My industry
You ever wonder just how valuable your skills are?
So much of what we do and learn is designed for something we manufactured and to which we subscribe ourselves.
If you were deserted on an island, what would your professional skills or personal interests do for your survival?
Continue reading How valuable are your skills?: newspapers weren't ready for their deserted island
It’s the attitudes that got them into this mess – newspaper executives thinking the party would never stop, but newspapers need to combine an appreciation and interest in learning the future with the confidence of being the most powerful news sources in the world.
Too many just seem to be running scared.
Continue reading Newspapers like the Philadelphia Inquirer need an attitude
Gosh, I do hate the buzz words that new media terms have become.
A friend shared a post with an interesting graf:
Journalists are obsessed with Twitter. Obsessed. They use it, talk about it, analyze it, deconstruct it, reconstruct it, love it, hate it, capitalize on it, become experts on it, monetize it, argue about it, and become micro-famous on it. They are mesmerized with what it is and they are as giddy as Tom Cruise on Oprah just thinking about what it could be. [Source]
Continue reading Twitter, blog, new media, Twitter, blog, blog
I live in Frankford, an old neighborhood in lower Northeast Philadelphia. Community journalism – the important and perhaps least paying element of the craft – is something I cherish and, as I understand it, begins, funny enough, in your own community.
So when I moved here back in November, I was excited to discover and learn and experience a new neighborhood. My interests reached beyond the professional, I wanted to help and learn and develop with Frankford, like I would wherever I lived. So, I reached out to my legislators – State Rep. Tony Payton and Councilwoman Maria Sanchez. I went to the first neighborhood meeting I found and began what I hope will be a monthly habit, sitting in on the Frankford Civic Association meeting earlier this month.
As life will do, I learned plenty doing just that, a lesson I think every journalist, freelance or otherwise, should recognize.
Continue reading Community journalism: What's the job and what's your life
Last month I mentioned the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Harrisburg bureau Commonwealth Confidential blog didn’t own its own name in a Web search.
Well, a Google search today shows that they got it right now. Why’d it take so long and what else can we learn?
Continue reading 'Commonwealth Confidential' owns its Google Search, does your newspaper blog?
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The only proper way a journalist could celebrate Valentine’s Day 2009 is to look elsewhere, the past, namely.
It might have been hard to think in February 2008 that one year later would only look darker for newspapers. Let’s look back on those happier times with what was going on in the blogosphere circa Cupid’s Day 2k8, via the archives of 10,000 Words. Thanks Mark.
For those of you pathetic souls alone and online searching today, something that can totally take away the pain is due up later this morning.
Image from Wikipedia.
A host of people smarter than I am call Philadelphia magazine home.
Better writers, reporters, editors, designers, photographers and more. I suspect they know worlds more about the business model, their print product and Web presence, but I can’t help but think Phillymag.com has a lot of work to be done.
Their lessons are worth learning for all publications on the Web, particularly magazines. Philadelphia is too large a market, and Philadelphia magazine is too historic a product for both not to be served by innovation in every field and industry.
Below see four broad areas Philadelphia magazine can improve its less-than-remarkable online product.
Continue reading Four ways to improve the Philadelphia magazine Web site
Last month, Alex Irwin, a good friend and a very hip arts blogger and Philadelphia music writer, posted that he gave over publishing rights of two of his photos to an online travel guide for Seattle, where he was visiting his girlfriend when snapped the pictures.
Wrong move, I say. Let me tell you why.
The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette are officially sharing content, according to Editor & Publisher.
Inquirer Editor William Marimow and Post-Gazette Editor David Shribman confirmed that they have been swapping daily budgets since Jan. 29, the latest example of the ever-growing trend of newspapers with no common ownership or JOA trading news.
“We exchange budgets and except for the most highly-competitive stories, we will be sharing,” said Marimow. “You will see more Pittsburgh Post-Gazette bylines and photos in the Inquirer.” [Source]
Continue reading Will the Philadelphia Inquirer Harrisburg bureau get trimmed?
Some folks in public relations relish the opportunity for their clients to respond to journalists in e-mail.
The message can be crafted, measured and direct. Really, it ought to be a great opportunity, but most times, in my experience, I see the difference between a wizard in media manipulation and some hack. The lessons are for reporters and PR reps alike.
