Goodbye to Grade the News

Grade The News, an ambitious project to hold major news outlets to account, is suffering from a lack of funds.

I would also like to take this opportunity to respond to some of the criticisms of the earlier incarnation of this blog on GTN's message board.

First of all, I don't have a degree in journalism, so the people who've said that I should get my money back for it are wrong.

Secondly, I make no apologies for wearing a paper bag over my head to a Los Altos city council meeting when I was 19 years old, though I would like to clear up a few misconceptions. The bag did not say "Silently Protesting." It said "Los Altos Resident." Additionally, the police chief did not say "You have a right to be here." She said that I had to take off the bag or leave. I asked her to show me the city bylaw that prohibited me from wearing a paper over my head, at which point she backed off. I also did not say "The big one." I said, "You know why I'm here."

These are the kinds of mistakes reporters make when they don't bother to interview the man with the bag on his head.

Third, with the exception of those who insist on pretending that global warming does not exist, all are welcome to comment here. Whether or not you think we should care is another matter, but if you are not being paid by ExxonMobil, Citigroup or Michael Crichton, there really is no logical reason to argue that there's no such thing as global warming.