Dying Newspapers, Dying Profession

Those who regularly read this blog were born too late and too far away to understand why journalists mourn the death of "traditional" media like newspapers, news magazines and television news. But Michael Gerson, writing on Journalism's slow, sad death, wasn't. In a Washington Post op-ed piece, he points out that "what is passing is not only a business but a profession -- the journalistic tradition of nonpartisan objectivity." This was a profession that had "rules about facts and sources and editors who enforced standards." Reporting was a mix of public service and adventure undertaken by people who -- for the most part -- tried to report the news without bias or inaccuracy. A tough assignment, anywhere.

What we have now is "a kind of intellectual theft," he writes, by news aggregators (like Yahoo News!) and bloggers, freely sharing their own personal take on whatever without bothering to collect news or investigate. Today you can get an overload of information -- fast -- almost entirely from sources that agree with you. What could have been a window on the world has become tunnel vision.

Good luck, kids.

What War Costs

Talk about bringing war home to readers/viewers! Take a look at this YouTube video from GOOD , a collaboration of individuals, businesses, and nonprofits who make a magazine,videos and events "for people who give a damn." The New York Times covered the launch of the "Magazine for Earnest Young Things" a little over three years ago but not as a media or business story. It ran in the "Fashion & Style" section.

Lots to consider here: YouTube delivering "war coverage," media gone cross-platform (magazine,videos and, yes, events), highly privileged young people who want to change the world.

Wikipedia Wither?

The Wall Street Journal says Volunteers Log Off as Wikipedia Ages. Wikipedia.org is the fifth-most-popular Website in the world---what would we do without it? What's interesting here is what the evolution and aging of Wikipedia may say about other online communities. As Andrew Lih, author of Wikipedia Revolution, told the WSJ, on-line communities "evolve and wither." And the question, Lih says, is "How can you maintain something that relies on an unorganized crowd?"

Ophra Says Goodbye -- Sort of

Here in her own words

"Historic Television Moment"

That's what Tim Bennett, president of Oprah Winfrey's Harpo, announced yesterday in a letter to ABC affiliate stations. The moment comes today when Oprah tells her viewers that she is ending her hugely popular daytime talk show on 9 September 2011.

Oprah started her TV career as a Baltimore, MD anchor but couldn't deliver the detachment anchors need to report the news, so the station gave her an early morning talk show. She moved on to host A.M. Chicago in 1984. When the show was syndicated two years later, the Oprah Winfrey Show was born. In no time, it became America's top talk show, and the rest is history.

When Time put her on the cover ("The Beloved Oprah") on 5 October 1998 as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, the headline on her profile read: "She didn't create the talk-show format. But the compassion and intimacy she put into it have created a new way for us to talk to one another."

Ah, but do not weep, dear readers and Oprah viewers. Oprah isn't retiring. Look for her in two years on her very own cable network, OWN. Oprah Winfrey Network, of course. See the New York Times for more.

Newspaper is not paper, it's news, says Slim

Mexican mogul Carlos Slim is happy with his investment in the New York Times, including a loan which earns him 14 percent interest. "The newspaper is not paper. It's about news and content," he tells the Wall Street Journal in this video clip . He says the brand is strong and sees profit in an electronic Times.

News FROM Iran?

The Toronto Star reports that New York Times stories about Tehran these days are datelined from Toronto, not exactly in the neighborhood. But that's one of the places where Iranian journalists have fled. According to the story ,....with depressing regularity, Canada is becoming a safe haven for the world's exiled journalists.