When local news is at its best, it delivers coverage no one else on the planet it can. So, it’s important to take it seriously. A friend revisited with me a story from northeastern Pennsylvania earlier this year that exemplified it wonderfully: a steer gets loose from a pen the night before a high school [...]

Well that was a lot about nothing, no? A Web site, Fire John Yoo is tracking all the news of the now dying coverage of John Yoo, who wrote controversial legal notices on torture during the Bush administration, and the virtriol surrounding his being retained as an op-ed columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. There were [...]

It’s all about alternative revenue. Newspapers, large and small, have served for generations as a gateway for providing information about the deaths of loved ones. Without any real numbers to back this up, it sure seems that unlike things like job listings and other classifieds, obit profits haven’t been eaten away nearly as much. When [...]

The way we have gained information has apparently changed in the past 200 years, according to a really interesting and insightful graphical analysis of those trends by online magazine Baekdal.com. The graphic analysis, as depicted above, aims to give some sense of the how the sources of information developed in common society. It suggests that [...]

Updated 3:17 p.m. April 23, 2009 I was in Baltimore this weekend, which is fitting, considering some of the news that came out of the Charm City last week. From Wired magazine blog Epicenter: The Tribune-owned Baltimore Sun issued Jeff Quiton of Inside Charm City a cease-and-desist letter claiming that Quinton has been republishing “substantial [...]

I got a tweet from my buddy and Reading Eagle designer Chris Reber a few weeks ago. is attribution dead? That came not long after, Vince Fumo, the embattled Pennsylvania state senator and legendary South Philly politician, was convicted on all 137 counts in his federal corruption trial. In what was another great stand for [...]

Editors have been cut. I assume there are more young journalists freelancing and those with staff jobs can’t be getting the same attention. College journalism professors are almost all naturally inclined to a generation no longer here. Who the hell is teaching the next generation of journalists? Number of Views:127

I’m betting that a revenue model for newspapers will develop in the coming years -whether it be as a nonprofit or whether online advertising can be revolutionized. Many general interest newspapers will be lost, but a tier will remain for at least some time, I think. But, gosh, I wish more newspapers would make the [...]

Don’t ask me to write a cover letter for a journalism job. Right now reporting gigs are nearly impossible to come upon for the talented peers of mine looking for industry work – some have already moved on. Some jobs may still be available, but really, despite their struggles and job loss, one newspaper department [...]

Put down your scissors, my fellow journalists. If you need to send clips to an editor, press agency or competition, the days of taping newsprint to card stock or loose paper are gone. Below read my advice about making clean, crisp clips or risk seeming downright dusty. Number of Views:106