ISSN
01823 - An online/print network-accessed serial op-ed,
news
& entertainment service to the greater Clovis, CA community. Publisher:
Valley Press Media, a publishing and distribution division
of
Web Portal Design Corp., a Charitable Trust; Executive Editor:
Tom Hobbs, M.S.
Telecom/Fax Automated Line: 559-298-9349; Address e-mail to: Editor's
Desk
The Clovis Free Press is a brilliant, readable exploration of the
major moral questions of our time. It attempts to present a journalistic
form of dialogue that informs and educates the community. It offers
readers an invitation to take responsibility for the moral positions
the community and local government must finally author for themselves.
The minimum monthly press run of the Clovis
Free Press combined is 30,000 was converted on January 1, 2001
to e-mail distribution of 53,613 on July 10, 2001 via subscription
delivery within the greater Clovis metropolitan audience and Internet
World Wide Web access reach.
The entire contents and graphics of Clovis Free Press are
copyrighted and are registered trademarks of the ClovisNews.com
and Valley Press Media unless designated otherwise.
No copying, republication, transmission,
or duplication of The Clovis Free Newspaper is permitted
without written permission from the Valley Press Corporate
Legal Division.
The Free Press Newspaper banner
first appeared in Clovis, CA in August 1966 when its Founder & Publisher,
Russell Mazzei opened his Valley Illustrated Press here.
The
news service is now owned, operated and licensed by the Web Portal
Foundation and ClovisNews.com The Clovis Free Press Newspaper
is now the only serial news agency offering the Clovis region readers
a full service online local journal published daily.
The
data graphics visually displayed on these pages measure quantities
my means of the combined use of points, lines, a coordinate system,
numbers, symbols, words, rods, cones, shading, and color.
The design of statistical graphics involves
the communication of information through the simultaneous presentation
of words, numbers, pictures. The design of statistical graphics,
like math, is not tied to the unique features of any particular
language. The descriptive concepts and the principles advanced apply
generally to the scope of the ideas presented.
Excellence
in news and statistical graphics consists of complex ideas that
are communicated with clarity, precision, and efficiency. Graphics
reveal data concepts and relationships through the efficient communication
of complex, quantitative ideas.
Snail
mail should be addressed to our business office in care of Editor,
The Clovis Free Press, 754 3rd Street, Ste. 102A, Clovis
CA 93612 and is operated by Web Portal Design Works with
corporate headquarters in Palo Alto, California. For a separate
feature on the historical journalism archives in Fresno County prior
to 1891,
take a peek!
The Free Press is located midway
on the Old Town Trail in the Heart of Old Town as it crosses
3rd. Street.
The Free Press is a nonprofit business
entity with its editorial office located within the City of Clovis
pursuant to and in compliance with City of Clovis Business Licensing
Sec. 3-1.127 and Sec. 1, Ord. 79-18, eff. July 1, 1979.
Mission of the Free Press.
The United States Supreme Court
in Justice Learned Hand's opinion, ruled the First Amendment
guarantees "...the
newspaper industry serves one of the most vital of all interests:
the dissemination of news from many different sources and with as
many different facets and colors as possible.
That interest is closely akin to, if indeed
it is not the same as, the interest protected by the First Amendment;
it presupposes that right conclusions are more likely to be gathered
out of the multitude of tongues than through any kind of authoritative
selection.
To many this is, and always will be folly;
but we have staked upon it our all, "...information from diverse
and antagonistic sources is essential to the the welfare of the
public." (Associated Press vs. United States, 326
U.S. 1, 20 (1945).
Open and informed debate is critical
to maintaining a sound democracy, and the press plays a significant
role in facilitating social discourse. Mindful of the press' function
in furthering the free flow of ideas, courts have granted the broadest
First Amendment protections to the gathering and dissemination of
news.
In light of this long tradition of protecting
the editorial integrity of the press, the editors and writers of
this newspaper have respectfully opposed and will continue to challenge
any and all acts of government that tend to chill the freedom of
expression or to curb freedom of speech.[See attached Amici
Brief of the Student Press Association in re:"Communications
Decency Act" 1996].
The public relies on news organizations
of all types which maintain Internet sites where digital issues
of their news stories are posted. This service is a vital organ
of communication and a historic public trust.
The Internet has revolutionized
the investigating and reporting of news. Journalists utilize the
Internet to gain access to information, to post stories and to communicate
with readers. Because the Internet most closely resembles the print
medium, it too should receive the most exacting First Amendment
protection.
The Internet has become
an invaluable and irreplaceable resource to journalists. No other
field has been altered more drastically by the proliferation of
computer assisted research tools, including the Internet, than journalism.
A early 1995 study on Internet usage
by the public reported 68% of the journalists polled already used
the Internet for story background research.
The Internet provides journalists with instantaneous access to vast
quantities of information, and has enlarged investigative and data-gathering
properties. The
online digital news media should receive the same exacting level
of First Amendment protection as the paper and ink print media.
Guidelines for Column Submissions:
Clovis
Free Press (CFP) readers are well-informed, intelligent individuals
from all parts of the globe. But they are not necessarily specialists
in your field, or even specialists in international affairs -- in
fact, as many business people read CFP as academics and practitioners
combined. You should assume that they want to be provoked, surprised,
presented with memorable information and rigorous analysis.
But at the same time, assume that they
have neither the time nor the patience for long winded arguments,
insider jargon, narrow topics, or excessively technical writing.
The trick to making us swoon over a pitch is to strike a balance:
CFP articles should become an indispensible reference for debate
among specialists, yet they should also engage, even entertain,
a general interest reader.
Reportage should be complemented by sharp
analytical thinking. Opinion pieces or essays should make use of
original data, anecdotes, even wit, to help draw readers in. Around
the office, we like to joke about "rigor, not rigor mortis."
It may be more quip than maxim,
but in a glib way it sums up what we're trying to do. Today's world
is a political climate increasingly absent of hmane values. The
Clovis Fee Press appeals to moral imagination and offers hope. We
look forward to reading your ideas!
Demograhics Update:
The Fall 2000 Valley Press Media Network study
shows that California’s demographics are rapidly shifting.
For example, in the 1990 U.S. Census,
the Bureau reported that 224 languages were spoken in California.
By 1999, according to the Bureau’s Current Population Survey,
more than 4 percent of California’s 33.4 million residents spoke
no English at all.
In 1998, California was the most popular intended
destination for the nation’s 660,000 immigrants with 170,000 settling in the state.
Fifty-six of California’s 58 counties
reported providing interpreter services. The top ten languages by
days of interpreter service during fiscal year 1998-1999 were Spanish
(145,661), Vietnamese (9,197), Korean (3,716), Cantonese (3,252),
Armenian (2,730), Cambodian (2,112), Mandarin (2,100), Tagalog (1,986),
Russian (1,957), and Punjabi (1,491).
Currently, there are eight designated
languages for which a court interpreter may be certified by the
Judicial Council - Arabic, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese,
Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.
Becoming a CFP Contributor is easy:
1) Do read the CFP Newspaper. It's
the best way to get a sense for the kind of articles we like. We admire pitches
that reflect new thinking, a global outlook, wit, and a flair for explaining complex
ideas to a wide audience.
2) Don't send generic pitches. We publish almost none of them.
3) Do pitch us articles that are feisty, funny, quirky, risky, surprising, or
opinionated. Throw a few sacred cows on the barbecue and you'll get our attention
fast.
4) Don't send us a 20,000 word conference paper or book chapter. CFP articles
tend to run between 3,000 and 4,000 words. If you have a conference paper or book
chapter you think could be turned into a great C FP piece, send us a letter or
an outline explaining how you'd do it.
5) Do steer clear of wonky, technical language. CFP believes in making big ideas
accessible to the widest possible audience.
6) Don't send us anything that refers to "our" interests "abroad."CFP
is a regional newspaper with a global readership.
7) Do send us pitches about the economy, technology, urban expansion, public health,
culture, immigration, the environment, global and regional trends, international
finance and business, religion, non-profit commmnity organizations.
8) Don't finish your article and mail it to us. In fact, don't even start your
article. First, send us a letter or an outline describing the piece you'd like
to write. You'll hear back from us much faster. And if we love the idea, we can
offer feedback before you put pen to paper. Everyone saves time.
9) Do provide original research or reporting to support your ideas.
10) Do pitch us articles for specific CFP sections.
11) Don't send us a pitch without including clips of previous articles.
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