"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro..."
- Hunter S. Thompson
By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
The Paz Files
HARLINGEN, Texas - Jerry Deal's taking a beating. No, not from a crazed spouse, and not from the cruel horse races. The local blogger known for prodding the worst of elected officials and for praising lesser-known town heroes is taking an almost-daily spanking at the hands of newcomer blogger who goes out of his way to note Deal's journalistic missteps. It's not uncommon in the heartless blogosphere. Perhaps more than fading prostitutes, bloggers need a certain dose of admiration aimed their way. Jerry Deal is among those bloggers.
His tireless tyrant is a kid named Sam Losoya, editor of MyHarlingenNews.blogspot.com.
Losoya claims to be an engineering student at UT-Pan American in Edinburg and a native of Harlingen. He seems to be a smart blogger, with proper grammar in his posts and that needed bent toward anything that is news. In recent postings, he has hammered Deal for what he deems are journalism failings, most of which are on the mark. He accuses Deal of taking sides on issues that perhaps deserve fairer play, and he notes Deal's mistakes with seeming pleasure.
Deal, a former editor of the Valley Morning Star, has largely ignored Losoya, although he has found it necessary to take him on from time to time. It is a novel arrival in the Harlingen blogging scene, a playground not used to newcomers and not used to seeing Deal criticized. His former nemesis, a blogger operating MyHarlingenNews.com, is no longer a force in town, having been cut to his knees by readers opting for Deal's blog after a protracted battle that eventually led to a clearer characterization of the worst of the two. Deal took his victory in stride, but then forgot the first law of excellence: Sooner or later, new gunslingers nose out the top guy.
Young Losoya is that challenger these days.
His blog does not "break" news as much as it points out the failings of the other two local bloggers. He is merciless when chopping down the operator of MyHarlingenNews.com and he's equally harsh on Deal when he believes Deal has abdicated fairness - a key ingredient in Losoya's biting criticism.
Who knows whether it affects Deal's approach? Earlier, he posted a story saying things would be different in 2012, that he had perhaps laid down his journalism tenets and adding that he hoped to do better this year. So far, Deal has not exhibited samples of his resolution. When he criticized former Police Chief Danny Castillo during the chief's run for a city commission seat, Deal wrote scathing stories about the bid, never doing the same for Castillo's opponent, Gail Moore - a woman Deal favored for the position.
Later, Deal wrote a glowing story about Chief Castillo's wife, as if to make amends.
That opened the usually-genial Deal to continued bodyslams on MyHarlingenNews.blogspot.com. And he's still getting it. In his latest story, the intrepid Losoya whips Deal for what he calls "arrogance" in a story Deal posted related to a salary hike for City Attorney Roxann Cotroneo. Deal believes the hike to be premature; Losoya thinks Deal's story was, again, unfair, and presumptuous. As a citizen of Harlingen, Deal has a right to pose the question, but not as a reporter writing for a blog purporting to provide fair & objective info for the community. Losoya was right to question Deal's style, but perhaps not so harshly that he called the 78-year-old Deal and "asshole."
It's a peculiarly smalltown thing, this blogging for influence.
Jerry Deal has the local reporting experience to stake his claim to a certain place in town. Losoya apparently knows what constitutes news, so he strives to right wrongs, also for the sake of the reader. Both are needed in a struggling town like Harlingen, where news flows not by a great newspaper, but by rumor, innuendo and backseat quarterbacks who couch their info in terms of personal investigations. Comments on Deal's blog are rough, shallow and rarely helpful.
Still, Jerry Deal is a pro. He will right his ship and get back to the business of being the best blog in town. Something is lost when one goes about proclaiming greatness ahead of providing great work. Maybe that's his lesson in all this. It's a bitch in a egomaniacal world such as blogging, but reputations are made and nurtured by way of excellence, because the one thing you can't buy in reporting is integrity...
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14 comments:
Exelent article. I follow those blogs and your story is dead-on. Thanz. Jerry Deal needs to learn from this. When you say you're Number 1, you better be good enough to prove it!
Here Kitty kitty, common Paz, you to have been critical of Jerry Deal for whatever reasons. Calling some of the blogger's ditzy.
Lasoya is a windbag, no more, no less, his blog is filled with insults, I don't know why, but many of your side bar postings appear on myharlingen.blogspot, humm curious.
I have been looking for Mr. Lasoya and for some reason, he can't be found, which makes me wonder if he exist.
Jerry Deal thinks he's hot stuff. That's what's behind all this. Losoya gets my vote.
Deal can't take the heat? Is that it? Poor old man. Do some reporting, Dude!
Deal’s ship has foundered on the rocky shore of self deception; if it is to be righted he needs to throw over his ego and his biases. It is one thing to write his opinions in the op-ed The Real Deal, but Deal has allowed his favoritism and his prejudices to spill over into what should be straight news reporting. Many have complained of the loss of his journalist principals - and for good reason. Get back to basics Mr. Deal.
Mr. Paz, thank you for the publicity. I only wish I was as good a writer as you are. Again, thank you.
Losoya should be congratulated for caring about faireness. Jwerry Deal does not. It's always the young calling out the old coots. Way to go!
Guys, Deal is just trying to stay busy. He's 78 and wanting to feel like he's contributing to Harlingen. He's harmless, although he does get off base.
super article. Don't read Jerry Deal much anymore and I do like what this guy Losoya is doing. Keeping them honest.
Losoya is not keeping anyone honest, he writes observations, with no fact, to support his commentaries. His blog is nothing but Porno, period. I have a feeling this character does not exist. He was made up, that is easy to do in the inter-net.
Paz-Martinez is forever, criticizing Jerry Deal, seriously, I believe he is jeolous, just like Losoya, if he is for real.
Anonymous, get over yourself. the criticism thrown at Jerry Deal is legit. He takes sides, Dude! As for Losoya, well, if he exists or not, his blog is there. what's important is the material you see on there. Jerry Deal needs to come clean. He burned many people, most of them Hispancs.
Jerry Deal is not above being criticized. All bloggers have their failings. HE'S no differnt. Montoya drinks and is arrested. Mchale likes porn. Tony Chapa is too dumb, etc etc etc. Blogs are free, BTW
Do you think maybe that guy on the side bar arrested for carnal relations with a non-consenting horse might really be Jake? Perhaps Jake's passion for large haunches finally got the better of him and he is now officially out of control. Better start locking your barns and stables folks.
Leave it to the Valley people, killing each other, screwing animals, beating up wives, getting drunk, having 3 wives at one time. Junior Bonner is a good example,
of an adulterer, 2 weemin at one time. LaCandrelle having kids with someone else wife, Marquita Washington going to Mexico with a lover, while LaCandrella was at the funeral home, damn, sounds like the, World turns.
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