The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s editor confesses the paper’s only real excuse for running a picture showing a guy falling to his death was, “well, we were there,” and issues an apology. See, this is how newspapers are different from, say,…
Month: November 2003
Life outside the desk
Another great Testy Copy Editors’ thread, this one about whether it’s rational to expect to have a social life when you work nights covering the news. Here’s a nod to Wayne Countryman of the Baltimore Sun, who always seems to…
How to interview bigshots
Media Bistro offers tips. I like this one especially: 3. Don’t be flexible. In college and high-school journalism, they tell you to be flexible in order to land an interview. Accommodate whatever they need (interview them in a cab, or…
No, no, no, no, no
Steve Earle used to shoot drugs. Now he mainlines the latest news. There’s gonna be times when a writer has to be talked out of being clever, like when likening news addiction to heroin addiction. The former is an affectation,…
Rush is back
On Nov. 17, MediaPost reports. I suggest we litter our pages with extra doses of liberal do-gooderism to give him plenty of material to work with upon his return.
Give your copy editor a hug
I’ve become so accustomed to the “tips for newsies” links on the Poynter site linking to absurd advice that I completely missed “10 things to know and love about copy editors,” which has been up since late last week. See,…
On fighting spam
I don’t know how bad the spam is in your newsroom, but it’s gotten out of hand in ours. The folks at Kuro5hin suggest a way to fight back: by responding to some of those spams, which costs the spammers…
A way-cool alarm clock
It explodes! (another fine entry from the boing boing blog.)
L.A. observances
The SoCal-centric L.A. Observed has a couple swell links: How two women became the Super Vixens of L.A. journalism; and a pointer to a legal blog kept by journalist Matthew Heller.
Interviewing with a minder
Tom Murphy of PR Opinions keeps providing an interesting window into the world of PR people. Today’s topic: whether the flack should hover nearby when newsies are interviewing corporate bigshots. An aside: You think you have a tough job telling…