Where in the World is Rhonda?

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Rhonda Bodfield writes the "Political Notebook" (i.e., gossip column) for the Arizona Daily Star. She took over the Political Notebook and its gossip column format from Republican embedded reporter Daniel Scarpinato who now works for Jonathan Paton's campaign – what a surprise – not!

I know that the format of the Political Notebook is imposed by the editors of the Daily Star. Daniel Scarpinato revealed as much in an e-mail that many of us have seen. Scarpinato's reporting on Republicans and their political events was understandable given that he was the embedded Republican reporter at the Daily Star after all.

But Rhonda, you're a real journalist. You have won awards for your reporting. You teach journalism. And I know that you know Democrats. You even worked for Democrat Patty Weiss when she ran for Congress in 2006.

So when I read the Political Notebook and all the news is about Republicans and Republican events (the personal interest story last week about Jonathan Paton and his gourmet doggy bag from ex-felon Fife Symington was clearly spoon-fed to you from Scarpinato), it's as if Scarpinato is still writing his lame gossip column.

NBC's Today show does a series called Where in the World is Matt Lauer? Today we are going to launch a feature for our readers called "Where in the World is Rhonda?" The Arizona Daily Star is Tucson's only daily newspaper. You're all we've got Rhonda. Do you think we post the Political Calendar here for our own amusement? It is to let the political reporters in this town, especially you Rhonda, know where you can go to report on actual political news instead of silly gossip. What a novel idea.

Blog for Arizona wants its readers to report on which political reporters, if any, show up to report on your political events. Let us know who is doing their job.

It may be a little like George W. Bush searching for WMD's in his comedy skit for the 2004 Radio and Television Correspondents Association Dinner. As David Corn of The Nation reported:

"[A]t one point, Bush showed a photo of himself looking for something out a window in the Oval Office, and he said, "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere."

The audience laughed… But that wasn't the end of it. After a few more slides, there was a shot of Bush looking under furniture in the Oval Office. "Nope," he said. "No weapons over there." More laughter. Then another picture of Bush searching in his office: "Maybe under here." Laughter again."

Yep, media villagers and Beltway bloviators making their profession proud (sarcasm). And you wonder how this country got into the mess it is in – corporate media.

NB: Send news of your events to Rhonda at rbodfield@azstarnet.com. Good luck.

For the record, the only local political reporter I have observed at any Democratic candidate or party event is Jim Becker – KOLD News 13. Kudos to Jim for making the effort.  Keep up the good work.

H/T for photo to Arizona Newspapers Association

UPDATE: Greg Patterson, the conservative hack who writes the Espresso Pundit blog, took exception to this post. Arizona's Own Espresso Pundit: "Teacher! Daniel Stole My Lunch Money." In Greg's fantasy world, he spins this post to be about Rep. Gabriel Giffords and "Team Gabby," even though there is no reference to Giffords. The man needs a reading comprehension course. I rarely write about Rep. Giffords, that's Dave's thing. The complaint above is about the lack of news reporting in the Arizona Daily Star about Democratic candidates and local campaign events in general – you know, the kind of thing local newspapers are supposed to report to inform their readers – and the godawful "Political Notebook" gossip column specifically. Even Bruce Ash got it.