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In the Age of Digital Media, Should Everything on the Web be Free?

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:58:22 +0000

If you wouldn't steal a CD from a music store, why would you illegally download it from the web?

If you wouldn't nick a paper from a newsstand, why would you try to cheat the paywall on the paper's website?

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Remembering Christopher Hitchens, Through his Writing

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:32:19 +0000

Watching the current health insurance-contraception hullabaloo, with its admixture of public policy, religion and politics, I found myself wishing that Christopher Hitchens was still around to offer up what would have no doubt been some very provocative views on the subject. His was a singular voice in American letters, one I suspect many of us will miss for years to come.

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As Colleges Grow More Image-Conscious, Student Newspapers Become Less Irreverent

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:35:55 +0000

Time was, college newspapers were the place aspiring journos went to learn their craft and have some fun. The fun came when denizens of student newsrooms got to write irreverent articles about things that actually interested them - like sex, for instance.

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China's Economy Grows, but the Press Still Faces Censorship

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:23:05 +0000

For years, many political theorists assumed that free-market reforms would naturally bring about democratic reforms in the developing world. That hasn't proven to be the case in China.

China, as anyone who hasn't been living in a cave knows, is a financial juggernaut, an economic superpower in the making. Yet the government is as repressive as ever when it comes to basic human rights.

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Jon Stewart, Media Critic

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:12:39 +0000

Jon Stewart is known as a brilliant satirist and comedian, but as host of "The Daily Show" he's also become perhaps the nation's best-known and most savvy media critic. Stewart's critiques of journalism and journalists in particular can be both dead-on and dead-wrong, in my view, but whether you agree with him or not, he's always thought-provoking.

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Tired of Sensationalism? Become a Selective News Consumer

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:58:07 +0000

A lot of people - The Daily Show's Jon Stewart foremost among them - say the the news media are too sensationalist. They look at our tabloid culture and the excesses of cable news and wonder where they can find news delivered in a more sober, serious way.

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How to Get Started in Sports Journalism

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:48:28 +0000

With the Super Bowl approaching our thoughts naturally turn to sports, and at this site at least, sports journalism.

Too often beginning sportswriters think they can start at the top by writing about the pro teams, whether it's the NFL, NBA, NHL or Major League baseball. But they usually can't do their own reporting, because they don't have access to those teams. So they take stuff they've read about those teams online, and then regurgitate it (maybe in their own words, maybe not) and call it sportswriting.

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Should Journalists Be Truth Vigilantes?

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:29:57 +0000

New York Times public editor Arthur Brisbane recently poked a hornet's nest when when he wondered aloud whether hard-news reporters should call out public officials when they make false statements.

The response from readers?

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Can Paywalls Work for Local Newspapers?

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:38:20 +0000

Much of the controversy over website paywalls has focused on big papers like The New York Times. But if local newspapers are to survive they may increasingly have to charge for online access as well.

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In Any Kind of Writing, Simplicity is the Goal

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:45:09 +0000

When we talk, we have a natural ability to condense and summarize our ideas, to simplify them so that our listeners will understand

But when we start to write many of us gum up our sentences with overly wordy phrases and big words.

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