MetaFilter posts tagged with newspapers

New afternoon free paper, hawked by kids shouting “Extra! Extra!”

joeclark — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:47:52 -0800

“With t.o.night, you too can remember the good old days, when Mom, Dad, Junior, Little Suzy, and Skip would all sit around the radio and listen to blogs on the Internet.” The solution to the decline of newspapers? Launch a new one, charge nothing for it, fill it with wire copy and stories from a city blog, publish it weekday afternoons, and hire kids to wear “poor-boy caps” and shout “Extra! Extra!” while handing it out. t.o. night (sic) will be a new afternoon free commuter paper in Toronto. City blog Torontoist – not the one supplying “content” to the paper (that’s BlogTO) – approaches this new competition with delicious skepticism. Maybe Torontoist has learned its lesson, since its own partnership with a paper (the storied Globe and Mail) generated content that goes without updates for unbloglike weeks at a time.

The Quality Control Quandary

dhruva — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:20:44 -0800

The Quality-Control Quandary "As newspapers shed copy editors and post more and more unedited stories online, what’s the impact on their content?" [via]

WLTM

verstegan — Fri, 29 May 2009 09:03:12 -0800

"Do you love me? Will you answer this all absorbing question the next time we meet? Will you utter that winsome "Yes" fraught with all the golden dreams of heavenly realms, or will you pronounce the dread "No" and consign my soul to darkness and despair?" Advertising for Love, a collection of funny, strange, poignant and bizarre personal ads from nineteenth-century American newspapers.

Mencken Speaks

readery — Sun, 24 May 2009 16:02:30 -0800

Donald H. Kirkey, Jr., The Baltimore Sun theater critic interviews H. L. Mencken, part 1 of 8. Part 2,Part 3 , Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8. This recording was made a few months before Mencken's stroke in 1948 that ended his public life.

Black and White and Dead All Over

Joe Beese — Tue, 12 May 2009 09:21:06 -0800

My, how the tables have turned: Many of the same daily newspaper correspondents that not too long ago turned up their noses at us online journalism pioneers, claiming we weren't "real" journalists, now fill my email box daily with their resumes, looking to me and others like me to provide them with work. ... Memo to my remaining daily print colleagues and their nostalgia club: Get over it and get over yourselves. It’s not that the Internet is Mr. Wonderful. Much of it mimics the same bad qualities that drove the public away from daily newspapers. You lost the public to us because - there's no nice or sugar-coated way to say it - you guys really suck at what you do. In your arrogance, you established calcified “rules” of “journalism” and false “objectivity” that neutered and spayed all of your reporters, domesticated so they would never again afflict the comfortable or comfort the afflicted. When you took the honest advocacy out of reporting you emptied it of all passion and reason to exist. It was a nice ride on your profit ledger sheet during the recent decades when you turned your rags into propaganda arms for the wealthy and powerful, but a funny thing happened on the way to the ATM machine: You lost the trust of your readers, half of whom have already given you the finger and pursued alternate routes to inform themselves of current events. And the rest are on the way through the same EXIT sign. [Caution: mean things are said about David Simon]

Layoffs and Buyouts at U.S. Newspapers in 2009

netbros — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 22:19:26 -0800

Paper Cuts tracks U.S. newspaper layoffs and buyouts. Roughly 24,000 jobs lost in 2008-09. It includes all newspaper jobs, from editor to ad rep, reporter to marketing, copy editor to pressman, design to carrier, and anyone else who works for a newspaper. Mapped papers that have closed or stopped publishing a print edition.

"I notice the 'wank' has remained fairly constant."

Artw — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:18:04 -0800

"The editor's guidelines are as follows: First, remember the reader, and respect demands that we should not casually use words that are likely to offend. Second, use such words only when absolutely necessary to the facts of a piece, or to portray a character in an article; there is almost never a case in which we need to use a swearword outside direct quotes. Third, the stronger the swearword, the harder we ought to think about using it.Finally, never use asterisks, which are just a cop-out." - Swearing in The Guardian: A chart

How to save the newspaper industry

sundarikali — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 10:20:27 -0800

Everybody knows that the newspaper industry is hurting (auto-play video). Suggestions are floating around to save them. But this Northern California weekly, which regained independence last year from the Village Voice Media goliath and is still struggling to survive, is sure it has the answer... and wrote a musical about it.

A New Species in the News Ecosystem

Potomac Avenue — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:12:07 -0800

The Huffington Post just announced that it is launching a new initiative to produce a wide range of investigative journalism — The Huffington Post Investigative Fund. Arianna Huffington has various ideas about how to fix the hole that failing newspapers leave behind, but this does have some precedent . Some reactions so far.

Even The Good Old Days Had Bad News

jonp72 — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:06:17 -0800

The Hope Chest: Bad News from the Past is a new blog of old newspaper clippings, mostly from Detroit and Chicago in the 1930s, with true crime and other bizarre stories. Examples include Tries To Shoot A Cat And Hits Automobilist, Driver Loses His Arm Giving Traffic Signal, and Pastor Writes Spicy Book. Other highlights are a phony cop attacking a pornographer with acid and the teenage girl who became a tattooed atheist bandit.

Whither newspapers?

Chocolate Pickle — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 20:30:46 -0800

Clay Shirky writes about what is killing newspapers and what will replace them.

Open Platform

netbros — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:31:11 -0800

Somewhat quietly within the past couple weeks, two major newspapers, on each side of the Atlantic, have opened up their data and content APIs. Last month, on their Open blog, the New York Times introduced their Developer Network. Then just yesterday, on their DataBlog and OpenPlatformBlog, the Guardian launched Open Platform. Insiders at the Guardian are talking about the Data Store and the Content API. Even Members of Parliament are duly impressed. The Times will be at SXSW this week to talk about opening up as an information platform. The Information Age is truly coming of age.

(Icon of Empty Chair; Man Gone to Lobby)

MattD — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 18:21:31 -0800

The San Francisco Chronicle to suffer deep cuts and possibly closure. Noting an acceleration of long-standing losses, Hearst is taking drastic steps with the Chronicle, without (in its announcement, at least) any of the brave promises of perseverance which often accompany such news. Sale or (failing that) closure will ensue if the cuts don't work fast enough. Fallen into bankruptcy in the past two months have been publishers of four major newspapers (LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Minneapolis Star-Tribune) -- but so far none of those papers appears in any risk of folding.

Imagine turning on your home computer to read the newspaper!

empath — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:55:03 -0800

Newspapers rush to deliver news online. A look at the future from 1981.

The Printed Blog is exactly what it sounds like

janet lynn — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 06:46:16 -0800

In yet another strange marriage of media new and old, The Printed Blog launches next week. The paper will be distributed in Chicago (home of the once-great, now-bankrupt Chigago Tribune) and San Francisco, and it’s free. “Why hasn’t anyone tried to take the best content and bring it offline,” asks founder Josh Karp. What about people who don’t live in Chicago or SF? They can get the PDF … online.

End Times?

netbros — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:11:37 -0800

Virtually all the predictions about the death of old media have assumed a comfortingly long time frame for the end of print—the moment when, amid a panoply of flashing lights, press conferences, and elegiac reminiscences, the newspaper presses stop rolling and news goes entirely digital. Most of these scenarios assume a gradual crossing-over, almost like the migration of dunes, as behaviors change, paradigms shift, and the digital future heaves fully into view. 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? New York Times stock performance over the past five years.

Australian Newspapers, Digitised

Fiasco da Gama — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 04:22:35 -0800

The Australian National Library is digitising newspapers.

At least they still have the Mapparium

Horace Rumpole — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:48:38 -0800

Newsfilter: "After a century of continuous publication, The Christian Science Monitor will abandon its weekday print edition and appear online only, its publisher announced Tuesday." Coverage from the New York Times, Editor & Publisher, Poynter, HuffPo.

One person's old news can be another's person art form.

orange swan — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:21:49 -0800

Perhaps in your non-Metafilter time or during the occasional power outtage you indulge in that charmingly antiquated past-time of reading a newspaper made out of actual paper. But, once you've read it, you're left with blackened hands and the necessity for putting that fragment of a dead tree somewhere or other. Aside from putting it in the recycling bin, which is responsible but kind of obvious (and therefore would not necessitate a MeFi FPP) what can you do? One option is to make handmade paper. If you're an outdoors type, you could make organic flower pots, some kites, or a dory. If you're more of a fashionista or home decorator, you could make a purse or a bead necklace, weave a basket or placemats, or make a bird. If you're a spinster, you could make some newspaper yarn as student Greetje van Tiem did for her Design Academy Eindhoven graduation show. The yarn can be woven into carpets, curtains and upholstery. Here's a tutorial on how to make the yarn. Then there's always papier maché. Besides the classic pinata, you could make a water buffalo, Halloween items (Boo!), a box, a bowl, a piggy bank (you can use the Wall Street Journal for that one), John Lennon, Hugh Laurie, or any of the items in this papier maché resource site's endless artist's galleries. There's too much there for me to offer any kind of representative sample, but I do feel strangely drawn to this piece. Here are lists containing 10, 20, 80 more uses for old newspapers. But if you've got a crossword puzzle fiend like my mother around, just make sure she gets a chance to do the puzzle before you begin crafting, or you might get guilted, disowned and/or spanked.

Times Archive,

languagehat — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 06:50:55 -0800

Every issue of The Times published between 1785-1985, digitally scanned and fully searchable. (Via Wordorigins.org.)

2008 Pulitzer Prizes

McGuillicuddy — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:19:50 -0800

The 2008 Pulitzer Prize winners were recently announced. Some winners worth noting include the article in the Washington Post about violin virtuoso Joshua Bell busking in the Washington D.C. Metro station, which won the award for Feature Writing. The Washington Post also won the International Reporting award for a disturbing series about modern day mercenaries. This article about Blackwater operating beyond the reach of any law was part of the series. The Washington Post Pulitzer page has more information on their winners and finalists. Adrees Latif posted on Reuters Photograhpers Blog about taking the winning 2008 Pulitizer Prize Breaking News photo of Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai being shot and killed by government troops in Burma. There is also a video of Latif reading the statement from the blog post along with more photos from the prize winning collection. The winning Editorial Cartoons included this gem.

Nicholson Baker on Wikipedia

ed — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 04:52:16 -0800

Nicholson Baker, who in his book, Double Fold, argued for saving newspaper collections, explores "The Charms of Wikipedia" with insightful and hilarious results. He also has a new book, Human Smoke, coming out (excerpt)

Hold the front page

criticalbill — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 04:48:24 -0800

Rose Hacker, the world's oldest newspaper colum nist, has died at 101

Literacy and voting patterns

Rain Man — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 07:22:12 -0800

Library usage, newspaper circulation, and educational attainment are primary factors used by researchers to determine the 'most literate cities.' Minneapolis has regained top honors from Seattle, though both cities have ranked at the top since the original study in 2003. Other studies here and here show minor shifts in the intervening years. Most relevant now is that there seems to be a correlation between literacy and voting patterns. Literacy measured for a city's population overall (= amount of reading going on in a region) is different from the personal literacy promoted by a federal agency (= ability of individuals to read) or endeavors like Google's Literacy Project.

FCC Moves to Change Ownership Rules Again

McLir — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 21:19:34 -0800

The FCC, again, moves to loosen ownership rules for television and newspapers. A similar proposal in 2003 drew huge public opposition. This time, there is a narrow window for public comment, ending in mid-November. You can contact the FCC or go to the Common Cause page. From Common Cause: "After the FCC's misguided 2003 vote, more than 3 million Americans voiced their concerns about media consolidation to the FCC and Congress. In the Senate, a resolution rolling back the rules sponsored by Senator Trent Lott (R-MS) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND), passed overwhelming. Media activists sued the FCC over the rules changes, and they were vindicated by a federal district court in Philadelphia. In 2004, the court threw out the flawed rules, in part because the FCC had not considered public input in the rulemaking." As in 2003, lawmakers are threatening another non-binding "veto." Wiki background.