- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Sometimes it’s the little side comments people make that are most telling. This could certainly be true in a brief Chico Enterprise-Record story published over the weekend about artisan olive growers. In the lead sentence, business editor Laura Urseny called UC Cooperative Extension “food and farm information central.” That’s a label I think we could get used to. For the brief, UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Paul Vossen told the writer that about 25 percent of California's olive oil comes from small artisan producers and nearly all California olive oil is fresher and better tasting than imported oil.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
A long, slightly irreverent diatribe on brain fitness in the independent online local news conduit the Sacramento News & Review does two things: it offers a UC expert the opportunity to present scientific information and it makes the old-school reader wonder, "Is this really the future of news?"
The article, by Matt Perry, annihilates the rules of conventional journalism:
- Written for the infinite scope of cyberspace, the harangue rambles on for more than 1,500 words.
- Science writing about aging is peppered with teenage slang. Who will read it?
- The writer inserts himself into the piece. To wit: "My eyes shift to...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Los Angeles Times freelance writer David Karp sent a response today to last week's ANR News Blog post about his May 27 blueberry production story. The nicely written article covered the introduction of a crop usually associated with the Northwest, Michigan and Maine into California; it didn't go into UC's role.
Karp wrote in his e-mail that he agonized over what to include in the article, given the amount of space he would have in the newspaper. He interviewed more than 40 sources, but only had room to cite two.
"If I had room to cite the...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Not only did the Fresno Bee lose veteran ag reporter Dennis Pollock to its recent buyout cuts, the paper's garden reporter, Mzong Xiong, decided to take the buyout and continue her maternity leave indefinitely.
But it hasn't taken long for her replacement to find UC Cooperative Extension. Margaret Slaby, who together with columnist Mary Lu Aguirre are now covering the garden beat, wrote a charming piece about heriloom corn this week that included quotes from two Tulare County UCCE advisors.
The story centers on Gary Jones of Tollhouse, who is growing corn with kernals ranging from red, purple and pink to blue, black and teal, the article said. Small farm...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
I've written in this blog about the sad news in the print media, with many California and national newspapers cutting staff and shutting their doors. The trend has hit home. Over the weekend, the Fresno Bee's agriculture reporter Dennis Pollock announced that he is one of the paper's staff taking the buyout and retiring.
Pollock marked the change by noting the retirement of UC Cooperative Extension advisors who were frequent sources for his stories over the years.
Pollock wrote in his farewell column:
"'He's retired now,' someone would say when I asked for...