Sportswriter Jay Mariotti, who quit the Chicago Sun-Times and then told a local television station that “newspapers are dead,” raised the ire of many in the news industry including (former) colleague Roger Ebert. In a not-so-private open letter to the Sun-Times staff, Ebert called Mariotti “a rat” and, in essence, a coward for leaving theContinue reading “Jay Mariotti and the Dead Newspapers Society”
Category Archives: journalism
Tim Russert: Citizen Journalist
“Feels like the country’s biggest game is about to be played without the referee.” – Elizabeth Wilner, posted on the “Missing Russert” Facebook group. AS MODERN JOURNALISM LAY near death, with its entertainment-driven news, pomp and punditry, Tim Russert was its life support. Now, with Russert gone, we can only wonder how long journalismContinue reading “Tim Russert: Citizen Journalist”
We Are the Firemen
In May 1993 – the exact date and time escape me – my inner world, the one where thoughts are born, developed and processed, lost its ability to be silent. I since have lived with constant noise, the result of a tumor that, in an ironic nod to God’s comic grace, left me deaf inContinue reading “We Are the Firemen”
Journalism’s Next 100 Years
I got a call from the University of Missouri Journalism School, my alma mater, reminding me of the 100th anniversary celebration this year. Founded in 1908, Missouri was the world’s first journalism school and is still regarded as one of the best. Yet while overall it was a great first hundred years for American journalism,Continue reading “Journalism’s Next 100 Years”
Making Newspapers Matter: The Tragic Value of Content
“Hey Gary: After a year of unanswered emails to the editor of the Portland, Maine, Press Herald pleading for better local reporting and editing…I started a blog a month ago…” T.C. Munjoy, Pressing the Herald (http://pressingtheherald.blogspot.com/) ONE MORE BLOG IN THE WORLD is not the end of traditional journalism. Even the target of Mr. Munjoy’sContinue reading “Making Newspapers Matter: The Tragic Value of Content”
In CNN’s Hands, YouTube Loses its Voice
As a former newspaper reporter, I never had much respect for television news. More style than substance, more sound bite than serious, TV journalism was media junk food. I preferred a good steak and still do. There were exceptions – Walter Cronkite, Jim Lehrer and, going way back, Ed Murrow (though he served up hisContinue reading “In CNN’s Hands, YouTube Loses its Voice”
Facebook is the New Corporate Intranet (and Other Things I Want to Mention but Would Rather Not Discuss)
Glenn Beck is an Insensitive Prick – Beck told his national radio audience that “a handful of people who hate America are losing their homes in a forest fire today,” referring to the wildfires that started in Malibu. First of all, one of those people, Steve Dark, is a conservative who loves America and goesContinue reading “Facebook is the New Corporate Intranet (and Other Things I Want to Mention but Would Rather Not Discuss)”
Intolerance, Not Technology, is Small Newspaper’s Greatest Threat to Survival
"He was trying to teach his two young daughters not to be afraid to buy a newspaper in America." – Peter Katz, Vietnam veteran and small business owner in Little Saigon, Orange County, Calif. We forget – some of us – that while we lament the decline of news readership or embrace technology and prepareContinue reading “Intolerance, Not Technology, is Small Newspaper’s Greatest Threat to Survival”
Newspapers Parting with Experience – and With Journalism
“We are all caught in the greatest upheaval our industry and the institution of journalism has ever faced.” – Robert Rosenthal, managing editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, upon tendering his resignation. The above quote may sound histrionic, and in some ways it is. Journalists are fanatical about exercising restraint in all things, unless oneContinue reading “Newspapers Parting with Experience – and With Journalism”
Outsourcing Local News: The Joke is On Us
"A lot of the routine stuff we do can be done by really talented people in another time zone at much lower wages." – James Macpherson, editor and publisher, Pasadenanow.com So it goes in American journalism today that we no longer need people in America to cover local news. At least that’s the case inContinue reading “Outsourcing Local News: The Joke is On Us”
Gary Goldhammer -- Strategic storytelling for brands, organizations and executives 