a definite decline in the quality of our local newspaper over that time. Why pay for something inferior and inadequate?

Things posted here on Topix aren't always accurate, and that is to be expected in a forum some times. But often enough they are more accurate and timely than what is reported in the ADN, which is supposed to be a NEWSpaper!

[Cactus Flower]

I believe our local paper is printed in El Paso. If that is the case then some of the news may be reported late due to deadlines. There is a small staff at the local paper and they do as good a job as they can. Do you ever observe JR, on any given day he is all over town at different events. He works very hard and long hours. As for those who always have time to criticize or get the news first on their police scanners, do your own story, take your own pictures and take them to the paper; they just might get published. Best wishes to JR for a job well done!

[really]

I think it tells you more about the competition.

[BarbMoore]

I'm not too cheap to subscribe to the daily SNOOZE; I'm too smart to.

[Edmundo]

Ha Ha:

"But what can be expected from someone with a police scanner at home"

A great deal more respect for our Law Enforcement Agencies for one thing. We know they are busy!
It might take a week (or never) for something we know occured for any information to be published by the ADN.

[Ha Ha]

BarbMoore wrote:

I'm not too cheap to subscribe to the daily SNOOZE; I'm too smart to.

Of course you are.

[BarbMoore]

Edmundo wrote:

Ha Ha:
"But what can be expected from someone with a police scanner at home"
A great deal more respect for our Law Enforcement Agencies for one thing. We know they are busy!
It might take a week (or never) for something we know occured for any information to be published by the ADN.

How true! I have a new found respect for all our city workers just by turning on the scanner during a monsoon rainstorm.

[Kathie M]

Cactus Flower wrote:

I believe our local paper is printed in El Paso. If that is the case then some of the news may be reported late due to deadlines. There is a small staff at the local paper and they do as good a job as they can. Do you ever observe JR, on any given day he is all over town at different events. He works very hard and long hours. As for those who always have time to criticize or get the news first on their police scanners, do your own story, take your own pictures and take them to the paper; they just might get published. Best wishes to JR for a job well done!

You are correct, they do have an early deadline because it is printed out of town. That doesn't excuse the fact that things are reported DAYS later or not at all.

JR is exceptional. It's my opinion that the problem comes from the top. Proofreading is a joke. Editing appears to be haphazard. Ideas and leads for stories are taken to the paper by people in the community constantly. Some good, some probably not so good. It's the editor's responsibility to choose what to cover and to assign it to someone, not our responsibility to write the story for them. What happened to reporters going out and looking for stories?

Newspapers have been hit hard by the economy just like everything else. The town in Ohio I came from is the same size. The newspaper in that town is published daily and is easily four times the size of the ADN, if not more. It has local, state, and national news. It is interesting to read.

And they know how to use the spellcheck on their computers.

[Queen of Foo]

Congrats to everyone. In the future can you publish the names of the stories and pictures that got the honors? Maybe with links to the pictures and stories, geez let's show our pride in these folks!

[BarbMoore]

When did they start printing it in El Paso? It was being printed in Las Cruces for awhile.

[Wicky Stick]

I kind of thought Barbati's reporting on the recent murder at the Hampton Inn was pretty good. It was the most in-depth reporting I've seen in awhile. I'm just not quite sure what's going on over at the ADN office.

[JMH3]

Loco Lobo wrote:

The hypocrisy on Topix from Alamogordo people is astounding ... Instead of being proud that your hometown newspaper does something good, you complain about how bad it is, yet you continue to read it. You guys aren't happy unless you have something to complain about. It boggles the mind.

Not really when you consider most "local" stories are reported in the LA Times before they are reported here.