February 2012
37 posts
This occupational centrifuge allows workers to effectively sort themselves out based on skill and drive. Over time, some will lose their commitment; others will realize that they don’t have the right talent set; others will find that they’re better at something else.
Hollywood, law, ad agencies and yes, even publishing.
“In the longer term the organisation will have fewer journalists; they will be...”
– On Reuters’ shifting strategy
“It is a free press that tells us what we need to know and what it takes to keep...”
– Dick Blood
“We imagined ourselves as a venture-capital-backed start-up in Silicon Valley...”
– The Atlantic
“Anybody who thinks the copy in the magazine is entirely the work of the writer...”
– Dan Baum
“You push, you prod, you beg, you plead. It’s a pathetic piece of business,...”
– David Remnick
“Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a...”
– [who else?]
“As a writer, it’s rare to find an editor who will promise to “murder...”
– On Matt Buchanan, man of letters
“Over three hours, he told them he would be overseeing all articles related to...”
– David Carr & Amy Chozick, on the last dying gasps of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News
How to Start Your Own Magazine: David Cicconi on... →
T vs. WSJ.: It's on →
“[Arianna] Huffington could hope for more traffic but that’s reaching the...”
– Tom McGeveran, per his usual brilliance
“[Wired] editor Kevin Kelly had a simple rule: each issue of Wired should make...”
– Paul Carr
“The economics, however, still don’t add up. For reasons I don’t fully...”
– Felix Salmon
Anatomy of a Tear-Jerker →
“[Political] operatives privately regard reporters at places like Politico as...”
– Joe Hagan, New York, Jan. 30, 2012
“Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg are among the last places where people of a...”
– Michael Wolff
Their So-Called Journalism, or What I Saw at the... →
Megan Carpentier: Some advice for job applicants →
megancarpentier:
I really don’t care what getting this job would mean for you — certainly not enough for it to comprise your opening paragraph. I’m concerned about what hiring you could mean for the company/my stress level, and I’d love to know how you can help me meet my goals or fulfill my mission. Hint: a mission statement or vision for the company is on nearly every company’s website, and...
The New York Observer, one year in
spiers:
I started at the New York Observer a year ago this week as editor in chief and editorial director of Observer Media Group, and it’s been a fantastic year. We introduced a lot of changes, launched several new properties and gained some nice momentum in expanding the Observer editorially and on the business side. Here’s a rundown of what’s happened in the last twelve months:
WE HIT SOME...
Salon: 33% fewer posts, 40% more traffic, ?? more... →
“Whatever startup you’re working on right now probably won’t exist in ten years....”
– Marco Arment
“Peer-production thinkers, whatever else they have accomplished, have not been...”
– Dean Starkman, Columbia Journalism Review, Nov/Dec 2011
“And with 100,000 subscribers paying 99 cents a week or $39.99 a year, and...”
– New York Times on the “relatively small” startup, which has 150 employees
Felix Salmon lost a bet
In point of fact, [Elizabeth] Spiers has not been all that great at running a newspaper. Over the past year, I can barely remember a single time I’ve even so much as seen a physical copy of the Observer; I certainly haven’t read one, and neither has anybody I know. And on the rare occasions that I’ve read an Observer story online, it’s seemed under-edited and rather lightweight, for a newspaper...
The FJP: Is A Reblog The New Byline? →
futurejournalismproject:
Interesting idea submitted by Alakananda Mookerjee (blog / Tumblr) — FJP.
When reputable news organizations, everyone from The Economist to The New Yorker to the NPR have eagerly taken up social blogging, it is not terribly irrelevant to ask if getting reblogged on Tumblr, by a media heavyweight, is the digital equivalent of a byline in its print or online version.
A...
In defense of stationery →
Fact-checking for a magazine: a tragedy in six... →
“Their faces became pale. Their eyes wandered. They looked like men bothered by a...”
– John Hersey, “Into The Valley,” 1943
10 designers! 10! →
Nuance is the sign of an intelligent observer. Nuance shows restaint and maturity and an understanding of the underlying mechanics of whatever problem we’re wrestling with. After all, if the solution was simple, we would have solved it already.
On the other hand, resorting to nuance early and often can also be a sign of fear, of an unwillingness to go out on a limb and make a difference....
“The bigger our audience gets, the bigger the site becomes, and the more our...”
– Gabriel Snyder
January 2012
45 posts
“It’s pretty good technology.”
– David Remnick, on the printed magazine
“Is there a role for mediocrity any more? I don’t think there is.”
– Shelby Bonnie, on the digital publishing landscape
“They told me they spend their long days either in back-to-back meetings,...”
– Tony Schwartz/HBR
“Big, ambitious, well-funded websites often seem to lose focus. Their owners try...”
– Yiannis Kanstantakopoulos
“If we do not engage with our clients in a real, personal way, then we are just...”
– Jeremy Girard
“My boss won’t let me make espressos. I need a year more, maybe two, before...”
– WSJ, “Made Better in Japan”
“1. I have never written an advertisement in the office. Too many interruptions....”
– Legendary ad man David Ogilvy on his 12 habits as a copywriter, 1955. (via curiositycounts)
“The average household income of Bloomberg Pursuits readers is $452,000, and 90...”
– David Lipke/WWD
“In the pageview and ratings driven media economy, too much of the content these...”
– Brian Lam
on the perils of reblogging
I had a powerful moment of reflection when applying for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute’s Journalism fellowship last year. I realized I didn’t have many clips I was proud of. I was spinning my wheels online. I didn’t get in. I would say over 5 years, my animal instincts were enhanced to the point where I could guess how many clicks the wolf-whistling mob would provide my...
“They’re like, “You fucked us. You fucked us.” No. Tell me...”
– Kerry Burke, NY Daily News crime reporter, on reader criticism
Eater Philly: Name one food you'll never eat again.
A.J. Daulerio: I got the Fish Tacos at The Cheesecake Factory in King of Prussia. They destroyed me.
Eater Philly: That was all your fault.
A.J. Daulerio: Yes it was.