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Pam Johnson Presents: The [Sit-Down-and-Shut-Up] Airport Charrette Schedule
[annotated] Got a comment? Make it here.
Officially, the reason for my exclusion is (and I'm not kidding) that this web site doesn't print the kind of news that city hall likes. That's really what Johnson told me over a year ago when I protested the policy then for about the umpteenth time. On the other hand, in an extremely inclusive practice, Johnson has on her mailing list two or three media people whose beat actually does cover city hall along with virtually everyone in the media she could find who have never stepped foot in the building or written a word about it. See? That's called fairness. Ya gotta love a city hall policy of including the public that excludes any member of the media solely out of spite. Mercifully, I'm not the first to get this kind of treatment from Johnson. Silke Rible over at Channel 40 WWSB was once told by Johnson that Rible would no longer be welcome in the city hall building at all, this about five or so years ago. Rible's crime, like mine, was writing a story unfavorable to city hall. Ed Martin, who runs a web site critical of city hall, is also excluded from Johnson's press release e-mail list. So is Herb Levine, who publishes the Venice Taxpayer's League Newsletter. Ditto for Sue Lang, who runs the Venice Neighborhoods Coalition web site. All legitimate publishers of local information. Of course they are not alone, as Johnson's grudge against WWSB still lingers -- the TV station is also excluded from the list. A whole lot of people have pissed Pam Johnson off over the years and she excludes them all. See? That's called fairness. Wait... what? Or maybe Johnson just doesn't want the dates of the charrettes blasted all over the TV -- that might be a causative factor in some citizens (gasp) actually showing up. Nasty business, that, when the public pays attention. So let's not put it on the telly, alright?
I know it's childish, but it's also damned funny
Rather than harass Fred Watts, who has had little to no input on this whole mess but is apparently set up to take the fall, why not call up Pam Johnson to let her know how you feel about this whole charrette mess and her policy of excluding this web site from official city hall press releases? Her phone number is above. Somewhere. Let your council members know as well. Then post the results of your efforts on our message board. And thanks, by the way.
Footnote That info going out onto the airwaves apparently made Pam Johnson unhappy, this according to conversations that I had back then with Johnson, Rible, and Rible's assignment editor, Sandy Matheson. According to Matheson, Johnson called the television station to inform them that Rible was officially banned from entering the city hall building. Matheson quoted Johnson as stating that Rible "...would no longer be welcome at city hall." I originally wrote about the rift between Johnson and Rible in July of 2002, in a follow-up article about the city's computer department head and how he had kept his job despite being caught embezzling from the city (and if you're new to all of this, this shit just gets funnier and funnier, doesn't it?). That article can be found here. Scroll down to the section marked "PR goes FUBAR" for the back story on the Johnson versus Rible grudge match.
John Patten is the head of Web Operations for Creative Pages, and has worked in broadcasting for over 12 years. He can also be incredibly rude at times. |
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