We left j-school thinking we had the answers, then we learned just how much we had to learn. I learned humility when I read my first correction in a 700,000-circ paper, apologizing for an error I had made in a story. I learned creativity when security blocked me and a photographer from entering the work site […]
Texas lawmen closed the country roads and started scouring the dusty ground late in the still-blazing afternoon in an isolated spot an hour-plus northeast of Houston, long beyond where the pavement turns to the Pineywoods. I got my first message at 4:07 p.m. Central time. It started: “POSSIBLE MAJOR STORY…” It came in all caps, […]
Think for a moment: which U.S. cities would lead a “best-read” list of books, magazines and newspapers. Amazon has pulled together its sales since Jan. 1 and come up with its own best-read list. Looking at cities over 100,000 population, the list is based on per capita sales for print and digital products from Amazon. […]
A decade ago I refereed a debate about the merits of copy editors on the 6th floor of a metro newspaper editing copy created by writers on the 8th floor of the same metro. Granted, they were in different departments, and didn’t have the same background as their same-floor copy editors. But this big step […]
In the Dark Ages – about two years ago – newspaper companies with a healthy stable of smaller to medium size properties felt like they had the ultimate insurance policy. Perceived remoteness. “It’ll be years before Google, Yahoo and the rest discover us,” was the line of thought, as they watched the metros they owned […]
My dad’s ’61 Ford – big, hulking, white with four doors, plenty of chrome and a blue cloth interior – was backed up, rear-end to the one-car garage, as night fell, ready for a running start before dawn the next day. It was the one day of the year that the car was backed into […]
I punched in the number of my Texas publisher/friend and started talking before he could reply to my ring. He interrupted my jabbering with words I have never heard before. “John, I’m at the slaughterhouse and having trouble getting this buffalo inside. It’s not going well. Got to call you back.” Was Dan speaking in […]
Well, me. And, most likely, you. “We’re like a battleship; it takes a long time to change direction,” a senior newspaper exec told me decades ago, trying to calm my impatience with the pace of a large project. “But when we change course, we’ve got awesome firepower.” Well, the firepower is greatly diminished, and the […]
Everyone knows that media sites – particularly newspapers – are struggling mightily to find the right Internet business model, one that will sustain them as print continues to decline and digital becomes more important and no longer viewed as an interesting appendage, as it has been by too many in the recent past. Anyone who […]
Digital, Newspapers, Radio, TelevisionSometimes the road to new habits and new technology is littered with temporary bridges and make-do paths, products with a very important but very short shelf-life, and products that fill a gap until a better idea comes along. Is Google Fast Flip one of these, or is it the start of something much bigger? In […]
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