Media

Everyone knows that the media (the Chronicle included) is going through some major changes. We’ve got newspapers folding (and not in the usual way) left and right. We’ve got ads that don’t quite translate into online revenue, and online journalism sites that can’t seem to charge money, or at least seem to largely exist in the non-profit model. NPR’s On The Media has been covering this nonstop. There have even been Congressional hearings about it. But ok. The media is…

The Atlantic’s Michael Hirschorn, January/February 2009: But what if the old media dies much more quickly? What if a hurricane comes along and obliterates the dunes entirely? Specifically, what if The New York Times goes out of business—like, this May? It’s certainly plausible. Earnings reports released by the New York Times Company in October indicate that drastic measures will have to be taken over the next five months or the paper will default on some $400 million in debt. With…

Ethan Zuckerman: BBC reports the death toll from the second intifada at roughly 4000. Iraq Body Count offers an estimate of civilian deaths in Iraq between 39,000 and 43,000 – a study from Johns Hopkins projects a much larger number, 100,000 by October 2004. Marc Herold at UNH projects between 3 and 4,000 civilian deaths in Afghanistan from October 2001 – June 2004. Military casualties include 407 coalition casualties in Afghanistan and 2,564 coalition deaths in Iraq. Using the JHU…

Try The Daily Star or Ha’aretz. Daily Star : LEBANON UNDER ATTACK Israel targets Lebanese air bases, Kuwaiti nationals among dead and UN prepares envoy to Region Ha’aretz : One rocket fired from Lebanon hits central Haifa Two Israelis killed, 120 hurt in rocket attacks Rockets slam into towns Nahariya, Safed, Carmiel Hezbollah gunners continue shelling communities across northern Israel; two people critically wounded in latest strike on Safed.

I’m a fan of redesigns, particularly on the web of sites that I love. If you haven’t seen it yet, NYTimes.com has now been redone. I like the new layout, the new font, and the buttons at the top. What’s missing? For starters, the “blogged” button is the right idea, but only comes halfway. I want to know which blogs are talking about the NYT articles. Just telling me that some article is the most blogged is sort of meaningless.…

Sam Freedman, CBS News; March 31, 2006: Instead of providing the ultimate marketplace of ideas, however, cable TV and the Internet have become the ultimate amen corner, where nobody ever need encounter an opinion, much less a fact, that runs counter to what he or she already believes. To treat an amateur as equally credible as a professional, to congratulate the wannabe with the title “journalist,” is only to further erode the line between raw material and finished product. For…

Small (Slate): When an ethics cop carries tweezers in his holster instead of a .44 Magnum, it’s a safe bet the crimes he’ll pursue will be cosmetic. New York Times Public Editor Byron Calame conformed to this profile yesterday (Feb. 26) by using his column to give the paper’s eyebrows a vigorous plucking in his exploration of the “thorny question” of whether its news staffers can accept companywide discounts for goods “without creating the appearance of partiality.” Calame produces no…

Yesterday, I was perusing the site of IDG, the parent company of my employer, Macworld and I found this line: From our name to our presence today in 85 countries and on all 7 continents, IDG is truly a global company. 7 continents? Does IDG have an Antarctica bureau that I’m not aware of? I posed the question to my co-workers and Paul Boutin. He and my boss’ boss, Jason Snell, came up with the same answer: ComputerWorld Antarctica Except…

Rolling Stone: John Walter Rendon Jr. rises at 3 a.m. each morning after six hours of sleep, turns on his Apple computer and begins ingesting information — overnight news reports, e-mail messages, foreign and domestic newspapers, and an assortment of government documents, many of them available only to those with the highest security clearance. According to Pentagon documents obtained by Rolling Stone, the Rendon Group is authorized “to research and analyze information classified up to Top Secret/SCI/SI/TK/G/HCS” — an extraordinarily…

See Jack Shafer’s slaughtering of Judy Miller for why. NYT: The New York Times and Judith Miller, a veteran reporter for the paper, reached an agreement today that ends her 28-year career at the newspaper and caps more than two weeks of negotiations. Ms. Miller went to jail this summer rather than reveal a confidential source in the C.I.A. leak case. But her release from jail 85 days later after she agreed to testify before a grand jury and persistent…