4 posts tagged “newspapers”
We didn't all stay in the business. Bad pay, discrimination, alcoholism, and a general absence of ethics among many editors soured the profession, at least for me.
Fast forward to today: blogs and podcasts have created a sub-culture of bystander journalists. Result: Gannett laying off thousands of reporters. NPR jettisoning Farai Chideya and Ketzel Levine, among others. Journalism, as a profession, will lose about 30% of its workforce. You can blame the exodus of classified advertising to the web, if you like. But I think it has more to do with the thinness of the editorial product. I've read many articles lately without a single attributed quote, or just a smattering of detail.
This cutback in actual news content made it easier for us to flee to the web for in-depth reporting. I no longer rely on the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle to cover Albany politics; I can just read the Albany newspaper's website, and related blogs.
So, where will all those departed editorial staffers land? Either in PR or universities. PR is already a pretty easy game; with fewer editorial gatekeepers to keep out the promotional stories, it's easier to pitch an idea as "news."
But the college environment must undergo some kind of curriculum catharsis. The market for would-be investigative reporters will shrink, if not completely evaporate.
Those editors-turned-professors had better be ready to teach their incoming students to write for business or for advertising. Because I'm not certain there will be enough newspapers or newsmagazines to sustain the calibre of journalism I once aspired to pursue.
The guy who gave me my very first job in newspapers after college has decided to call it quits.
Read Dave Willmott's touching farewell here.
When he hired me as a reporter for Suffolk Life, Dave was brash and opinionated. I never saw him without rolled-up
On occasion, he asked me to tilt at windmills. I don't think my reporting helped prevent the Shoreham nuclear power plant from coming online. While the plant never generated one watt of electricity, I think what I wrote helped make more Long Islanders aware of the risks associated with a nuclear plant in their backyard.
And when one of his kids' bedrooms produced marijuana paraphernalia, Dave asked two of us writers to do a series of articles on the hidden dangers of pot. Again, no one polished up a Pulitzer for those stories, but we may have enlightened a few parents into asking tough questions of their kids.
-- Assuming the newspaper didn't end up forever lost in the limbs of their front hedges. You see, Suffolk Life wasn't delivered as much as it was lobbed onto people's driveways. But it was a real newspaper. One-hundred percent locally written.
I haven't written for a newspaper in more than 10 years. But not a day goes by that I don't miss the unstable rhythm of a newsroom, and the Buddy Rich staccato of the pounding on an old Royal typewriter. Or the smell of newsprint and ink that always wafted from the presses to the newsroom. When one of my oldest, dearest friends told me her town's weekly paper was up for sale, not long ago, I actually checked my bank accounts to see if I could buy my way in.
Never mind the fallout I would have faced at home.
So, Dave Willmott, thank you for kick-starting my career. And helping me appreciate it every time newspaper ink rubs off on my fingertips.
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Further proof that today's journalists have become glorified IM writers. Read this article.
The headline would lead you to think: "Hey, these two guys said something controversial or worth hearing."
The story has not a single quote from Mr. Suozzi or Mr. Golisano. You hear about what they discussed, but never what they actually said.
What kind of garbage reporting is this? Rudy Elder, my former editor at the Finger Lakes Times, would have skewered and slow-roasted me for junior-high-school journalism like this.
Hey, Jim Stinson (JFSTINSO@DemocratandChronicle.com): if I want text messages, I'll ask my teenagers. Otherwise, WRITE A COMPLETE ARTICLE, with actual quotes that support the narrative you're espousing.
Hey, Editor: Reject articles that fail to deliver what the reader wants.
End of Lesson.
Given the dearth of authentic newsstands in our town, newspapers are sold in honor boxes. You put your coins in, you take out one paper. The publisher trusts you to take one, not three. Hence, "honor boxes."
Like everything else, this has manifested. With ugly results.
I don't know if honor box owners pay a fee to take up sidewalk space in our town. But the purveyors of these plastic pretenders should be compelled to cough up some coin for blighting the urban landscape.
By the way, the neat old building in the background is a renovated classic firehouse. Formerly the home of Hose Co. No. 3. They don't build 'em like this anymore.
