Category archives: Journalism

Robert McChesney on press subsidies

David Herrera,

I have lots of respect for Robert McChesney (see his “Labor and the Marketplace of Ideas: WCFL and the Battle for Labor Radio Broadcasting, 1927-1934”) but his recent interview on PBS’s NOW is almost embarrassing. He’s on the show to argue in support of increased subsidies for the press — which isn’t a terrible argument in itself, but surely it can be made without chanting, ad nauseum, “the Founding Fathers!”, “the Founding Fathers!”

Note also the irony in the message at the bottom of the video window: “Did you know? Viewers like you are our largest single source of support.”

(Thanks to Bob Moser for the link.)

Washington Post: Speak only when spoken to

David Herrera,

We discussed some institutional legacies of journalism in one of my classes today, such as the idea that the newspaper or the broadcast anchor holds authority over what’s important in the world; the idea, as Walter Cronkite might have put it, that mainstream media control “the way it is.”

Wouldn’t you know it? That view reared its head in the Washington Post:

“I don’t think it’s appropriate for a reporter in our newsroom to be challenging the views, or challenging the integrity, of our editorial board”

speaketh Liz Spayd, the Post’s managing editor.

A reporter challenging authority? Perish the thought!

Diversions

David Herrera,

Jan. 22: Added dropped words so the post makes sense.

It’s a news industry truism that most people read newspapers for the comics and the sports. Assuming it’s a true truism, and even given that most readers of The New York Times are not comparable to the rest of the country, doesn’t Michael Roston’s advice on what the Times should charge for on its Web site make sense? Charge them for the diversions! Wedding listings, maybe crosswords. Hey, it might work.

Supervertical?

David Herrera,

From a recent story on paidContent:

PBS has confirmed its plans to create a stand-alone news website in partnership with its local New York affiliate, WNET. … The company describes the site as a “supervertical” that will allow PBS to aggregate all of its news and public affairs content along with content from other partners.

Can anybody explain the “supervertical” concept? Please do so in the comments.

All of the possible definitions I know for “vertical” lead me, I suspect, in the wrong direction: That the site will aggregate reports from its CEOs down to the janitors, for example, or that its home page will take a very long time to scroll down.

Short URL for this post: http://bit.ly/5wWRPi