Save the Media

Over the past two weeks, I’ve blogged about Jeff Jarvis’ book, “What Would Google Do?” as has my guest blogger, friend and colleague, Amber Smith. Both of us distilled ideas from the book, applying them to our experience at newspapers. This week, Google itself testified at a U.S. Senate Subcommittee that looked at the future [...]

Today, I’m turning over my blog to a friend and colleague, Amber Smith, Health and Fitness editor at The Post-Standard in Syracuse. She and I share a love of journalism, new media and connecting with readers and often swap ideas. (Check out her Health and Fitness blog.) She turned me onto City University of New [...]

It’s time for some short-takes: stuff I find interesting around the blogosphere for journalist bloggers: Blogger tip — be alert: I’ve visited this topic before, but it warrants repeating. You can’t blog in your niche well unless you’re reading what others are saying and know what’s going on in the news. One way to do [...]

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” — Albert Einstein When I read this Einstein quote (which was posted in an office at my kids’ elementary school), I thought: Wow! Einstein could have said this today about the newspaper industry. To me the quote sums up so much [...]

I went to see “State of Play” yesterday mainly because I’m a sucker for anything with Russell Crowe in it, and I love newspaper-themed movies. (Professional hazard, I guess.)  I thoroughly enjoyed the movie despite its stereotypical and sensationalized depictions of journalism, but that’s not why I’m bringing it up. This isn’t a review. I think the movie provides a good [...]

Today, I’m not blogging as a journalist. I’m taking off that hat and writing as a news consumer — a regular person who has been devouring newspapers since I was about 6 and read my parents’ daily delivery of the New York Daily News. Dear newspapers: I know. I know. Times are tough. You’re cutting news hole because next to [...]

I haven’t done short takes in a while, so here are some interesting finds from around the blogosphere: The value of small talk: Steve Yelvington has the best explanation I’ve read so far for the value of social media. He compares the gabbing over Twitter, for example, that so many find banal to the glad-handed [...]

The shooting in Binghamton, NY, Friday left 14 people dead, including the gunman who apparently killed himself, in a community center filled with people from other countries who were learning English. The news is tragic, and I feel for the families of all those involved. But I think the story provides a compelling example of [...]

Well, I have some more short-takes for you — tidbits I found around the blogosphere: Are bloggers journalists? Look to history. Boston University journalism professor Chris Daly writes that “bloggers stand squarely in a long-standing journalistic tradition. … Their roots go back to the authors of the often-anonymous writings that helped to found America itself [...]

Most of my posts on this blog focus on new media, changing content, and embracing interaction with readers. I do that because I really believe those are vital as journalism evolves. However, I think there’s much about so-called “old  journalism” that should be retained as journalism evolves. I’m no newbie. I’m 42 years old, and [...]