For the past week, American's finest news institutions—those self-identified defenders of journalistic propriety against the teeming online hordes—have been tripping over themselves to publish vague, contextless, detail-free, anonymous accusations about the sex life of presidential candidate. Hey, that's our job!
In your throwback Thursday media column: protests loom at the Village Voice, layoffs at the LAT, Fox Business Network continues right on track, powerful people in the media, and a new Women's Health editor.
In your wispy Wednesday media column: Jared Kushner's latest scheme, Michele Norris's replacement, the gradual death of print continues, Harper's Bazaar revamps, and Chris Matthews make a funny.
Everyone knows that people in America's Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest regions are sociopaths with no regard for others. We don't even need to mention that widely accepted fact. Everyone also knows that the final haven of "manners" here in our nation of animals is the Southeast region, where people still say "Yes ma'am" and shit like that, no matter how corny it sounds, because they love Jesus—and manners.
In your maudlin Tuesday media column: Jimmy Kimmel gets an important job, the St. Petersburg Times is no more, a cartoonist canned for plagiarism, Rock Center debuts, and a journalist has a heart attack.
The mighty, omniscient "journalistic tone" is largely a convenient myth. Newspapers and other media outlets long adopted this self-assured institutional writing style which admitted no doubt as a way to appear more knowledgeable than they really were. The internet, with its radical transparency and focus on personality, has eaten away at this obfuscating tone. Which is good. Sometimes.
In your shocked Monday media column: a new low in college journalist-administration relations, Joe Levy out at Maxim, hard times at Newsbeast, James Rainey returns to reporting, and a CNN morning shuffle.
In your frigid Friday media column: DC has a "Bad boy" reporter, Brian Williams discusses the Twitter, a Reuters plagiarism kerfuffle, a CNNer becomes a flack, and Gene Weingarten gripes.
In your misty Thursday media column: NBC's newsmagazine will be like every other newsmagazine show, a lawsuit against HuffPo goes forward, the WaPo's chairman leaves, the NYDN screws up, and a press release newswire war.
The first rule of hipness is that hip people talk about "hipness" a lot. When you're around someone who uses the word "hip" a lot, well, you know that hipness is in the air, because nothing is hipper than bandying about the word "hip" as it relates to "hipness," in both writing and casual conversation.
In your wacky Wednesday media column: Christiane Amanpour's reportedly unhappy, the New Orleans paper's crazy Twitter scheme, the Hackgate Phone Zero located, and Wikileaks isn't so easy to copy after all.
One basic characteristic of journalism is this: its content is not bought and paid for and directed by an advertiser. It might be vapid. It might be poorly written. It might be damn near worthless. But it's not an advertisement.
Here's the thing about the internet sites Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google: you do not need to read a magazine about them. For one thing, if you want to learn about them, you can simply type their address into your internet browser, and there they are, updated constantly, by the second, rather than monthly, as would be a case with a magazine. Want to know more? Why not read one of the thousands and thousands of blogs and online news sites that talk about them each and every day?
In your trippin Tuesday media column: post-pullout Iraq media plans, Dylan Byers to Politico, Harvey Levin lectures, a Bloomberg discrimination lawsuit, and rumors of layoffs at Martha Stewart Living.
In your magic Monday media column: Michele Norris takes a hiatus at NPR, fuckery at Gannett, The Daily Beast TV is here, newspapers roll out a false slogan, and Charlie Rose on morning television would be... good.
In your finally Friday media column: News Corp's annual spanking ensues, The Chicago Tribune's poor, the NYT's modest digital growth, cable news loves the gays, a Tim Hetherington exhibit, and I tell you which boxing blog to read.
In your tragic Thursday media column: more info on the companywide layoffs at Village Voice Media, the NYT Co. makes money, a Washington Post heiress has a bright idea, The Economist screws up, and newspaper layoffs are back.
Wired magazine's web site is doing something that sounds cool—"embedding" a reporter with the Anonymous movement, so she can write a "concise history of the lulzy collective...explain their social structure, and [d]ocument their exploits and raids as they arise." Oh, and she promises never to reveal the identity of any Anon, anywhere. Because that would be mean!
In your drizzly Wednesday media column: a prime time shakeup at MSNBC, key staffers laid off at the Village Voice, Reuters' editor writes a crappy memo, The Daily does something right, and Gary Knell's upcoming ass kissing campaign.
