A Time reporter has one less hand after trying to toss a live grenade out of a humvee in Iraq. The photographer with him took on some shrapnel. Background on the reporter, Michael Weisskopf, who was on his second trip…
Author: tom
Grin and bear this
The Romenesko letters page has scads of dumb assignments that reporters have suffered through over the years. I have one to add: This story unfolds at a certain Downstate Illinois daily whose coverage area includes a wildlife park in the…
No still-ness around here
The post below reminded me of a story Brian Throckmorton used to tell. He was our features desk copy chief at the Mercury News until he got a better gig back in Lexington, Ky., running the copy desks at the…
Let’s dump ‘Jury’s Still Out’ stories
Here we have Newsday reporting that it’s too soon to tell whether tabs targeting young readers are gaining any traction. See, if I were ambitious enough to work up a functioning lampoon of this kind of story, I’d post a…
Dumping on Gannett
I never waste a chance to link to stories trashing the Evil Empire of newspapering. Here’s one on shenanigans in the Indianapolis market. Here’s one on Gannett launching four free weeklies targeting young readers. And here’s one on advertising prospects…
Robert Bartley dead
The cheerleader of Reaganomics succumbs to cancer. I don’t speak ill of the dead so let’s leave it at that.
For all you dictionary collectors
This one’s a hoot: A dictionary of body language. Thanks to Olive Press for the link.
A quake at the Post
Jen describes what happens when she’s the only one in the newsroom at the Washington Post who felt the tiny excuse for a earthquake that rattled the Beltway yesterday. Funny thing was, no one felt it but me. I was…
On unpaid interns
An interesting thread at Testy Copy Editors debates the pluses and minuses. Speaking for the defense, Pam says: I arrange unpaid internships for my copy desk. I will agree that many shops misuse interns. But that doesn’t mean the concept…
A Google bombing
Snopes.com deconstructs one.