Recently in Journalism Category
Long story with lots of examples of innovation: "One extreme case is the East Valley Tribune of Mesa, Ariz., which went from publishing seven days a week to Wednesday, Friday and Sunday in January; dropped Saturdays in May; became a free paper and pulled back from some distribution areas; and slashed its staff by some 45 people -- cutting half its payroll."
The end of the breaking news -- as we know it | Monday Note
Gossip site TMZ is redefining breaking news coverage. Why TMZ's paid tipsters aren't much different than MSM sources ("...there is no such thing as a totally disinterested informant. Every reporter knows it: when a source comes to you, the act is always the result of a well-defined motivation. It can be frustration, revenge, or ambition.") Via @jackshafer.
Satire of the lapdog media:
"'What exactly is the news hook here?' asked Rick Kaplan, executive producer of the CBS Evening News. 'Is this an upbeat human-interest story about a "day in the life" of a bloodthirsty president who likes to kill people? Or is it more of an examination of how Obama's unusual upbringing in Hawaii helped to shape the way he would one day viciously butcher two helpless citizens in their own home?'
"'Or maybe the story is just that murder is cool now,' Kaplan continued. 'I don't know. There are a million different angles on this one.'"
Ace takes a Times headline about Obama's visit to troops in Iraq and uses it to lead into a fascinating and valuable analysis of perspective bias in the media. (Note how I made Ace the active subject of that sentence, rather than a passive responder to the headline.)
Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable « Clay Shirky
It's 1500 all over again: "Round and round this goes, with the people committed to saving newspapers demanding to know 'If the old model is broken, what will work in its place?' To which the answer is: Nothing. Nothing will work. There is no general model for newspapers to replace the one the internet just broke.
"With the old economics destroyed, organizational forms perfected for industrial production have to be replaced with structures optimized for digital data. It makes increasingly less sense even to talk about a publishing industry, because the core problem publishing solves -- the incredible difficulty, complexity, and expense of making something available to the public -- has stopped being a problem....
"That is what real revolutions are like. The old stuff gets broken faster than the new stuff is put in its place. The importance of any given experiment isn't apparent at the moment it appears; big changes stall, small changes spread. Even the revolutionaries can't predict what will happen....
"The newspaper people often note that newspapers benefit society as a whole. This is true, but irrelevant to the problem at hand; 'You're gonna miss us when we're gone!' has never been much of a business model. So who covers all that news if some significant fraction of the currently employed newspaper people lose their jobs?
"I don't know. Nobody knows. We're collectively living through 1500, when it's easier to see what's broken than what will replace it. "
(Via Ace.)
Michelle Malkin » Who says conservative bloggers don't do reporting?
A long list of substantial and original reporting by bloggers.
Opinion: A Newspaper Wish - WSJ.com
Paul Mulshine demonstrates MSM blindness: "Now we're hearing the same thing about the blogosphere. 'When enough bloggers take the leap, and start reporting on the statehouse, city council, courts, etc. firsthand, full-time, then the Big Media will take notice and the avalanche will begin,' Mr. Reynolds quotes another blogger as saying. If this avalanche ever occurs, a lot of bloggers will be found gasping for breath under piles of pure ennui. There is nothing more tedious than a public meeting.... So if you want a car or a job, go to the Internet. But don't expect that Web site to hire somebody to sit through town-council meetings and explain to you why your taxes will be going up. Soon, newspapers won't be able to do it either."
Mr. Mulshine, pull off your blinders. Bloggers are reporting on news that matters to them -- that's why they're willing to go to school board and city council and planning committee meetings.
Kausfiles : Sanitizing Mumbai?
Mickey Kaus on coverage of the Bombay terrorist attacks and the local constabulary's failures to respond to the attacks: "I'm used to a sort of Liebling-like hierarchy of news sources, with twitterers and bloggers being fastest, but maybe less reliable, while the grand institutions of the MSM weigh in later with more comprehensive and accurate accounts. But that's not what is happening with this Mumbai story. The 'fast' sources are telling you what happened. The 'slow' MSM sources are using their extra time to sanitize what's happened, to build euphemistic assumptions into their very reporting of the events themselves...."
Murdoch to media: You dug yourself a huge hole | Coop's Corner - CNET News
"The complacency stems from having enjoyed a monopoly--and now finding they have to compete for an audience they once took for granted. The condescension that many show their readers is an even bigger problem. It takes no special genius to point out that if you are contemptuous of your customers, you are going to have a hard time getting them to buy your product. Newspapers are no exception."
Ace of Spades HQ: After 12 Years, Alan Colmes Quits Hannity & Colmes
Not the main point of the piece, but I agree with Ace's comparison of three leading conservative radio talkers:
"Limbaugh avoids (mostly) the self portrayal of hero via the distancing lens of irony. His boasts are so over-the-top they're funny (and meant to be). He undermines his own authority by poking fun at it, which has, as it turns out, the probably intended effect of increasing his authority.
"On the other hand, Hannity and O'Reilly deliberately set out to portray themselves as heroes. O'Reilly's always famously 'looking out for the folks' and 'on your side.' Hannity indulges too much in earnest caring and all-around good-guyism.
"It's a bit too much, at least for me. It's oversold.
"I prefer the self-mocking irony of a Limbaugh rather than the earnest crusading of Hannity or O'Reilly."
