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Showing posts from February, 2008

Linda Greenhouse to Leave the Times

A t the risk of gushing, Linda Greenhouse's decision to leave the New York Times has left me very depressed. Her departure is not a death in the family but it is always a passing of note when a writer who has defined her beat in the best traditions of writing and reporting decides to get off the bus. Greenhouse, who has worked at the paper for 30 years and is the dean of the Supreme Court press corps, is an appointment read for me. I like the law anyway and the Supreme Court especially -- of course I read " Becoming Justice Blackmun " and am reading " The Nine " right now -- but her abilities transcend the subject matter. Her prose is consistently clear and diligent and spare, at any length. She eschews the soft lead so common elsewhere in the paper (and elsewhere) but does not rigidly adhere to the 5Ws . Great writers can pull that off, but she is a professional driver on a closed track: do not try this at home. As a reporter, Greenhouse leave no relevant sto

Puppies, Iraq and Fuck You

Y eah, I love this debate. I wrote at the Committee of Concerned Journalists on the naughty word controversy ( What the $%*&#! Did He Say ) and how newspapers perpetuate a silly standard of keeping foul language off their pages even if the foul language is the story (btw,the clip doesn't make clear what prompted Sam Zell to curse; it was the reporter who asked the question walking off before he had finished talking). But the merit of the question is fundamental. And I don't think there is an easy answer. Unlike, say, the Big Three automakers it is too easy to blame newspaper executives for failed strategies that have left their businesses struggling; while Detroit is similarly saddled with legacy issues that new players were fortunate to be able to avoid, it is also true that US carmakers missed and dissed trends that invited nimble competitors to flourish. But people still buy cars, so at least the automakers don’t have to start making bicycles, gyrocopters -- or frozen pi

100% Buyer, 0% Seller

J eff Jarvis asks a provocative question (imagine the odds): What will the "distributed university look like?" Start here: Why should my son or daughter have to pick a single college and with it only the teachers and courses offered there? Online, they should be able to take most any course anywhere. Indeed, schools from MIT to Stanford are now offering their curricula the internet. Similarly, why should a professor pick just from the students accepted at his or her school? Online, the best can pick from the best, cutting out the middleman of university admissions. Looking way out into the future (but, hey, Sam Zell is saying that nupes will be OK — in 30 years! ), I wonder if we are rubbing up against forces that will expose the limitations of the free market as it relates to supply. If aggregators become the dominant publishers but do not participate in news gathering, what happens to reporting? If it is a practical truth that any movie or book can be obtained easily and

You, Sir, Are the National Enquirer Of ...

w hen you really, really want to insult a news organization you accuse them of being no better than the National Enquirer, it seems. But it looks like we set some kind of record for this invective in the past few days. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

I Know You Are, But What Am I?

w hen a story isn't a story but it generates a lot of stories, nobody looks particularly good. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

NYT Ombud Chides Paper Over McCain Story

N ew York Times Public Editor Clark Hoyt takes his paper to task for its original John McCain story as well as the Friday follow-up . Hoyt concludes that the newspaper didn’t have enough to report that top McCain aides had become “convinced” the senator’s was having an intimate relationship with a lobbyist, that they story did need that angle to make its points and that including it had invited distraction from what was otherwise “a good story.” ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

McCain Times II: The Story Shifts

The New York Times insides its second-day McCain story, writes around the romance angle and offers no new reporting about the bombshell affair allegation which caused a substantial reaction from media critics and thousands of New York Times’ readers. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Medill Dean Apologizes for 'Poor Judgment'

Embattled Medill Dean John Lavine has apologized to faculty and students for "exercising poor judgment" but says he did not make up the anonymous quotes in an incident which has brought criticism from his colleagues and unwelcome press scrutiny. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Should Newspapers Endorse Candidates?

Newspapers have long endorsed candidates. Has the time come for this practice to end? ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

McCain Article Makes the New York Times the Story

The New York Times is the story after running a front-page article in which anonymous sources allege some top advisers to John McCain "became convinced" during his 2000 presidential campaign that the candidate’s relationship with a much younger female lobbyist "had become romantic." Do they "have it?" ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Yeah -- This is Important

Silly enough that 'bad' language is deemed unsuitable for most daily newspapers. Now the Chicago Tribune's Public Editor has taken owner Sam Zell to task for cursing -- in the newsroom. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Get Me Re-Write! What -- We Don't Have One?

How many editors is too many editors? How many is two few? Is there a 'Just Right?' In a time of cutbacks and Internet-inspired casualness are editors expendable -- or are they needed more than ever before? ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Multimedia Literacy is Not Optional

The method you use to tell a story tells a story of its own: about your fears and your strengths and your comfort level using unfamiliar tools. It’s a small wonder that newsrooms may be eager to take refuge in the familiar, but that has to change. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Reinvent Journalism in 10 Easy Steps

We love lists. Lists are good. List provide a nifty, economical way to provide words to live by or talking points for further discussion. So here are the Top 10 ways you can reinvent journalism. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Medill Faculty Criticize Dean Over Anonymous Quotes

Some tenured faculty have now openly criticized Medill Dean John Lavine over his use of anonymous quotes. They assert that the incident has become a 'crisis' for the prestigious j-school and that Lavine's explanations are 'at best inadequate.' ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Angry Journalists. Who Knew?

Angryjournalist.com may not solve your problems, but it's better than keeping it all bottled up inside -- or taking a baseball bat to the next person who smilingly tells you that you didn't get into journalism for the money. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

To TV or Not To TV

On demand TV is eating into television viewership. Are local TV stations starting to feel the same pain of an online migration that newspapers have been enduring for years? ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Dumbing Down, or Reaching Out?

Telling a story on a whiteboard may not sound like great TV. But CBS News may be onto something. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Voting Ethics, Continued

Chris Cillizza, blogger of washingtonpost.com's "The Fix," wades into the 'should journalists vote' by asking his readers what they think. Their reply: Vote -- and get over yourselves. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Anonymous Quotes Make Medill Dean A Story

In a letter to the alumni magazine Medill's dean quotes a couple of students, anonymously. A student journalist tracks down every student who could have been one of the quoted, and they all say it wasn't me. Will anything good come of this? ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Crime, and Punishment

MSNBC's suspension of David Shuster raises issues about the role of campaigns in election coverage and, more broadly, how news organizations should react when a subject goes beyond expressing indignation about a transgression to try to influence how the offending reporter will be punished ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Be Careful What You Wish For, John

T he snarky Romney sore losers -- did anybody with a brain think he ever had a chance, really? -- who dissed a winner for thrashing their boy may have been on to a little something: Mike Huckabee was much more appealing than Mitt among Republicans, so, it follows that if he had never been born more conservatives would have voted for the born-again Mormon. McCain, the reasoning went, was able to run up an unprotected middle while Mitt and Mike blocked (both on the ... right? ... time to retire the metaphors). But now there is a new reason to beat up on Mike: by continuing to strongly challenge McCain he is embarrassing the presumptive Republican nominee, showing him to be a weakling even among the people most likely to identify with him. Collegial Mike's presence had given McCain undeserved cover and now the ingrate doesn't have the decency to just step aside. Instead, he is busting another myth by proving that McCain really doesn't have wide and deep support -- Hey! Just li

Go, Hillary?

N ot that she seems to have any choice in the matter, but Hillary's mantra that she'll show us who's boss March 4 -- wait for it -- is beginning to seem more Giuliani-esque with each passing day. How can she lose here, there and everywhere for a month and not seem like a loser? If Obama does as well in Virginia, Maryland and DC today as it seems he will, has won more states and takes the pledged delegate lead, won't that have a demoralizing effect on Hillary's numbers in Ohio and Texas? If you can win, you try. Rudy didn't make losing, and not competing, sexy in Florida. Hillary won't want to bring that sexy back.