Joel Achenbach has a good piece in the Washington Post that tackles the question of text in a modern age head on: Is there less time today for the finely crafted narrative? The Web offers no way to read a narrative, argues Achebach. But does […]
A colleague forwarded along this link to me the other day. It’s an essay about the state of journalism today–not so much about the economic conditions they face (according to this article in the latest Atlantic, they’ve never been very good) but rather on where […]
I recently cam across this interview with the great creative nonfiction writer Gay Talese. He talks about his way of writing, and his typical “day at the office,” which is more typical than you would think. He gets dressed as if he is going to […]
An interesting piece from the Economist’s More Intelligent Life: We Are All Writers Now. Twitter, Facebook, blogs like this one–they are all assumed to be “cheapening the language” according to this recently published article. Is it true? From the story: “The chattering classes have become […]
John McIntyre, copy editor for the Baltimore Sun and former president of the American Copy Editors Society, has created his top 25 rules of editing. These are great. I can certainly relate to number one on his list, McIntyre’s Ratio: The project will require three […]
Noted author Steven Johnson writes about old and new media, and the transition underway in today’s media environment. It’s not a one-sided analysis of the media, neither simply championing change nor complaining about the demise of old media. Johnson believes that newspapers should have thought […]
It seems that the New York Times has quickly responded to an article appearing in the Atlantic that speculates about the fate of the newspaper (see my last post). Here’s the entire letter as it appeared Folio magazine’s Web site: To the Editor, Your article […]
The Atlantic has a good article in its current issue about the state of American journalism. What’s alarming in this article is the speed with which change could come. Coule the New York Times end its print product, and go online only by May? How […]
Happy New Year everyone. Here’s to a successful 2009. I realize that I have turned my blog into a bit of a media watch lately, but I can’t help but follow the economic condition of mass media. James Surowiecki has this wonderful look at newspapers […]
Do journalists love to talk about their own demise? Is the profession much like that of American steelworkers of an earlier age? Read this article in Slate and see if you agree. A favorite quote from the story, written by Jack Shafer: “The misery of […]