You know Ben Bradlee? He knows the score on the iPad. Bob Woodward goes to him for advice on how to use it. To newspapers: This is how you advertise your iPad app. That’s right. Turn your most grizzled journalists into pitchmen.
I became aware of Keith’s political contributions late last night. Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay.
MSNBC President Phil Griffin • Announcing that Keith Olbermann has been suspended for donating to three political campaigns, one of which happened immediately after he interviewed the candidate (Raul Grijalva of Arizona) on the show. While Olbermann noted that he “did not privately or publicly encourage anyone else to donate to these campaigns, nor to any others in this election or any previous ones, nor have I previously donated to any political campaign at any level,” clearly that wasn’t enough for MSNBC. On Tumblr, me and Mark Coatney (formerly of Newsweek, now of Tumblr) had a little bit of a debate on all this, and while I didn’t come on Keith’s side here for ethical reasons, I honestly thought he was untouchable (and that it wasn’t bad enough to force MSNBC’s hand). Guess not. The mighty fall, too. source
Leading futurist Ross Dawson has a message for you print jockeys out there: Find another medium that doesn’t involve dead trees. The dude created a handy-dandy chart explaining how we won’t read newspapers in the U.S. in another seven years. But on the plus side, if you’re a member of the Argentinian press, your papers will still be relevant into 2039. Food for thought. Plus this guy is a futurist which means he can see into the futureeeeeeeeeeee. oooh. source
Over the last few days, we’ve gotten a few e-mails from the online video site Newsy. (Hey guys!) Newsy is a pretty interesting news startup which has a partnership with the smart kids at the University of Missouri. (Read up on the school’s journalism program – which, if you ask us, is how J-Schools should work.) In a lot of ways, Newsy is sort of the video version of SFB – it splices together lots of disparate elements to give you a brief, detailed overview of a full story. (They probably have more startup capital than us, but we’ll let that one go. Heh.) In the clip above, they offer tons of new context with the gay Cub Scout leader who was forced to give up his leadership program. The guy at the center of all this knows how to sell popcorn. And he’s thinking of filing a lawsuit against the organization. We learned all that just from watching the video! Newsy’s pretty cool. source
I told you what the Chicago Tribune is not. Now let me tell you what it is. It’s reporters, photographers and editors, analysts and designers, and others who help us with the work. Our newspaper is just one part of Tribune Co., and what the corporate bosses do is separate from what we do.
Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass • Making a spirited defense in favor of the Chicago Tribune, that little newspaper created in that building where a frat environment was reportedly fostered among the corporate wing. This is a really class thing to point out. The problem with Tribune is not the paper itself. The management – which occasionally makes awful decisions that affect the paper’s journalism – is the problem here. They bankrupted the company. They took Col. Robert McCormick’s sacred room and played poker games there. All the investigative journalists and reporters working their beat? They weren’t screwing around. Let’s be sure, when we’re ripping on Tribune Corp. for silly business practices, we’re making the distinction. (Thanks Amber Nettles) source
Maybe we’re a bit sarcastic and all, but we almost feel like this rescue is getting the coverage it is because it’s a piece of red meat. We’re very happy to see the story slowly work its way towards an improbable ending, but we don’t like the way the media coverage is playing out. The is the kind of story that 24-hour news networks love, because it means ratings (especially if you’re CNN). But this? It’s like baby Jessica fell down the well all over again. source
Here was this guy, who was responsible for all these people, getting drunk in front of senior people and saying this to a waitress who many of us knew. I have never seen anything like it.
An anonymity-hidden former Tribune executive • Describing a scene where a top Tribune Corp. exec offered a waitress $100 to show him her breasts. If that doesn’t underline the frat-boy atmosphere of the company, we don’t know else would. The company, currently comprised of a bunch of former radio execs, was run into the ground thanks to Sam Zell, who leveraged relatively little of his own money to pay for the sale, but many of his employees’ pensions. Zell no longer has a day-to-day role in the company, which has somehow managed to wear its lack of respect for journalism as a badge of honor, one that shows itself with every layoff, with every questionable advertising decision (looking at you, L.A. Times) and with every disgusting detail of this New York Times story that we’re linking to right here. source
We blame Rupert Murdoch. One of the great icons of traditional American journalism has decided to take a design cue straight out of a 5,000-circulation weekly, taking a once-simple nameplate and making it REALLY REALLY BIG for their new weekend editions. Our buddy Charles Apple had the right thought on this whole thing, referring to the change with the headline “‘WSJ’? WTF”. It’s probably one of the worst design decisions by a major newspaper in a long, long time. It’s harsh, but honest. source
