Congratulations to Mark
Hear ye, hear ye! The New Jersey Press Association has announced that our own Mark Spivey won first place for reporting and writing in the 2008 Better Newspaper Contest. Mark submitted a portfolio of his work for the Courier News in the category of daily newspapers with circulation under 60,000. Winners were announced at the NJPA's Press Night Wednesday. For the entire list, click here.
Since taking over the Plainfield beat, Mark has consistently come up with front-page stories on many aspects of life in the Queen City. He is a prolific writer with a great news sense and has made himself known to people in civic groups, enterprise, law enforcement, education, youth advocacy, religious life, cultural organizations and of course, City Hall. When there is sad news to report, he does it with tact and professionalism, focusing on the human aspect as well as the hard facts.
Maybe by now you can guess I am a fan of his. The Plainfield beat can be daunting. He is the fourth reporter to take it on since I retired in July 2003. It is the only urban center in the readership area and residents often feel misunderstood by the media. I think he is well-deserving of his award and I hope you agree.
--Bernice Paglia
Since taking over the Plainfield beat, Mark has consistently come up with front-page stories on many aspects of life in the Queen City. He is a prolific writer with a great news sense and has made himself known to people in civic groups, enterprise, law enforcement, education, youth advocacy, religious life, cultural organizations and of course, City Hall. When there is sad news to report, he does it with tact and professionalism, focusing on the human aspect as well as the hard facts.
Maybe by now you can guess I am a fan of his. The Plainfield beat can be daunting. He is the fourth reporter to take it on since I retired in July 2003. It is the only urban center in the readership area and residents often feel misunderstood by the media. I think he is well-deserving of his award and I hope you agree.
--Bernice Paglia
posted by Bernice at 12:21 PM
15 Comments:
I am also a fan of Mark's reporting. Since he took on the Plainfield beat, I've seen consistently excellent coverage of our city. What is unfortunate is that the Courier's website does not screen comments and frequently ignorant, racist or simply hateful comments are posted. I believe that an online version of a newspaper should treat comments as letters to the editor and take responsibility for filtering out some of the anger and hatred anonymously and regularly directed at Plainfield and its people.
Paul Milan
I could not agree more. He does a fantastic job covering local news. His reports are always fair and balanced. It's unfortunate that the Couriers editorial writer does not hold the same values with his writing.
Dan said today:
" Will nominations be allowed from the floor?"
I wonder if nominations for the New Dem mayoral candidate were allowed.
Was that an open process? Could anyone apply to become the candidate for the New Dems ticket?
How about the 2-6, 2-9, 2-10 and 2-3 committee seats? Were any of these an open process?
Or were these all smoke-filled room nominations.
I wonder...hmmmmmm...
Congratulations Mark. Very well deserved. You are an exceptional and fair writer to the Queen City. Keep up the great work.
Add my congratulations to those for Mark. He may have saved my Courier subscription.I n ow have something to look forward to read besides the obituaries.
Ah Bernice,
...... you was pretty good yourself !!!
GB
Bernice,
I had the pleasure and privelege of working alongside Mark Spivey when he covered sports for the Home News Tribune. The honor bestowed upon him is long overdue. He is an outstanding writer and beat reporter. Our loss is Plainfield's gain. Thanks very much for your kind words about Mark.
Congrats to Mark. What an accomplishment for him! Thank you for your reporting.
We in the POP/Restore Muhlenberg Coalition have really appreciated Mark's outstanding coverage of our healthcare situation here in Plainfield and the surrounding communities served by Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center and our activities to bring our hospital back! In addition, he has provided lots of great coverage of all of Plainfield's news. He certainly deserves that award and many more.
Bravo, Mark!
In a reference to Cory Storch's undertaking to spend $65,000 for a Rutger's survey about how Plainfield can benefit from transit village development, Jerry Green wanted to know why we are spending 65K when we can get this information for free from the State. Jerry had all the information about how Plainfield can access grant money to do the study for free (shouldn't the administration be doing some of this)? Jerry brough in someone from the State to present the information. Here are my questions:
1- If the mayor and Jerry are so close, why didn't the mayor know of this information and pass it along to the council?
2- Is the mayor aware of what the council is doing? Obviously not if this information was not given to Cory. Does this mean the mayor and council do not communicate and do not get along. Great- good way to get things done.
3- What is Jerry Green's role in this? Isn't he supposed to be taking care of all Union County? Why is he so involved in Plainfield politics - do your own job Jerry.
4- If Jerry knew these funds were available, why didn't he contact Cory directly? For someone who does not want to do negative campaigning or to attack people personally, he certainly is not taking his own advice.
Jerry's other suggestion is to have the developers come up with a plan. I wonder if Jerry has anyone in mind?
The mayor is a lovely woman, who probably would be a great mayor if she was able to think for herself. She is not allowed, therefore, we must put in someone who is educated in financial and business areas. That is not this mayor.
FYI to 12:11 p.m.: Here's what JG represents: District 22 - Clark Township, Dunellen Borough, Fanwood Borough, Green Brook Township, Linden City, Middlesex Borough, North Plainfield Borough, Plainfield City, Rahway City, Scotch Plains Township, Winfield Township
I realize this post is to extend well wishes to Mark for a job well done, but since a comment slipped in at 12:11PM, I had to reply. In todays day and age, anyone that needs to spend $65K for a study such as this needs to step down from their position. Take a look up and down the rails my friends. Your study already exists. When developers have billions of dollars to invest in the city and JG says the money is not black enough, thats a problem. Maybe his pockets were not being lined and he possibly wants to provide his supporters the never forthcoming opportunity to get in on the action that is already in place. Note the sarcasm here. But thanks to Mark for his continued coverage.
To Anonymous 3:09 pm: enough with the racist comments already, and if you have any substantiation for your allegations report it. Otherwise it's just racism and slander, not a good combination.
To 6:54pm - Just so you know, Jerry Green was the one who brought up making sure the money goes to the black community, not 3:09pm
OK, folks, that's it with off-topic remarks. If you want to say anything specific about Mark's award, please do so. All others, find another post. Maybe I will copy GannettBlog and leave a post open for general comments.
In the early a.m. I was thinking that Mark brings value-added to the Courier by being a good will ambassador as well as a fine reporter. People like to tell him their stories. The school district web site practically has a shrine to his writings. As Olddoc notes, he gives people a reason to want to keep subscribing despite the newspaper industry's mandates to shrink the paper's size and raise the price in order to survive the current crisis.
Post a Comment
<< Home