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Brawl Street: Get Read to Buy Low! And Sell Die

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Daily Show - By Jon Stewart - Mar. 13 (Interview) - The weeklong feud of the century finally comes to a head.... Bernie Madoff pleads guilty to fraud, while Jon and Jim Cramer finally face off.

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For Papers, a Downsizing Trickle Becomes a Flood

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Richard Perez Pena - Mar. 12 (Special Report) - The history of The Seattle Post-Intelligencer stretches back more than two decades before Washington became a state, but after 146 years of publishing, the paper is expected to print its last issue next week, perhaps surviving only in a much smaller online version. And it is not alone. The Rocky Mountain News shut down two weeks ago, and The Tucson Citizen is expected to fold next week. At least Denver, Seattle and Tucson still have daily papers. But now, some economists and newspaper executives say it is only a matter of time — and probably not much time at that — before some major American city is left with no prominent local newspaper at all.

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The State of the News Media 2009

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Journalism.org - By Tom Rosenstiel - Mar. 16 (Special Report) - Two developments converged in the last year to shorten the time that journalism has left to reinvent its business model and secure its financial future, according to a new comprehensive study on the State of the American News Media. First, the audience migration to the web accelerated substantially in 2008, and even though most of that growth was at traditional news destinations, the financial impact of that was a negative one, according to the report by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. Traffic to the 50 news websites, for instance, jumped 24%, triple the pace of growth of the year before, but online ad revenue flattened, and in newspapers it declined. Second, the recession hammered advertising and diverted attention away from innovating new revenue sources. The news industry was already in a race to find new ways to underwrite the gathering of news online, using the declining revenue of the old platforms to do so. The result of the changes of 2008, according to the report’s overview, is an industry diminished, with less time and resources to finance the transition. On the other hand, the notion that traditional journalism is on the brink of extinction is overstated.

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Idea of newspapers as nonprofits gains ground

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Salt Lake Tribune - By John Christoffersen - Mar. 15 (Special Report) - As sharp revenue reductions put the future of many U.S. newspapers in doubt, one idea gaining attention is the conversion of newspapers into tax-exempt nonprofits supported by large endowments. Although viewed by many as a long shot at best, such a radical change could be a savior for the industry and its vital role in a democracy. That's why the endowment model is drawing renewed attention as newspapers impose massive layoffs, scale back home delivery and make other drastic cuts to counter plunging advertising revenue amid a recession that has compounded struggles from the migration of readers to the Internet.

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Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Clay Shirky - By Clay Shirky - Mar. 14 (Opinion) - When someone demands to be told how we can replace newspapers, they are really demanding to be told that we are not living through a revolution. They are demanding to be told that old systems won’t break before new systems are in place. They are demanding to be told that ancient social bargains aren’t in peril, that core institutions will be spared, that new methods of spreading information will improve previous practice rather than upending it. They are demanding to be lied to.

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Twitter of Faith: Microblogging the Divine

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Religion Dispatches - By Pauline Hope Cheong - Mar. 12 (Special Report) - [C]ontemporary believers may reinvent the century-old practice of praying set prayers from the Bible, hymns, and devotionals and matching prayer rhythms with fellow believers at designated times of the day. This also brings to mind the Pentecostal religious practice of prayer chains, where lay followers are charged to pray on particular topics, during particular hours, and for the same length of time.

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Google News Archive Search Shows Promise for News Organizations

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Poynter Institute - By Amy Gahran - Mar. 11 (Comment) - News is never just about what's happening today — it's also about context, including what led up to this moment in time. That's why lately I've been intrigued by the Google News archive search. This feature, introduced in September 2008, is worth a look — and may be worth considering as a way to make more money off your historical archives, or to augment current coverage.

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Many Would Shrug if Their Local Newspaper Closed

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Pew Research - By Andrew Kohut - Mar. 12 (Poll) - As many newspapers struggle to stay economically viable, fewer than half of Americans (43%) say that losing their local newspaper would hurt civic life in their community “a lot.” Even fewer (33%) say they would personally miss reading the local newspaper a lot if it were no longer available.

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Columbia J-School’s Existential Crisis

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Magazine - By Erica Orden - Mar. 12 (News Report) - Part of the problem is the perception that the situation is a “a zero-sum game,” as one person put it, where adding lessons in video production or law for bloggers will dilute or displace the school’s long-heralded focus on journalism’s core precepts: concise prose, ethical reporting, and sophisticated editorial sensibilities. “There’s this big, huge, fundamental issue: How much of the skills do you teach?” says journalism school dean Nicholas Lemann. “You can go to the Learning Annex and take a Flash course. I don’t think what we should do is be replicating courses you can take at the Learning Annex. But you have to have some familiarity, or you’re not able to execute a website.”

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Ex-WaPo Editor Jim Brady to News Sites: Experiment More, Now

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Poynter Institute - By Steve Myers - Mar. 09 (Interview) - I think there are lots of sites doing interesting things journalistically, and I think there are certain changes to the media culture that I hope are with us forever — multimedia storytelling, treating our readers as partners, pushing content out versus waiting for people to come to our sites, as a few examples. But I think we could still be more adventurous editorially. Digital journalism is still the Wild West; the rules are still being made.

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Life, online, after the Rocky Mountain News

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Online Journalism Review - By Robert Niles - Mar. 11 (Interview) - When Denver's Rocky Mountain News closed last month, hundreds of journalists found themselves looking for work. Some of them, though, aren't waiting for another newsroom to call. They're busy building their own, online.

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Preaching Ethics, D.C. Pol Threatens To Squash Tiny Paper

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Marc Fisher - Mar. 09 (Opinion) - [G]oing after a tiny, non-profit paper's advertisers when you don't even accuse the paper of a single error is pure bullying. [D.C. city councilor Harry] Thomas should pick on someone his own size; he owes Padou and her readers an apology.

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The Neocons Strike Back

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Consortium News - By Robert Parry - Mar. 11 (Opinion) - What the successful neocon campaign against Freeman also showed was that there is little media power at the national level to defend a public figure who comes under sustained assault of this type. Several articles defending Freeman appeared on the Internet, and the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity published a supportive letter, but those efforts paled in comparison to the neocon barrage.

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Where Were the Media as Wall Street Imploded?

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Morning Edition - By David Folkenflik - Mar. 09 (News Analysis) - There are plenty of people to share the blame for the collapse of the nation's financial system.... But what about the self-described watchdogs in the media?

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Forget Britney; Media Outrage Hits Big Spenders

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Brian Stelter - Mar. 13 (News Report) - It could be called “To Catch a Rich Guy." The celebrity Web site TMZ and TV shows like “Extra” and “Inside Edition” are expanding their coverage of starlets and Hollywood break-ups to include billion-dollar business scandals and the economic collapse.

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The Sarcastic Times

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Columbia Journalism Review - By Alissa Quart - Mar. 13 (Opinion) - ... what really makes the show special is how it embodies the rise of what I think of as sarcasm news. More and more news programs are likely to go absurdist in the coming months and years. As faith in and loyalty to traditional anchors wither, one can even hear ironic Maddowian intonations creeping into the delivery of CNN’s not-so-funny anchor Campbell Brown on her new show.

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Stewart vs. Cramer: We have a winner

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Chicago Tribune - By Maureen Ryan - Mar. 13 (Review) - On Thursday's "Daily Show," Jon Stewart -- channeling Jimmy Stewart -- delivered a beatdown of CNBC's Jim Cramer, who attempted to defend himself and CNBC but, for the most part, meekly said he and his network could have done a better job in the leadup to the nation's financial meltdown.

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News Organizations Urge Release Of Journalist

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

All Things Considered - Mar. 11 (News Report) - Several news organizations — including NPR, ABC and the BBC — are asking Iranian authorities to explain why American freelance journalist Roxana Saberi has been detained in that country since late January.

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Defogging the Economic Crisis

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

American Journalism Review - By Jamie McIntyre - Mar. 11 (Review) - The radio show that caught the ear of Baucus and Geithner is "This American Life," aired on 500 public radio stations and heard by some 1.8 million listeners each week. Another half-million or so listen to the free podcast.... [I]n February, for the third time in a year, the show's producers departed from the usual format to tackle the daunting challenge of explaining the global financial crisis to an increasingly perplexed public.

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Washington Post to cut business section

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Reuters - By Robert MacMillan - Mar. 14 (News Report) - The Washington Post will stop publishing a business section six days out of the week and move business news to the front section of the paper at a time when finance stories dominate world headlines. The decision, which the Post's editors explained in a memo obtained by Reuters, means that the paper will save money on newsprint when newspaper advertising revenue is plunging. The cost-cutting would allow the paper to keep providing readers with what they say they want, according to the memo signed by Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli and other editors. "We remain absolutely committed to the strongest, in-depth and authoritative coverage of business locally, economics and economic-policy nationally, and the hugely important intersection of government, politics and money," the memo said.

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APIs: The new distribution

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Buzzmachine - By Jeff Jarvis - Mar. 10 (Comment) - The Guardian just announced that it is releasing all its content through an API as well as making available many different data sets through a data store, all of which can be mashed up into others’ sites and applications.

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A visit with CT News Junkie editor Christine Stuart

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Media Nation - By Dan Kennedy - Mar. 09 (Special Report) - I spent last Wednesday with Christine Stuart, the editor of CT News Junkie, which covers Connecticut politics. Stuart, who's based at the Statehouse in Hartford, posts two to four times a day, often covering hearings on important but secondary stories that the mainstream media ignore.

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The Demise of Investigative Journalism

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Russell Wild, Margaret Engel - Mar. 13 (Opinion) - The 20,000 journalism jobs lost in the past 18 months are flushing knowledge and experience out of American newsrooms, diminishing our lives and our democracy. The brain drain is exacting penalties that society may live to regret. As professionals depart paid journalism, secrecy and corruption will flourish. Fear of public exposure is one of the few brakes on such behavior. The American Society of Journalists and Authors represents independent journalists, and our members are among those striving to pick up the slack in investigative journalism.

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For The New York Times, the digital future is now

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

CNET News - By Daniel Terdiman - Mar. 10 (News Report) - By now, just about everyone who follows the media industry has heard of the deep fiscal troubles of The New York Times. But even as the paper does its best for all the news that's fit for newsprint, it is also conducting experiments aimed at moving itself into the forefront of digital journalism.

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"This Song Ain't About You"

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Daniel Sinker - Mar. 14 (Opinion) - You see, Stewart's real critique wasn't about Cramer, it was also only marginally about CNBC. Instead, Stewart's real rage comes from the role the modern media has created for itself: the role of cheerleader instead of watchdog, of favoring surface over depth, of respecting authority instead of questioning it. It's the same critique that some have about the New York Times (and the rest of the media) in the leadup to the war in Iraq; the same critique lobbed every time a TV reporter does a stand up in front of the Apple Store before a product release; the same critique leveled every time a sensational murder steals a headline from a corporate crime: is this really the job we want the fourth estate to be doing?

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