The future of news: rational business decisions

Begin writing the long-term obituary of the American newspaper — at least for the newspaper envisioned by the Founders as a public service and a significant component of the checks and balances that once allowed American democracy to function properly and purposefully.
You think know the now-familiar story: Advertising revenues are down. Circulation’s declining. Corporate ownership [...]

Bush guarantees Obama fundraising increase with sloppy hit pieces

Just as the condemnation of MoveOn.org’s “General Betrayus” ad ensured a spike in the organization’s funding and donations, George Bush seems set to do the same for Barack Obama’s campaign, thanks to some hysterically funny slamming of Obama’s intellect and ability in today’s Examiner :
As for Obama, a senior White House official said the freshman [...]

A proposed curriculum for graduate study in Interpretive Journalism: an S&R special report

Part four in a series.
I hope that by this stage of the discussion a few fundamental points are evident:

Traditional journalism - the institutional form that most of us grew up with and the codes that governed it - is in decline. For a variety of factors it has lost (or is rapidly losing) its place [...]

The rise of “subjective” journalism: an S&R special report

Part three in a series.
In the aftermath of the 2004 election I wrote a fairly jaded op-ed for Editor & Publisher lamenting just how badly our brave new world of electronic media had failed us. I said, in part:
In the “marketplace of ideas” model that gave rise to the First Amendment, rationally self-interested citizens would [...]

Ignore politicians who don’t play nice with the other children

First, MoveOn.org, a liberal political action group, uses a full-page New York Times ad to attack the character of an American commander, calling him “Gen. Betray Us” and accusing him of “cooking the books for the White House” on the war in Iraq.
Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton assails the general’s report to Congress, saying it [...]

On keeping one’s head in time of crisis

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, I became one of only a handful of the 150-plus professors at my university who did not cancel their morning classes. I did not for two reasons.
First, students needed the familiarity of routine in which to find some measure of comfort and counsel. They needed to be seen [...]

For sale: $3 billion worth of political bullshit

This is your only warning. Turn off your TV set, or your will to live — or vote — may be decimated.
The Television Bureau of Advertising forecasts that the politicians who want your vote will spend about $3 billion in 2008, a presidential election year. As noted earlier at S&R, the presidential candidates alone have [...]

The end of “objectivity”: S&R special report on journalism education

Part two in a series.
Let’s begin with a brief look at how Americans view the press.

A 2004 Gallup Poll says “Americans rate the trustworthiness of journalists at about the level of politicians and as only slightly more credible than used-car salesmen.”
Only about one in five Americans “believe journalists have high ethical standards, ranking [...]

Who will provide answers to the most basic of questions?

As an inquisitive person trying to survive life relatively unscathed and to leave the world at least a little better off for my presence, I need answers to two fundamental questions:
How does the world work?
Why does it work that way?
We all struggle, I suppose, with the really big question: What is the meaning of life? [...]

Education for the next generation of journalism: a Scholars & Rogues special report

It doesn’t seem controversial to suggest that journalism in America (and beyond) is in trouble, and there are any number of factors contributing to the malaise.
A particular concern of mine has been the decline in the efficacy of what we’ll call “objective journalism” - that is, the institutionalized press that dominated newsgathering and production throughout [...]

Science reporting, objectivity, advocacy, and global heating

What does it really mean to be “objective?” Someone trained in the sciences will have a different answer than someone trained as a journalist. Scientists and engineers most often use the following definition: “expressing or dealing with facts or conditions as perceived without distortion by personal feelings, prejudices, or interpretations” (from the Merriam-Webster [...]

Quotabull

And Brian will be back in our next hour with a look at the life- and-death question that is now being asked in Utah. Is it possible for those trapped miners to still be alive?
Well, they are cute, colorful, and they may be dangerous to your kids. Mattel is recalling more than 20 million toys [...]

Hate the press? You’re probably a Republican Fox News viewer

The headline in Editor & Publisher screams in tabloid style: “Poll: U.S. Public Sees Media as Biased, Inaccurate and Uncaring.” But that’s not the real news to be found in the latest Pew Research Center report on the public’s views of the press.
The report says much about how the public views the press, but it [...]

Presidential candidates raise big cash fast — but from whom? And why?

A magician who seeks to retain his (or her) illusion for — and thus control over — the audience uses sleight of hand and misdirection. In the modern political era that began in earnest with the 1994 mid-term elections, a Republican majority in Congress mastered that art using the textbooks authored by former House [...]

Happy Birthday, Hunter…

[UPDATE] Hunter’s widow, Anita, has a nice post on Hunter’s birthday at Owl Farm Blog.
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You may have noticed that Hunter Thompson is back on the masthead. Today would have been The Doctor’s 70th birthday (July 18, 1937 - February 20, 2005), and we thought it appropriate to honor the memory of a journalist who was [...]