Journalism

10 Years Ago Today, Matt Drudge Broke the News

On Jan. 17, 1998, Matt Drudge reported that Newsweek had spiked Michael Isikoff's story about President Clinton's sexual affair with Monica Lewinsky, the first shot in the war between the corporate and cautious culture of mainstream journalism and the completely bonkers blogosphere. Six weeks later, I registered Drudge.Com. It's hard to believe that Matt Drudge remains one of the most important journalists in the U.S., 10 years after he nabbed somebody else's scoop. I wish someone had told me, ... (read more)

2008/01/17

Long Bet Winner: Weblogs vs. The New York Times

In 2002, blogging evangelist Dave Winer made a long bet with New York Times executive Martin Nisenholtz: "In a Google search of five keywords or phrases representing the top five news stories of 2007, weblogs will rank higher than the New York Times' Web site." Today, Associated Press editors and news directors chose the top 10 news stories of the year, which makes it possible to determine who won the bet. AP's No. 5: Chinese exports The Times ranks 20th for the Nov. 30 article China Agrees to ... (read more)

2007/12/20

First, Let's Shoot All the Photographers

The Lane Hartwell photo controversy is becoming a Venus morontrap. In the comments on TechCrunch, Robert Scoble flew into its maw and is being broken down into his constituent parts and digested by enzymes: I think it really is lame to take pictures of people (who don't get a cut of the profits) at parties, without being commissioned, and then send in invoices for that work when it gets used in a parody video. If photographers are getting paid to take pictures of me, why shouldn't we get a cut ... (read more)

2007/12/20

Hugh MacLeod Ages Like Fine South African Wine

It's funny what people reveal about themselves online. Read my blog for any length of time and you can probably figure out my uneasy Michael Corleone-like relationship with journalism, the field I majored in and subsequently escaped. I can't decide what to think about my long absence from the profession or the fact that I don't seem to be missed. Read online marketing guru Hugh MacLeod, the guy who plies bloggers with a South African wine in the expectation they'll sing its praises, and you ... (read more)

2007/12/06

CNN's Self-Importance is Beyond Debate

At last night's Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas, CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer spoke for more time than five of the seven candidates, repeatedly getting in the way of substantive discussion by reducing issues to yes/no options. But it wasn't until the audience got its chance to ask questions that the CNN team demonstrated how inflated in self-importance our leading broadcast journalists have become during presidential campaigns. After a commercial break, undecided voter LaShannon ... (read more)

2007/11/16

Exclusive: Techbloggers Have Sold Their Souls

On WebProNews, Robert Scoble demonstrates why the leading techblogs are becoming less critical and more susceptible to hype -- they're bargaining with PR flacks for exclusives: I've noticed that PR types are getting very astute with dealing with bloggers lately and getting their wares discussed on TechMeme. First they'll call Mike Arrington of TechCrunch. Make sure he's briefed first (Mike doesn't like to talk about news that someone else broke first, so they'll make sure he is always in the ... (read more)

2007/10/18

Matt Drudge Vants to Be Left Alone

Portfolio magazine blogger Jeff Bercovici thinks a recent magazine article drove Matt Drudge off the radio: Matt Drudge is quitting his radio show, and, while he won't say why, I have a guess. Could it be that the secretive internet news czar feels overexposed after his recent profile by Philip Weiss in New York magazine? Although the piece was a write-around, Weiss was able to create the feel of an interview by quoting extensively from Drudge's on-air musings. I emailed Drudge for comment but, ... (read more)

2007/09/11

Dear Media: Child Sex Abuse is Not a 'Sexual Affair'

A St. Petersburg, Fl., city councilman resigned today amid reports that the police are investigating him for allegedly molesting three of his children. The media outlet that broke the story, Tampa Bay's FOX TV affiliate, described it in this manner: City Councilman John Bryan abruptly resigned his post Friday amid accusations he had a sexual relationships with three of his adopted children. The media has a bad habit of using the terms "sexual relationship" or "affair" in cases like this, as if ... (read more)

2007/09/07

Remembering Journalist Bill Muller

Bill Muller, one of my long-ago colleagues from the student newspaper at UT-Arlington, died yesterday at age 42 after a year-long battle with cancer. The Arizona Republic, where he worked the past seven years as the film critic, does a good job of covering his many accomplishments in journalism. Muller was an investigative reporter before he became a critic, and his paper editorializes today about why he was so good at it: But above all else, Bill Muller was a great journalist because he was ... (read more)

2007/09/07

Journalist Laments 'Declining Trust in the Media'

For Los Angeles Times columnist Dana Parsons, the new film Resurrecting the Champ is an opportunity to feel sorry for how journalists are being treated these days: I suppose I could just buck up and be a man about the new movie and forgive the filmmakers for their liberties with the truth. That'd be a lot easier if we weren't living in a time of declining trust in the media and when some of our fellow citizens seem determined to convince the American public that the mainstream press is biased ... (read more)

2007/08/30

Read More Entries