Comments on: The Press: Making Bloggers Look Good Since Before Blogging Was Invented

The Press: Making Bloggers Look Good Since Before Blogging Was Invented

wendell — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:38:00 -0800

Of all the offshoots of the "Stuff White People Like" meme, my favorite is Stuff Journalists Like. From Free Food to Press Passes to Exclusives, this blog is covering everything in the ink-stained-wretch's lifestyle, including some things they really just barely tolerate. For a more serious look at the Journalistic Profession during this time of Transition/Crisis/Insanity, there's always Jay Rosen, whose PressThink blog has been previously seen here and is getting more attention than ever via (shudder) Twitter. Or, for something more in-between... 10,000 Words uses a bright, shiny bunch of tag clouds, maps and other visual aids (plus fun with typography) to tell the journos how it should be done while doing it.

By: CitrusFreak12

CitrusFreak12 — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:04:26 -0800

Ha. I just sent this to a bunch of my fellow journalism majors. Thanks.

By: Rhaomi

Rhaomi — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:09:10 -0800

#117: Not having the entire industry collapse into a pitiful, bankrupt husk of its former self

By: DU

DU — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:21:45 -0800

Question, question!! How do you "respond to charges" that "some" are making that there's no way to know what a journalist likes since we haven't seen one in the wild for over a decade? Send your reply directly to the print room, since we won't be fact-checking it or anything.

By: starman

starman — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:29:10 -0800

Man, they sure showed press passes!

By: mek

mek — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:37:27 -0800

I was hoping for a scathing but hilarious Greenwaldian analysis of the culture of modern journalism, but all I got was BORED. So I will have to propose some of my own. #7: Cute animals: Easily eat up 1/4 of your broadcast with live reporting of puppies being rescued from a burning building. #13: Blonde girls in distress: Preferably on vacation in an exotic and scary-sounding country. #19: Analysts: These people of dubious intelligence will gladly answer your questions no matter how inane and leading. Plus you don't have to worry about them saying anything remotely controversial because they're getting paid-off by someone in the military-industrial complex. #28: Sex scandals: Easily depose politicians guilty of no actual criminal wrong-doing! #33: Africa: Haha, just kidding. Palin might think it's a country, but at least she can find it on a map.

By: limeonaire

limeonaire — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:43:14 -0800

This is fun, although those guys really need a copy editor. I just got laid off from my part-time proofreading gig ... maybe I should offer my services...

By: CKmtl

CKmtl — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:45:58 -0800

#99 years in ~~reviews~~ review #207: forcing people to write letters to the editor about improper pluralization.

By: game warden to the events rhino

game warden to the events rhino — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:53:13 -0800

Wow. I don't want to fuel the stereotype that "those who can't do, teach", but Jay Rosen really cannot write. What a horrible blog PressThink is.

By: DU

DU — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 19:04:45 -0800

years in ~~reviews~~ review "years in review" is multiple years, being reviewed. For instance, a review covering 2006-2008. This does not occur, unless it's by decade ("the 60s") or some other relevant factor ("the Clinton years"). "year in reviews" is multiple reviews of a year (or one for each of several years). A "year in review" happens every year--in fact, more than one does. Thus, "year in reviews".

By: limeonaire

limeonaire — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 19:35:05 -0800

Jay Rosen is, I think, a much better Twitterer than blogger. He seems to be, from what I can tell, a great connector of people and a great evangelist for the soon-to-be-inescapable idea that journalism must migrate online—but it's exactly that zeal that makes him try to cram so much and so many links into each post.

By: wendell

wendell — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 20:11:22 -0800

Check out the Complete List. Scandals is on there with a pic of Spitzer.

By: CKmtl

CKmtl — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 20:24:08 -0800

DU: Hm. I suppose. I've always considered 'year' the main part of the compound 'year-in-review'. Plus, that other formulation has punny connotations (literary/entertainment/food reviewers going over that year's best reviewed books/CDs/games/restaurants).

By: greatalleycat

greatalleycat — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 21:29:15 -0800

God, I could write that blog. I am currently looking for a job anywhere outside the newspaper industry. Along with the low pay that will keep me living with my parents until I'm 35, the lack of raises, promotions and job stability isn't helping either. Anyone need a person with writing skills in the greater Cleveland/Akron area? Another good site to see some "shop talk" (ignore the trolls) is angryjournalist

By: grapefruitmoon

grapefruitmoon — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 05:14:33 -0800

Stuff grapefruitmoon likes: Numbered factoids presented in sequential order. #15 followed by #84? DO NOT WANT. (Yes, yes, it's ripping off "Stuff White People Like," but at least that was in order.)

By: Devonian

Devonian — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 07:34:35 -0800

"Jay Rosen really cannot write..." Haven't looked at Pressblog yet, so can't comment there, but there are a lot of journalists who can't write good English. It's not a core skill - or at least, it didn't use to be. That's why you've got subs. At least, why you used to have subs. There are some journalists who can write superb camera-ready English, and who also have the ability to find the information and build the constructions that make a good story. There are plenty more who can do the latter two - or even just the former of the latter two - and while the economics of newspapers allowed extra staff members to fix up the actual text, then good things happened. Now, production staff are the first to go. Blogs were the first sign of the new age - and part of that new age is that there are journalists who can't write but whose raw copy ends up in your face. (There are some very popular and high-profile Web publications whose sloppy copy makes them unsafe for me to read in the company of ladies.) Another part, which is particularly galling for journalistic ego, is that there are non-journos who can write like angels and who no longer have to get someone else to publish them. I think this all balances out. The difference between a blogger and a journalist is that a journalist has a telephone, and there'll still be money in maintaining standards, even if the source material has changed and the distribution model is hugely different. At least, I hope so.

By: i_cola

i_cola — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 07:51:32 -0800

The trouble with all these Stuff [something] People Like lists is that they really need the word American added at an appropriate point in the title.

By: Zambrano

Zambrano — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 09:22:50 -0800

Um, we hate NPR- especially the irritating This American Life.

By: Zambrano

Zambrano — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 09:27:24 -0800

.. and The Wire? Are you joking? We don't watch crime, drugs, mayhem, lawyers or crime scene investigation. We get enough of that in real life. This blogger is either a wannabe or he's been out of the business for a long time.

By: Maias

Maias — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 10:58:26 -0800

Um, the Wire was a huge favorite of many journalists, Zambrano-- at least here in New York. Though the season about the Baltimore Sun was probably one of the weakest. However, that season did show that while the newspaper obsessed about ridiculous-- and, as it turned out, fake-- stories, it missed the real stuff that was going on completely. And the real Baltimore Sun could take a clue from the Wire and perhaps not be under so much threat: the way it covers drugs is so bad it's not even wrong.

By: saul wright

saul wright — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 19:47:55 -0800

who doesn't like free food?