The Blogging Journalist

Mainstream Journalist and the Anthrax Investigation

Recommended: Glenn Greenwald's August 3, 2008, Salon post headlined "Journalists, their lying sources, and the anthrax investigation." It's a return to a discussion of what Greenwald calls "the role the establishment media played in obfuscating the anthrax investigation for so long and, at times, aiding in what was clearly the deliberate deceit on the part of Government sources.

"This is yet another case where the establishment media possesses -- yet steadfastly conceals -- some of the most critical facts about what the Government has done, and insists on protecting the wrongdoers," he contends. "Obtaining these answers from these media outlets is as important as obtaining them from the Government."

Technorati Tags: Glenn Greenwald,Salon,Mainstream journalists,Anthrax Investigation

Anchors Jockeying for Interviews With Obama on Foreign Trip

American national news anchors Brian Douglas Williams of NBC, Katherine Anne "Katie" Couric of CBS and Charles deWolfe Gibson of ABC will join presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama on his foreign trip this summer to Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Europe, Iraq and Afghanistan. See "Media stars will accompany Obama overseas." According to the International Herald Tribune's Jim Rutenberg:

... when Obama heads for Iraq and other locations overseas this summer, Williams is planning to catch up with him in person, as are the other two evening news anchors, Charles Gibson of ABC and Katie Couric of CBS, who, like Williams, are far along in discussions to interview Obama on successive nights.

Rutenberg added: "And while the anchors are jockeying for interviews with Obama at stops along his route, the regulars on the Obama campaign plane will have new seat mates: star political reporters from the major newspapers and magazines who are flocking to catch Obama's first overseas trip since becoming the presumptive nominee of his party.

I guess this means the trip is important. What do you think?

Technorati Tags: Brian Williams,NBC,Katie Couric,CBS,Charles Gibson,ABC,Barack Obama's Foreign Trip

The Guardian Examines Bloggers' Impact On Criticism

Back on July 11, 2008, the Guardian of London restaurant critic Jay Rayner, writing in the publication's Theatre & Performing Arts blog, noted that, "... across the United States newspaper critics covering a range of disciplines - film, dance, television - are being laid off or reassigned." See "Blog critics: A penny for your thoughts? " and "Is it curtains for critics?"

"The reasons are complex but key among them is that, in the age of Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, when opinions are freely available all over the web, the newspaper critic is becoming regarded as rather more of a luxury than many publishers feel they can afford," he opines.

Rayner "examined" in the Observer Review "the challenge being posed to established newspaper critics by the democratisation of opinion out on the web."

The discussion is quite revealing. As for me, the only mainstream critic I read regularly is the Chicago Sun-Times' prolific and erudite Roger Ebert. He is also a blogger and author.

Overall, I prefer the diversity of opinion provided by the numerous film and television critics who've emerged in recent years and disseminate their views through blogs. They don't write in what I call the "God is Speaking" tone.

Technorati Tags: Guardian,Ray Rayner,Theatre & Performin Arts blog,Observer Review,Film Critics

Bloggers, Do You Serve Two Masters?

Roanoke.com, the online presence of the Roanoke Times of Roanoke, Virginia, USA, has a July 13, 2008, editorial online headlined "Bloggers on the take."

Contends the publication: These days, everyone seems to have a blog. Uncounted legions pour their thoughts onto the Internet. They write about angsty teen life, Virginia Tech football and gardening. They review video games, new cars and appliances. Some of the most popular ones challenge the day's news and politics.

Roanoke.com said, "Blogs can be entertaining and informative, but readers should exercise caution. Many bloggers serve hidden masters."

Readers should exercise caution in reading so-called mainstream publications as well as blogs. Proprietors and writers for both formats are not immune from being on the take or serving two masters. When I read a newspapers article, I have no way of knowing whether a reporter was paid by a source or subject to write a certain thing or not reveal certain information.

Nor do I know what deals, if any, a newspaper makes with businesses or politicians to get advertising and favors. How many stories are killed due to threats from advertisers? How many stories are killed due to threats from local government officials? Just asking.

Technorati Tags: Roanoke.com,Roanoke Times,bloggers,newspapers,mainstream journalists

How are News Media Handling U.S. Allegations Against Iran

"After their credulous performance in the run-up to the war in Iraq, how are the news media handling the Bush administration’s allegations against Iran?" asks the American Journalism Review in an article in the February/March 2008 edition of the 31-year old publication once known as the Washington Journalism Review.

Senior contributing writer Sherry Ricchiardi attempts to answer the question in an essay headlined "Second Time Around."  

Technorati Tags: Sherry Ricchiardi,American Journalism Review

Newspaper Editors Having Rough Times Too

CHICAGO, USA -- "If you are a California newspaper editor, you may be shaking a bit more than usual this week," writes Editor & Publisher's Joe Strupp in a January 28, 2008, article headlined "Four Top California Editors Out -- More to Come?"

Strupp said, "The past few months, and last week in particular, have been rough times for Golden State newsroom leaders. No fewer than four top editors of the state’s major newspapers have departed their jobs, three of them reportedly against their will."

Here in the Chicago area, Frank Shuftan and Michael Waters, former co-editors of The Southtown Star, which was created from the merger of the Sun-Times Media Group's Daily Southtown Economist and The Star about 11 weeks ago, to save money, revealed January 18, 2008, that they were let go.  See "Co-editors' exit sign of tough times" for details.

A few assistant and editorial page editors at  the Chicago Sun-Tines have been released. See "Sun-Times lays off 17 reporters, editors."

Technorati Tags: Editor & Publisher,Joe Strupp,Editor lay-offs

What Happened to Chicago's 'Newsprint Curtain'?

Martha Rosenberg, staff cartoonist for the Evanston Roundtable in Evanston, Illinois, home of Northwestern University, makes timely observations about the state of newspapers in Chicago in a January 27, 1008, post at OpEd News.com headlined "Once Colored by Mike Royko, Chicago Newspapers Now Shaped by Money Men Zell and Black."

Rosenberg takes a stroll down memory lane and looks at the present. Reading her post took me back 35-years to when Chicago was a feisty and competitive newspaper town. With the Chicago Sun-Times seemingly on the ropes, it could become a one major daily newspaper town, at least for awhile. The Chicago Tribune would be last major daily standing if the Sun-Times bites the dust.

Frankly, we have some nice alternative publication in the city that cumulatively do a good job of covering the city. I like the The Beachwood Reporter, the Chicago Reader, Chi-Town Daily News, Chicago Defender, an African-American daily, to name four.

Of course there are numerous blogs in Chicago on varied subjects and many neighborhoods have weekly newspapers.

Technorati Tags: Martha Rosenberg,Evanston Roundtable,Op-Ed News.com,Chicago Newspapers

RichardatDell's 'Three Dirty Little Blogging Secrets'

Recommended: RichardatDell's January 27, 2008, post headlined "Three Dirty Little Blogging Secrets." Also check out the links at the end of the post. They lead to informative discussions on the ongoing debate on whether bloggers should adopt and adhere to the standards of traditional journalists.

Technorati Tags: RichardatDell,Bloggers Union,Blogging Journalists

Some Print Media Still Don't Want Links to their Articles

SmugMug Chief Executive Officer Don MacAskill, who blogs at SmugBlog,  has a convincing argument about how some traditional media outlets are on the road to doom because of their approach to online publishing, especially inking. He cites his recent experiences with BusinessWeek and the Los Angeles Times. Writes MacAskill:

Recently, I had the pleasure of being interviewed for a front page story at the LA Times and a feature spread in BusinessWeek. I have a huge amount of respect for both publications, and was honored to be interviewed. And the interviews themselves didn’t disappoint - both reporters were extremely thorough,  knowledgeable, and detailed. There were lots of follow-up calls, and both stories were then exhaustively fact checked and reviewed by an army of editors. Everything top-notch publications are supposed to do, they did, and then some.

MacAskill adds:

"Where these august publications fell down was in their online presentation. Someone running these businesses hasn’t figured out that their online business model is advertising. They’ve made it impossible to link to their articles directly (ie, drive money-making traffic to them).

I know exactly what MacAskill means. There have been dozens of articles I would have liked to read or link to but I didn't because they were behind a wall or the publication had a no link policy. These articles simply weren't compelling enough for me to subscribe to the publication, just to read them.  Also, 99.9 percent of the time I try not to put TBJ readers in a position where they have to register or subscribe to a publication to read one article.

My personal view is that although I may want to read an article behind a wall, the world won't come to an end if I don't read it.

Anyway, if you want to read MacAskill's entire post, see "Why traditional ‘print’ media is doomed." Also see The Globe and Mail technology writer Mathew Ingram's January 26, 2007, post headlined "Media: Still grasping for a clue."

Technorati Tags: Don MacAskill,SmugMug,SmugBlog,BusinessWeek,Los Angeles Times,Linking

Was Sunday Times Story on FBI Ignored by U.S. Media?

On January 20, 2008, Rupert  Murdoch's influential Sunday Times in London published an article headlined "FBI denies file exposing nuclear secrets theft." According to the article:

THE FBI has been accused of covering up a key case file detailing evidence against corrupt government officials and their dealings with a network stealing nuclear secrets.

The assertion follows allegations made in The Sunday Times two weeks ago by Sibel Edmonds, an FBI whistleblower, who worked on the agency’s investigation of the network.

Edmonds, a 37-year-old former Turkish language translator, listened into hundreds of sensitive intercepted   conversations while based at the agency’s Washington field office.

She says the FBI was investigating a Turkish and Israeli-run network that paid high-ranking American officials to steal nuclear weapons secrets. These were then sold on the international black market to countries such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. The article was ignored by the mainstream press in the United States.

According to Professor Roy Greenslade, a Guardian of London columnist and blogger, "Harry Shearer, one of the voices behind The Simpsons, has used his own blogging voice to ask a pertinent question. Why has a story broken by the Sunday Times over here about nefarious goings-on in the States failed to take off in the American media?"

"He isn't alone in his concerns," writes Greenslade in a January 22, 2008, post. "Daniel Ellsberg, the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers some 35 years ago, is even more outraged."

For details and background, see "US journalists ignore Sunday Times scoop on FBI nuclear scandal."

Note: Links added to give readers some perspective on the various players mentioned in the passage above.

Technorati Tags: Sunday Times,FBI,Sibel Edmonds,U.S. Mainstream Media,Daniel Ellsberg,Harry Shearer

Sunset Nears for Some at Sun-Times Media Properties

CHICAGO--Chicago Tribune media writer Phil Rosenthal noted in an informative, January 18, 2008, column that:

On the eve of the deadline for older Chicago Sun-Times writers and editors to accept or reject buyouts ahead of announced layoffs, the men who shared the jobs of co-editor and co-publisher at its newly merged sister, the SouthtownStar, announced their positions are being eliminated.

"That Frank Shuftan and Michael Waters are leaving the SouthtownStar is the latest reminder of how  deeply parent Sun-Times Media Group must cut to meet its goal of slashing $50 million in operating costs. The cuts are coming from across all its businesses and departments in a bid to return to profitability in what are tough times for all traditional media.

It didn't help that convicted former media baron Conrad Black took millions out of the company, which even paid his attorney's feels during his 2007 trial in Chicago. As Wikipedia notes, Black was convicted "July 13, 2007 on multiple counts of fraud and sentenced December 10, 2007 to serve 78 months in federal prison and pay a U.S. $125,000 fine."

If you want want to read Rosenthal's entire article, see "Co-editors' exit sign of tough times."

Note: Links are not in Rosenthal's column. They were added for the benefit of TBJ readers.

Technorati Tags: Sun-Times Media Group,Chicago Sun-Times,Southtown Star,Chicago Tribune,Phil Rosenthal

The Miami Herald's Plan to Outsource Copy Editing

Bob Norman at The Daily Pulp takes a look the Miami Herald's plan to, as the Associated Press reported on December 27, 2007, outsource "copyediting of a weekly community news section and some advertising production work to India." Says Norman:

Good thing, as far as the news side goes, the Herald is only outsourcing copy editor jobs. I mean, all they do is check grammar so that can't be so ... okay, news deskers, simmer down that blood already, I'm just  kidding. Copy editors, of course, bring a richness to any newspaper that can't be replaced. The best ones consistently bring new ideas to coverage and find errors that some guy sitting in some warehouse in India can't do."

I agree with Norman on this. I worked with copy editors years ago who caught errors I didn't know were errors. These editors were widely read, kept up with national trends, community events, challenged us on the spelling of names and sometimes demanded to see quotes to ensure correct context. One, a fellow who didn't even finish high school, sometimes knew when a quote wasn't correct.

Above all, they were masters at taking a badly written article and reshaping it, or telling us how to make it better.  You can't outsource that to India and get the right result, but I guess you can try.

If you want to read Norman's entire post, please see "The Miami Herald-India Outsourcing Post."

Technorati Tags: Bob Norman,Miami Herald Outsourcing

Was News 'Pretty Close to Free' Before the Internet?

Justin Fox, TIME magazine's business and economics columnist who blogs The Curious Capitalist, says "Even before the Internet, news was pretty close to free."

The key word here is "pretty close." Advertisers had already paid for a particular day's press run by the time our paper was delivered or we picked up a copy at the newsstand. What we paid for a paper was a little extra for the publishers' pockets. As my mother use to say, every penny adds up. And add up they did for many publishers. But not anymore. At least not in the amounts publishers are accustomed to getting when they were the only game in town. Circulation continues to decline for print.

By the way, I still subscribe to the Chicago Tribune and regularly read the Chicago Sun-Times, but mostly for local news. I also buy the weekly Hyde Park Herald, my community newspaper. For all other news, it's the Internet. I'm deeply into world affairs and my local papers don't really supply enough news and analysis to satisfy me in that regard.

I also prefer the more informal style of bloggers around the world when it comes to news and analysis. Here, I'm referring to informed analysis and opinion, not someone just spouting off.

Technorati Tags: Time Magazine, Justin Fox, The Curious Capitalist, Free News

Read/WriteWeb: 'Online Citizen Journalism Now Undeniably Mainstream'

CHICAGO, USA -- "It's interesting to see how the techniques and technologies of amateur, citizen journalists are adopted, co-opted, and integrated by the mainstream media," Josh Catone observes In an October 26, 2007, post at Read/WriteWeb,  "Take blogs, for example, which earlier in this decade seemed like just an outlet for amateur web publishers," Catone wrote. "Fast forward a few years and you'll be hard pressed to find any mainstream news source that doesn't embrace blogging in some way -- CyberJournalist.net lists 245 blogs run by mainstream news sites."

Catone provides several examples of mainstream media using tools often associated with "citizen journalism. He noted that, "Earlier this week Nokia and Reuters announced that they had partnered to create the 'Mobile Journalism Toolkit,' which teams a Nokia N95 cell phone with a keyboard, small tripod, and solar charger -- technologies often used by amateurs to capture local news."

To read Catone's informative report, see "Online Citizen Journalism Now Undeniably Mainstream."

Technorati tags: Read/WriteWeb, Josh Catone, Nokia, Reuters, Citizen journalism

Wire Services Forced Google to Become What Will be Their Worse Nightmare

Highly recommended: BuzzMachine editor Jeff Jarvis' September 10, 2007, Guardian of London column headlined "The real reason for Google's news-wire deal." In the piece, Jarvis advises publishers to "be careful what you wish for." He notes:

Journalistic organisations and news agencies have complained that Google has benefited from their headlines (while I argue it is they who have benefited from Google's links). So The Press Association, the Associated Press, Canadian Press, and Agence France-Presse just forced the search engine to license their content. Now, rather than linking to the wire services' clients for their articles, Google News is displaying the agency reports in full on its site.

" The victory is Pyrrhic," maintains Jarvis, a journalism professor at the City University of New York and a consulting editor to DayLife.com. "For the agencies have transformed Google into what it was not, into what they and their clients should most dread: Google is now a content company." According to Jarvis:

 It is a competitor not just for ad dollars but for readers' attention. The deal also reveals the weakness of the wire services' business on the Internet. The press agencies forced Google into the old-media model they understood - wire services aggregated the news and then syndicated it. So they wanted to sell content to Google. But the link makes syndication obsolete.

"Why should 10,000 sites run the same wire story when they can all link to it?" Jarvis asks. "The link is more efficient. And Google is the new aggregator. It is a platform, a connector that hooks together readers with the information they want, and if you are a provider of that information and know how to profit from the traffic search sends, you are in luck."

So, where does that leave The Press Association, the Associated Press, The Canadian Press, and Agence France-Presse? Comments are welcome. 

By the way, if you can't get to Jarvis' article using the link in the first paragraph try this: "Guardian column: Google and the wires."

Technorati tags: Google, Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine, Press Association, the Associated Press, Canadian Press, and Agence France-Presse, DayLife

Will Wire Services' Deals With Google Backfire?

"I understand why the Associated Press and three other wire services negotiated to get money out of Google — money’s money and the wire-service model is challenging when links supersede syndication," writes BuzzMachine editor Jeff Jarvis in a September 1, 2007, post. See "Link v. read."

"But," Jarvis adds, "I wonder whether this could backfire on the newspaper industry. Now — by forcing full wire-service stories to be on display at GoogleNews and with the addition of comments as content there — it’s likely that people will stay longer at Google and link less to news sites."

Jarvis said, "This includes the wire services’ own clients, where readers used to have to go from Google News to read wire stories. So even though it could sound like good news that Google is paying for content, this could reduce traffic to newspapers."

If it does, what will the wire services do then? Just asking.

Technorati tags: Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Canada News, Google News, BuzzMachine, Jeff Jarvis

How Google Plans to Offer 'Many Different Perspectives' on News Stories

Google Product Manager Josh Cohen announced in an August 31, 2007, post at Google News, the official blog from the team at Google News:

Today we’re launching a new feature on Google News that will help you quickly and easily find original stories from news publishers -- including stories from some of the top news agencies in the world, such as the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, UK Press Association and the Canadian Press -- and go directly to the original source to read more.

Our goal has always been to offer users as many different perspectives on a story from as many different sources as possible, which is why we include thousands of sources from around the world in Google News. However, if many of those stories are actually the exact same article, it can end up burying those different perspectives. Enter “duplicate detection.”

Cohen said, "Duplicate detection means we’ll be able to display a better variety of sources with less duplication. Instead of 20 “different” articles (which actually used the exact same content), we'll show the definitive original copy and give credit to the original journalist," he wrote. "(We launched a similar feature in Sort-by-Date and got great feedback about it.) Of course, if you want to see all the duplicates on other publisher Websites with additional analysis and context, they’re only a click away."

Now, why didn't the wire services themselves think of offering this service? Is it because they still think people are incline to buy their content? News content is a commodity in the online world. It's something you have to virtually give away, except in the case of very specialized publications serving a well-heeled niche audiences. The Wall Street Journal online comes to mind. But now that Dow Jones, the company that owns WSJ, will be part of Rupert Murdoch's global media empire even WSJ's news content may be given away to attract more readers for advertisers. 

Technorati tags: Google News, Joshn Cohen, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, UK Press Association, Canadian Press

Eric Alterman: 'So What is a Blogger Anymore?'

On August 9, 2007, author, blogger and columnist Eric Alterman, professor of Journalism at the CUNY [City University of New York] Graduate School of Journalism, among other other things raised what I think are important questions about bloggers and blogging and tried to provide some answers. Notes Alterman:

MSNBC.com asked yours truly to create a blog back in the spring of 2002. We called it "Altercation," and it was the first mainstream media outlet to publish a blog. Now virtually every mainstream media outlet publishes one. So what is a blogger anymore?

Is blogging about attitude? About unprofessionalism? Is it about partisanship? Is it merely about publishing what you write in little snippets right away and inviting reaction? Is it about not trusting the mainstream media to tell the truth?

Alterman said, "The question arises in part because of the extraordinary attention paid to the netroots community at the second Yearly Kos convention [link added], which took place last weekend [August 2- 5, 2007] in Chicago."

To read his entire perspective, see "The Rise and Rise of 'Netroots Nation'."

Technorati tags: Eric Alterman, Netroots Nation, YearlyKos Convention, Bloggers, Mainstream Media

Why Are British Newspapers Popular With Many Americans?

"The continuing success of British newspapers in attracting US-based online readers has been highlighted in a Times [of London] article today by Rhys Blakely," Guardian Unlimited's Roy Greenslade revealed in an August 3, 2007, report. He notes that Blakely "cites Nielsen/NetRatings [link added] figures which show that Guardian Unlimited and TimesOnline have more American than British readers, and that the Daily Telegraph is on the verge of following suit. The Independent is nearly twice as popular in the US as it is here {England]," he added.

Greenslade said, "Surprisingly, in view of its supposed English specificity, the Daily Mail's mailonline, has more than three times as many US readers as British ones. Even more amazing, as long ago as 2005, the Evening Standard's then skimpy website was the 31st most popular online source of news for Americans," Greenslade reported.

I'm not surprised by this. I regularly read some of the papers cited. Why? Because they, for the most part, are world centric and the journalist seem better informed. Besides, they don't come off as lapdogs for the government, even when they support government policies. The ones I read take clear stands on issues. And their identities are clear. For example, I expect, and get, a paper of record feel from the venerable Times, a Rupert Murdoch publication.

With The Independent, I get articles that have no problem calling government officials liars, if that's what they are. The Guardian and Observer are somewhere in between. I even like the conservatism of the Daily Mail. Reading these various approaches gives me fairly good picture of what is likely happening in the world.

In the U.S., it appears that most papers are afraid to deviate from whatever the Associated Press wire service or The New York Times say happened on a given topic. You can pick up any paper in America and see the same story national or international story, virtually unchanged. At least with British papers you get diversity. That's good. You also get a good deal of opinion, some of it in the form of analysis in news articles. That's ok with me. Maybe this diversity has something to do with competition between the publication.

To read Greenslade's commentary, see "More Americans than Brits read our online papers." For Rhys Blakely's August 3, 2007, media analysis, see "Newspaper ad execs must target wealth of online readers overseas.

Technorati tags: Nielsen/NetRatings, Rhys Blakely, Times Online, Roy Greenslade, Guardian Unlimited, The Independent, Evening Standard, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph

Could Professional Journalism Be On Its Way Out?"

"With the rise of the Internet, conventional media institutions have struggled to retain their audiences," writes Toni Petter in The Charlatan,  the Carleton University newspaper in Ottawa, Canada. "Could professional journalism be on its way out?" the writer asks.

If you're interested, see "Journalism for the everyman" for Petter's perspective.

Scott Karp: 'Should Newspapers Become Local Blog Networks?'

Scott Karp at Publishing 2.0 asks in a July 20, 2007, post:"Should Newspapers Become Local Blog Networks?"

It's a good question. Imagine the screaming and hollering that would probably ensue from so-called "traditional journalists" and so-called "citizen journalists" if newspapers did become blog networks. It would be good to see the two camps go head-to-head and toe-to-toe in this realm. Competition can bring out the best -- and the worse -- in us.

Technorati tags: Scott Karp, Publishing 2.0, Traditional Journalists, Citizen Journalist, Blog Networks

The Chicago Tribune's Redesigned Website

While browsing the Chicago Tribune's redesigned web site, I wondered how long before I would run into content that's behind a wall. It didn't take long. Although I've subscribed to the paper for about 13-years, I've always resisted subscribing to the online edition. I just can't bear to do it, and I don't exactly know why. It's probably because it is behind a wall

Meanwhile, the Tribune's redesign is very friendly in appearance and less institutional looking. There are lots of blogs, which I love reading. So far, I've been able to get to them from a drop down list. However, I got the wall when I clicked on "Latest from the blogs." Blogs don't belong behind a wall.

As for regular content, Sam Zell, the new owner of Tribune company, should tear down the walls separating content from readers. His March 2007 purchase of the company should be viewed as an opportunity to break down all obstacles between the online publication and potential readers.

Technorati tags: Chicago Tribune, Tribune Company, Sam Zell, Tribune Blogs

Recommended: 'Shake-up: Old Media Meets New Realities at the AJC."

Scott Henry at Atlanta, Georgia, USA-based Creative Loafing.com has produced a fascinating analysis on the painful but necessary transformation taking place at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  Notes Henry in a July 4, 2007, post:

Movie critic Eleanor Ringel Gillespie. Political writer Tom Baxter. Star investigative reporter Jane Hansen. Pulitzer-winning science reporter Mike Toner. These are some of the marquee bylines that vanished from the paper July 1, when a large-scale buyout, combined with attrition, cleared out somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 reporters and editors from what Wallace says had been a news force of close to 500.

Along the way, at least half the remaining staff had to reapply for their jobs or seek new assignments, a directive that created opportunities for some but caused much angst among longtime reporters worried about getting stuck with a crummy gig. In turn, the lack of information surrounding the staff reshuffling sparked concerns among readers, particularly in the Atlanta arts community, that local coverage would suffer.Henry said,"The newsroom population is only part of the picture. With daily newspaper circulation in a slow-motion plunge across the country, the AJC is struggling to transform itself from a lumbering print-media dinosaur into a nimble multiplatform information provider able to reach customers in print, online, by mobile download – however future generations will get their news."

To read Henry's entire report, please se "Shake-up: Old media meets new realities at the AJC." I highly recommend it.

Technorati tags: CreativeLoafing.com, Scott Herny, Atlanta Journal-Constituion, Tom Baxter. Jane Hansen. Mike Toner

Transforming Traditional Media's Online Presence

Canadian blogger Beverly Crandon, who writes at www.ad-ition.com,  says it surprises her "how many newspapers and niche magazines feel that they can fulfill their online reader’s quest for information by taking the PDF of the print publication and promoting it (to) their website."

"Some, who feel they have surpassed the PDFers’, pride themselves on taking the same copy in print and promoting that to the web, at or around the same time the print publication hits the street," she opines in a July 1, 2007, post.

Crandon explains why she thinks "this approach will not stand the test of time." To read more, please see "Transforming Traditional Media ."

Debating The 'News Source Interview'

University of Tennessee Media Scholar Bob Stepno notes in an informative,  May 27, 2007 post:

Bloggers and journalists have been debating the past, present and the future of the "news source interview" for several weeks, including issues of transparency, accuracy, spontaneity, "gotcha" questions, evasive answers and more... more than I've had time to read.

Ordinarily, I would not think this was important, but Stepno is one of the best there is when it comes to keeping an eye on the media, media trends and conversations about media, which includes blogging. So when he has something to say, I pay attention as if I'm one of this student.

On that note, I recommend his post "Interviews, e-mails and blogs: Getting the real story."

Did Media Matters For Misinterpret A Howard Kurtz Column?

Recommended: Media Matters for America's April 30, 2007, post headlined "Discussing Tenet book, Kurtz referred to "a bunch of journalists of questionable patriotism." The post resulted in a good discussion among readers. Also see Think Progress' April 30, 2007, take on the issue headlined "Journalists of questionable patriotism."

By the way, Kurtz is Washington Post media columnist Howard Alan Kurtz. Tenet is former Central Intelligence Agency Director George Tenet.

Technorati tags: Media Matters for America, Howard Kurtz, George Tenet, Journalist of Questionable Patriotis. Think Progress

Employees Reportedly Will Own Majority Stake In Tribune Company

The lead headline on the April 3, 2007, edition of the Chicago Tribune is "Zell Lands Tribune." The article says the paper is going private, and that employees are to get the "majority stake" in the "debt-heavy" company.

 The Zell is Chicago-based billionaire Samuel "Sam" Zell, who made his fortune in real estate. He's included in the "Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans." According to Tribune reporter Michael Oneal:

After an epic corporate drama, Chicago's Tribune Co. will go private in a transaction that puts the 159-year-old media conglomerate in the hands of the city's most iconoclastic entrepreneur. The deal is a high-stakes bet that a pillar of the nation's old-media establishment can propel itself into the digital future.

Add's Oneal: "Late Sunday [April 1, 2007], following a weekend of heated negotiations, Tribune's board accepted a revised $34-a-share proposal from Chicago real estate magnate Sam Zell to buy out the company's public shares in a complex, $8.2 billion transaction structured around an employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP."

For the corporate announcement, please see "Tribune to Go Private for $34 Per Share."

Technorati tags: Chicago Tribune, Tribune Company, Samuel Zell, Zell Lands Tribune, Tribune Employee Stock Ownershp Plan

More Drama At The Los Angeles Times

North Texas, USA writer Maya Reynolds has a noteworthy perspective on what she calls "a huge flap at the Los Angeles Times this past week that culminated in the resignation of the editorial editor." 

She notes that, "Andres Martinez resigned on Thursday [March 22, 2007] by way of a self-righteous blog [link added] on the LATimes.com website." 

To read the entire post, please see "Grazergate at The Los Angeles Times."

Also see LA Observed's posts "Showdown at LAT Corral (* updates) and "Martinez's parting shots.

By the way, as for Reynolds calling Martinez's post  self-righteous, I think all of us are a bit self-righteous. It often comes through in the adjectives we use. 

The Newspapers Are Dead Theme Continues

"There’s another flurry of ‘Newspapers Are Dead‘ posts this weekend," asserts Barry Welford in a March 25, 2007, post over at BPWrap.

Welford said, Dave Winer [link added] seemed to have triggered this by his post on the troubles at the San Francisco Chronicle. Robert Scoble [link added] has taken up the theme as he did some months ago. Even the Google Guys and Dave Barry have voiced the same views in the past."

Does Welford agree with them? For the answer, see "3 Non-blog Reasons Why Newspapers Are Dieing."

Condé Nast Portfolio: Is It A Foolish Venture?

Washington Post reporter Paul Farhi takes a look at Condé Nast's new magazine Condé Nast Portfolio in the February/March 2007 edition of the American Journalism Review.

"It seems like the most counterintuitive (not to say craziest) media venture of the decade,"Farhi said opines. "At a time when print is fading, when business magazines are struggling, when monthly frequency seems glacial in an age of digital speed, magazine giant Condé Nast is preparing to launch a...monthly business magazine." 

"Nearly two years in the making," Farhi added, "Condé Nast Portfolio will hit newsstands with its first issue in days. Its very existence seems to raise a defiant question: Can top-shelf narrative journalism, plus posh photography and design, overcome the forces arrayed against it?"

A great question. To read Farhi's attempt to find an answer, please see "A New Portfolio."

Is The Mainstream Media No Longer Important?

Stephen Frank at Stephen Frank's California Political News & Views has a March 19, 2007, article headlined "Why The Mainstream Media Is No Longer Important."

 I still think the MSM is important. The Washington Post's recent special report and expose on the neglect and mistreatment of wounded Iraq war veterans at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C. is evidence of that. Publications such as The Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, etc. have the resources to do that kind of reporting over the long haul. They can put several reporters on a project if they wanted to.

  Of course, bloggers could do it too if those with reporting and investigative skills united to cover an event or work on investigative projects. The Pork Busters project and Jay Rosen's New Assignment.Net is an attempt to do that. Pork Busters have proven themselves, and I think New Assignment.Net will too. See "Assignment Zero."

Not only that, Firedoglake's awesome coverage of Lewis "Scooter" Libby's controversial perjury and obstruction of justice trial also shows what can be accomplished when skilled bloggers work together on a project. The Firedoglake crew did superb reporting.

The bottom line? I don't want to see the mainstream media go away, just transformed, which is slowly taking place. I want to see professional journalist and bloggers interact and cooperate on projects. It can be done without getting into pissing contests, if people are willing to do it.

By the way, Frank wants you to "write your thoughts directly" on his "web site for all to see and discuss." Go on over and contribute to the discussion, if you have an opinion on whether the MSM is relevant.

PEJ's 'State Of The News Media 2007'

"Media watchers heard from their Moses again on Monday [March 12, 2007] when the Project for Excellence in Journalism came down the mountain with its fourth annual "State of the American News Media" report," notes CJR Daily's Tony Dokoupil in a March 16, 2007 report.

"In a deft synthesis of original and secondary research," he added, "it finds that the media business is entering a new phase in 2007 -- one with fewer jobs, flashier content, smaller audience slices, and more elaborate, interactive Web sites. All of these changes are said to revolve around new technologies for delivering news to consumers, and, perhaps more important, consumers to advertisers."

To read Dokoupil's entire analysis, please see "(not) WANTED: Careerist Journalists for a New Epoch."

Chicago Sun-Times Launches Chicago.inklingmarkets.com

"Working with the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper, we launched chicago.inklingmarkets.com this week," Adam Siegel of  Chicago-based Inking Markets reported March 16, 2007.

"Like ABC-KGO [Link added] in San Francisco," Siegel said, "the Chicago Sun-Times hopes to focus on local issues in their markets but is allowing users to create their own markets in addition to ones they will run which will still mean a mix of local and na