This Ken Doctor piece on how circulation is becoming the most-important revenue stream at newspapers is a must-read: Unexpectedly, newspapers — of all things — are becoming the leaders in reader-supported media. As the public journalism movement (the enterprising start-ups led by the likes of The Texas Tribune, California Watch, and MinnPost) and public media
Election 2012 coverage: another gender gap
Earlier this week, I wrote about the persisting gender gap in opinion media. Women’s voices were especially lacking in legacy media, and on ‘hard news’ topics like the economy and politics—both of which are just as much women’s issues as they are men’s, mind you—according to byline data collected by The OpEd Project. Today comes
Class, warfare
Paul Fussell, historian and cultural critic, died last week at 88. With his death, America lost a steady voice for cantankerous protest against all so many pedestrian national institutions and assumptions—the gourmet restaurant, the uniform, the armed forces. Unusually for an English professor, Fussell’s writings on American society also exemplified the characteristics of superior journalism:
Scandinavian public media fight for their right to grow
From cuts to controversies, NPR and PBS haven’t had an easy time of it lately. Indeed, the news last month that the National Endowment for the Arts had sharply cut its support for traditional PBS programs in favor of gaming- and web-based projects was only the latest disappointment for public broadcasters in the United States.
Journalists: do no harm!
In a series of media interviews conducted before a Las Vegas fundraiser with presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, Donald Trump singlehandedly put the debunked birther movement back in the news. The resulting coverage is unlikely to change the outcome of the race, but it could help fuel the resurgence of false beliefs about President
