gary scott

The soul of journalism

2009-11-30T21:06:00.000-08:00

At the annual gala to raise money for the Committee to Protect Journalists, the biggest names in the profession get served a reminder of the nameless journalists who often at great peril battle the darkness in places desperate for light.

From George Packer at the New Yorker:

At just the moment when any half-conscious journalist is beginning to feel a little sick—sick of the rich food, of the self-congratulatory tone, of the overdressed guests, of himself or herself, of the gap between what we say we do and what we aspire to do and what we all-too-often really do—it’s at that moment that the hosts announce the winners of the year’s awards. Along with the awards come videos that tell the recipients’ stories. The hum of chatter across the tables suddenly dies—for the stories are of brave, humorous, quietly defiant men and women, rarities and eccentrics who nonetheless seem to exist in every country, upholding high journalistic standards in the world’s most dangerous places, with no powerful backers, and almost no one paying attention except government thugs or anonymous gunmen.

Read the full post here.

NYT loses two veterans

2009-11-30T14:33:00.000-08:00

Two veteran reporters working in Washington, DC for the New York Times have taken buyouts. Stephen Labaton, who's been covering the financial crisis and regulatory issues, said he plans to leave journalism. Neil Lewis, who covered at various times the White House, Justice Department and State Department, said he will teach a course on media and the First Amendment at Duke Law School.

Los Angeles Times loses Gold

2009-11-30T13:28:00.000-08:00

Los Angeles Times readers' representative Jamie Gold plans to leave her job after eight years. Kevin Roderick at LA Observed wonders if her exit has anything to do with the rumors of further layoffs at the newspaper.

WaPost's newsroom spotlight

2009-11-30T13:04:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder how many bad ideas journalists have before they land a good story idea? Well, the Washington Post has a new venture called Story Lab that's supposed to help answer that and other questions for readers. The idea is to let readers watch, and even participate in the construction of a story "from conception to publication."

From Marc Fisher, who's overseeing the project:

We’re hoping to demystify the work of a big, sometimes-anonymous institution and give readers a way to connect with the people who report and write the news.

We’re really going to try to have a number of stories each week that are, from conception to finish, formulated on Story Lab. A reporter says, “Here’s what I’m thinking of; here’s the story as we see it. What do you think?” I fully expect that stories will evolve.

I wonder how much interest there is out there for this.

(found via Nieman Journalism Lab)

Away from Google

2009-11-30T10:19:00.000-08:00

The Associated Press provides more details about a proposal by at least three newspaper companies - News Corp., MediaNews Group and A.H. Belo - to pull some of their content from Google's search engine in favor of an exclusive partnership with Microsoft's Bing.

From AP:

In theory, getting news organizations to block Google from including links to their content might give Microsoft a slight edge over its nemesis. Bing would have a trove of material that its rival didn't, giving people more reason to search somewhere besides Google. Google handles more than six times as many Web searches as Bing, a lead that Google has translated into billions of dollars in annual revenue from ads that the company sells alongside search results.
But even if it were willing to pay for exclusive indexing rights to some newspapers, Microsoft then would have to spend heavily to make sure Web surfers knew Bing had stuff that Google didn't — and even that might not be enough to get people to break their Google habit, said Forrester Research analyst Shar VanBoskirk.

Dan Kennedy at Media Nation offers his take on the plan:

...there isn’t really any underlying principle as to who ought to pay for what online. Rather, the debate is driven by who’s making money, who’s losing money and — here’s where we get back to Microsoft — the business model of any particular Internet company.

What is Microsoft’s business interest with respect to Bing? Simply this: to build market share, establishing Bing as a serious search alternative to Google. Bing has a long way to go, with 10 percent of the market to Google’s 65 percent. That said, Bing has received good reviews since its debut earlier this year. And it’s really the only search engine to emerge as any kind of rival to Google pretty much since Google slipped into view in the late 1990s.

Flashback to '97

2009-11-28T18:26:00.000-08:00

In 1997, freelancer Matthew Hahn interviewed Hunter S. Thompson at Owl Farm and asked him how the Internet would affect journalism. How does the answer hold up 12 years later?

Here's the exchange:

MH: The Internet has been touted as a new mode of journalism -- some even go so far as to say it might democratize journalism. Do you see a future for the Internet as a journalistic medium?

HST: Well, I don't know. There is a line somewhere between democratizing journalism and every man a journalist. You can't really believe what you read in the papers anyway, but there is at least some spectrum of reliability. Maybe it's becoming like the TV talk shows or the tabloids where anything's acceptable as long as it's interesting.

I believe that the major operating ethic in American society right now, the most universal want and need is to be on TV. I've been on TV. I could be on TV all the time if I wanted to. But most people will never get on TV. It has to be a real breakthrough for them. And trouble is, people will do almost anything to get on it. You know, confess to crimes they haven't committed. You don't exist unless you're on TV. Yeah, it's a validation process. Faulkner said that American troops wrote "Kilroy was here" on the walls of Europe in World War II in order to prove that somebody had been there -- "I was here" -- and that the whole history of man is just an effort by people, writers, to just write your name on the great wall.

You can get on [the Internet] and all of a sudden you can write a story about me, or you can put it on top of my name. You can have your picture on there too. I don't know the percentage of the Internet that's valid, do you? Jesus, it's scary. I don't surf the Internet. I did for a while. I thought I'd have a little fun and learn something. I have an e-mail address. No one knows it. But I wouldn't check it anyway, because it's just too fucking much. You know, it's the volume. The Internet is probably the first wave of people who have figured out a different way to catch up with TV -- if you can't be on TV, well at least you can reach 45 million people [on the Internet].

(found via Marc Cooper)

Mike Penner dead at 52

2009-11-28T16:23:00.000-08:00

Los Angeles Times sportswriter Mike Penner has died. He was 52. The apparent cause of death is suicide.

Penner made headlines in 2007 when he announced he was a transsexual and began writing under the byline "Christine Daniels". In 2008, he reclaimed the "Mike Penner" byline.

Here's Times editor Russ Stanton's memo to staff on Penner's passing:

Colleagues:

I am very saddened to report that Mike Penner, whose work graced our pages for two-and-a-half decades, passed away last night.

We've posted a short story on the site this morning http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/ and a longer piece will follow for both the web and tomorrow's paper.

Mike was a first-rate journalist, a valued member of our staff and we will miss him. He respected our readers a great deal, enough to share with them his very personal journey. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.

Happy

2009-11-26T11:44:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving

Dobbs: Maybe illegal immigrants aren't so bad after all

2009-11-25T11:33:00.000-08:00

Unshackled from his desk at CNN, Lou Dobbs now feels free to be himself. Already he is making noise about running for the Senate in New Jersey, a state with a large Hispanic population. And so, in one of his first interviews, Dobbs made a 180-degree turn from his anti-immigrant brand of populism to say he now favors a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

Um, what?

From the Wall Street Journal:

In a little-noticed interview Friday, Mr. Dobbs told Spanish-language network Telemundo he now supports a plan to legalize millions of undocumented workers, a stance he long lambasted as an unfair "amnesty."

"Whatever you have thought of me in the past, I can tell you right now that I am one of your greatest friends and I mean for us to work together," he said in a live interview with Telemundo's Maria Celeste. "I hope that will begin with Maria and me and Telemundo and other media organizations and others in this national debate that we should turn into a solution rather than a continuing debate and factional contest."

Dobbs championed the factional contest. His proposal to legalize some of the 12 million illegal immigrants "under certain conditions" is the flip-flop of a still-young century.

Washington Post pulls out of Los Angeles

2009-11-24T16:50:00.000-08:00

The Washington Post plans to shutter its bureaus in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago, Politico reported today. Six correspondents will be affected, including Pulitzer Prize-winner Barton Gellman. All have been offered jobs back in Washington, DC.

From Politico:

Executive editor Marcus Brauchli informed staff that "the reporters in those bureaus are being offered new roles here in Washington." However, three news aides are being let go.
"At a time of limited resources and increased competitive pressure," Brauchli wrote, "it's necessary to concentrate our journalistic firepower on our central mission of covering Washington and the news, trends and ideas that shape both the region and the country’s politics, policies and government."
...since becoming publisher, Katharine Weymouth has spoken about how the Post needs to be the "indispensable guide to Washington," and today's move reflects her goals for the paper in utilizing what resources are available for an area in which the paper should be strongest.

(found via fishbowlLA)

McChronicle

2009-11-24T10:16:00.000-08:00

The San Francisco Chronicle plans to publish select material from McSweeney's 300-page Panorama newspaper, which is envisioned to celebrate the newspaper style but appears to include few newspaper writers. From the Chronicle news release:

The Panorama will be a 300-plus-page, single-edition newspaper published by McSweeney's, the independent San Francisco publishing house founded by author and philanthropist Dave Eggers.
The Panorama features the contributions of Michael Chabon, Stephen King, Andrew Sean Greer, William T. Vollmann, and Junot Diaz. It also includes writing from such acclaimed Bay Area authors as Michelle Tea, Tom Barbash, Robert Hass, and Daniel Alarcon, Eggers and many others. ...
"The Panorama in part is a way to demonstrate the many things that newspapers can do uniquely well, and how necessary they are to a thriving democracy," Eggers said. "From the beginning, we conceived of this as a way to show readers how much newsprint can do, and how essential to the craft of journalism readers' support of print is."

I wonder if they'll pay tribute to the yellow journalism, too?

(found via Romenesko)

MediaNews, Belo want to block Google, too

2009-11-24T09:51:00.001-08:00

MediaNews Group owner Dean Singleton said he will follow the lead of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. and block Google News from linking to stories that are put behind pay walls, Bloomberg reported today. MediaNews plans to start charging for some content at papers in Chico, California and York, Pennsylvania, and Singleton said that content would be off limits.

From Bloomberg:

“The things that go behind pay walls, we will not let Google search to, but the things that are outside the pay wall we probably will, because we want the traffic,” Singleton said.

Belo, which owns the Riverside Press-Enterprise, also announced tentative plans to charge for some online content and said it would likewise block Google from indexing those stories.

Arnold and Abel

2009-11-23T17:34:00.001-08:00

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has selected state Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, to take over as lieutenant governor, a post left vacant when Democrat John Garamendi won a seat in Congress. Maldonado is one of the few centrist Republicans in the California Legislature. His selection will have to be affirmed by Assembly and Senate votes.

SGV Tribune loses a reporter

2009-11-23T14:06:00.001-08:00

Tania Chatila, who worked her way up the ranks to become a reporter and a sometimes editor at the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, posted a note yesterday to let readers know that she has left the paper for a communications job at USC.

From her Leftovers at City Hall blog:

I've been working in professional newspapers since I was 19, but I have to say no newsroom has been quite like this one. Working in the San Gabriel Valley gave me a crash course in real crime, real politics and real people.
And now it's really time to go. This isn't to say I won't ever return to journalism (readers out there are either smiling or cringing at that thought) -- journalism and writing has always been my passion.

It's the art of storytelling that compels me. But for now, the transition is right for me and my future.

Her departure strikes me as a scary reminder that even good journalists are searching for a way station where they can wait out a storm that might never pass. It's also more evidence of the broken-ladder theory of journalism, one that should worry larger papers that hope to maintain their standards.

Coincidentally, the woman with whom Tania started the Leftovers from City Hall blog, Jennifer McLain, left the Tribune earlier this year and is now a student at USC.

Scientologists buy Governing magazine

2009-11-23T09:19:00.000-08:00

Governing magazine, the ubiquitous periodical of the nation's city hall and state house offices, will be sold this week to a Sacramento-based company called e.Republic. The sale has drawn an unusual amount of attention because the prospective buyer is run by Scientologists and the magazine's current owner, Poynter Institute, owns the St. Petersberg Times, a newspaper that won a Pulitzer Prize for exposing the inner workings of the Church of Scientology.

Staffers at Governing - the new owners plan to whittle the staff down to 12 from 27 - have real concerns about working for a company that so closely ties management and religion. The New York Times reports:

Some of the anxiety among the staff stems from a 2001 article in the Sacramento News and Review, an independent weekly, about e.Republic. That article, which has been widely read by Governing’s reporters in the last few days, reported that e.Republic’s staff members are required to read a book on management called “Speaking From Experience,” written by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology.
“There is concern,” Mr. Harkness said. “Unquestionably, there is concern.”

Officials at e.Republic say its all business, but the meltdown at the Unification Church-owned Washington Times, where attempts to raise journalism standards led to a bloodletting of top staff, has staffers understandably nervous.

Microsoft, News Corp to challenge Google

2009-11-22T19:03:00.000-08:00

The Financial Times reports that Microsoft and News Corp, which owns the Wall Street Journal, have joined together to challenge the dominance of Google as an aggregator of online news content.

From the FT:

Microsoft has had discussions with News Corp over a plan that would involve the media company’s being paid to “de-index” its news websites from Google, setting the scene for a search engine battle that could offer a ray of light to the newspaper industry.
...the Financial Times has learnt that Microsoft has also approached other big online publishers to persuade them to remove their sites from Google’s search engine.
...the biggest beneficiary of the tussle could be the newspaper industry, which has yet to construct a reliable online business model that adequately replaces declining print and advertising revenues.

The Wall Street Journal has long held the line against giving away all of its online content for free. Meantime, Microsoft's Bing search engine has looked for ways to compete with Google. For its part, Google told FT that newspaper content doesn't account for much online revenue. But how many more people might think "Bing" when they first sign on the Internet in the morning to look for the news (depending, of course, on how many papers follow News Corp's lead)?

They can't recall

2009-11-20T17:23:00.000-08:00

Organizers of a recall attempt against Rep. Anthony Adams, R-Claremont, learned today that they failed to gather enough valid signatures to call an election. Adams was targeted because he supported a budget bill that included tax increases. Recall backers needed 35,825 valid signatures but collected only 24,579, according to the secretary of state.

From Capitol Weekly:

Backers of the recall effort, which reportedly raised more than $100,000, included Michael Schroeder, an Orange County attorney and former state Republican Party leader, and talk-show hosts John Kobylt and Ken Champou of the "John and Ken Show," a political chat radio program in Southern California. Other recall backers included the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.

The failure to even get the signatures to put the recall on the ballot could give spine to some moderate Republicans who might want to compromise on budget issues next year, when the state Legislature will be faced with another massive budget deficit, but who in the past feared retribution from the right-wing of the party.

Noteworthy: New American Foundation fellow Joe Mathews predicted back in August that the recall attempt would fail.

The corrections

2009-11-20T15:01:00.000-08:00

A finger-pointing session broke out this week in the L.A. blogosphere.

Patterico claims James Rainey at the Los Angeles Times got only one side (the wrong one) in the ACORN saga ... Celeste Fremon at WitnessLA calls some of the coverage in the LA Weekly "cringe-makingly slanted" ... new LA Weekly blogger Dennis Romero points out a few mistakes in Neon Tommy's feature on the incoming editor ... and fishbowlLA slaps back at the Weekly for getting so defensive about Neon Tommy's take.

(And most of these links come via LA Observed)

AP layoffs

2009-11-20T14:54:00.000-08:00

The Associated Press reports that 90 news employees lost their jobs this week as part of an effort to cut payroll by 10 percent. AP

Military politics

2009-11-20T07:16:00.000-08:00

On Monday, the Fort Bragg Army base in North Carolina will host Sarah Palin, who is on a tour for her new book, "Going Rogue."

In agreeing to the public event, the U.S. Army initially banned the media from attending to ensure the promotion of a political book written by a politician didn't turn political. Army officials assumed the mere presence of journalists would encourage Palin, or her supporters (some of them in uniform, I presume), to criticize President Obama and his policies. So, the theory went, even if Palin or her supporters did say something critical, the fact that no journalists were there to report it would preserve the apolitical atmosphere.

The Associated Press and Fayettville Observer both complained, calling the ban illogical and unconstitutional. For one, they said the Army can't have a public event and then restrict the press. Second, they said the public has things like cameras, personal blogs and mouths with which they could broadcast the day's events. In the end, the U.S. Army relented and agreed to allow media in.

DA probes mayor of Industry

2009-11-18T21:13:00.000-08:00

The Los Angeles Times and San Gabriel Valley Tribune report that District Attorney's public integrity unit is investigating Mayor David Perez of the city of Industry over allegations that he's benefiting financially from city contracts. The probe comes at a sensitive time, as a proposal to build an NFL stadium in the city pushes ahead. LAT, SGVT

(Updated)

When life gave the NY Post lemons

2009-11-18T20:59:00.001-08:00

The Post made lemonade.

Ruth Seymour to step down at KCRW*

2009-11-18T19:52:00.000-08:00

A major shift is coming to KCRW. Ruth Seymour informed employees last night that she plans to step down as the station's general manager at the end of February. Seymour has headed the station since 1977. Under stewardship KCRW developed into a major public radio radio voice.

Here's her email to staff:

Dear Staff,

I want to give you a heads-up on some dramatic news.

I’ve made the decision to retire as General Manager at the end of February. I will be speaking personally to many of you in the coming weeks but I wanted to make sure that you heard this from me before it becomes more public.

For almost all of you, I am the only manager you’ve known. Some of you go back with me to John Adams Jr. High. We have a lot of history together.

We have created a family of sorts down in the basement. We have laughed and cried together, quarreled and made up. We’ve welcomed new wives and husbands and lots of babies, some of whom plan to run the station themselves someday.

The College is required to engage in certain procedures to choose a new manager and they have embarked on the process. I will be here to hand off the station to my successor.

Nothing is harder than to announce that you’re leaving and then try to manage for the next few months. So I hope you’ll make it easy for me.

I’m attaching a letter which will be sent to the membership. Please read it.

I’m sure I’ll get a chance to talk individually to everyone of you in the days to come.

With love and gratitude – Ruth

A copy of Seymour's letter to KCRW members is here.

Warren Olney discussed Seymour's announcement on tonight's "Which Way, LA?"

*UPDATE: The Los Angeles Times has a good story today about the timing of Seymour's resignation. Here's an excerpt:

Her departure comes at a time when the station is seen to be in transition. Despite its reputation for superlative programming -- including its signature music and public affairs shows, such as "Morning Becomes Eclectic," "Which Way, L.A.?" and "To the Point" -- KCRW lags behind other public radio stations in local-area ratings.

In October, the month in which the most recent ratings are available, KCRW placed 30th in the Los Angeles-Orange County market, with 1% of the total audience ages 6 and older. Classical station KUSC-FM (91.5) was 19th at 2.3%, while KPCC placed 24th at 1.8%.

But KCRW officials have challenged the ratings system, which they say undercounts the station's true audience.

KCRW is looking to broaden its appeal nationally through digital initiatives such as streaming and podcasting. Seymour felt that having someone else in the general manager role might help the station more quickly realize that goal.

"It's going to be a new era," she said. "Time to begin without me."

Also, I assumed it goes without saying that I work at KCRW as a producer for "Which Way, LA?" and "To The Point." However, assuming is never a good thing to do.

Hits-based journalism*

2009-11-17T14:19:00.000-08:00

Tony Pierce, Los Angeles Times blog editor, sent a memo to the troops yesterday. LA Observed got a copy - here's a portion of what was said:

Saturday, I am happy to report (though not surprised), Top of the Ticket had its biggest day ever. Yes, it was bigger than any of those debates, it was bigger than when Sarah Palin explained to the world the difference between pit bulls and hockey moms. Saturday Top of the Ticket, thanks to a tip from a sharp-eyed Times staffer, got more readers than when the United States elected its first Black president.

Indeed, a story that eventually was linked from the Drudge Report in 48 pt bold about Barack Obama bowing to the Emperor of Japan blew away the hits of those other historic days in American history. And this was a post published at 3:38am.

Is there any sweeter success in journalism than a link on Drudge?

*Update: Top of the Ticket writer Andrew Malcolm seems to be going for his second Drudge link in a week.

AP layoffs under way*

2009-11-17T09:58:00.000-08:00

The Associated Press is expected to shed 70 or more jobs by the end of the year and Gawker reports that the layoffs have gotten under way today.

*Update, 11/19: Gawker has compiled list of those laid off at AP and is updating it as more names come in.