Romenesko

PBS MediaShift
"Every single journalism class at NYU has required me to bring the bulky newspaper," writes Alana Taylor. "I don't understand why they don't let us access the online version, get our current events news from other outlets, or even use our NYTimes app on the iPhone. Bringing the New York Times pains me because I refuse to believe that it's the only source for credible news or Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism and it's a big waste of trees."

New York Times
The New York Times says it's reducing the number of sections printed in the New York metropolitan area to save money on production. Metro will become part of the A section, and Sports will go into Business Day on Tuesdays through Fridays. || Read the memos.

PBS.org
One claims Gwen Ifill's "attitude was dismissive and the look on her face was one of disgust" after Sarah Palin's speech. PBS ombud Michael Getler says Ifill clearly reported that delegates "exploded with excitement" over Palin's speech and that they "couldn't have been happier." "Apparently, that's not enough for some viewers," he writes. "You have to smile and reflect enthusiasm in order to avoid being painted as biased."

WashingtonPost.com
Dana Milbank's video report shows how it's done, and notes: "It is of course hard work to be a card-carrying member of the media elite. Still it's a rewarding job."

ProPublica
"One of the frustrating things early on and actually one of the ongoing frustrations was that when we reported on this for the first year, I kept expecting that somebody else was going to pick up this story," says The Forward reporter Nathaniel Popper. "Orthodox or right-leaning Jewish newspapers criticized us. But almost no mainstream newspapers took up this story."

Isthmus
That's according to Bill Lueders, news editor of Isthmus, the alt-weekly in Madison, Wis. "Newspapers are hurting because the people who should be relying on them don't, and because those who do rely on them have decided they ought to be able to do so for free," he tells a Rotary Club.

Chicago Tribune
"I have been appalled and, as a lifelong journalist, embarrassed at some of the explanations that have been offered to legitimate the pregnancy story," writes Loyola University Chicago journalism prof and former Chicago Tribune public editor Don Wycliff. "If [Sarah] Palin and her ardent GOP supporters have a real beef, it is less with the hated 'mainstream media' than with the bandits and highwaymen of the information superhighway, the Internet."

BusinessWeek
Tribune spokesman Gary Weitman says BusinessWeek's "Grave Dancer" story "was a disappointing compilation of inaccuracies, half-truths, and incomplete reporting" and "missed many of the positive things going on at Tribune."

Creators Syndicate
"Support for me and promises of prayers sent for me poured in from all sides, including political figures who had not been happy with my columns," writes Robert Novak. "I probably never will be able to drive again, and I have sold the Corvette, which I dearly loved. Taking away my typewriter, however, may require modification of the First Amendment."

Los Angeles Times
"I really do take exception to it," says NBC News president Steve Capus. "These terms get thrown around in an awfully cavalier way, and they're incredibly damaging. We're in the business where words matter, and those are awfully, awfully strong accusations." CNN/U.S. president Jon Klein said the best way to combat the charges "is to continually do solid reporting." He adds: "We don't want to engage in a war of slogans with professional sloganeers."
> Phil Rosenthal: "Me and everyone else in the media. We stink."

Los Angeles Times | Hartford Courant | YouTube
James Rainey says Bill O'Reilly made sure his own positions got almost as much airtime as Barack Obama's on Thursday night's "O'Reilly Factor." || Roger Catlin: "When O'Reilly would interrupt as he does, saying 'no, no, no, no,' Obama stayed cool and shot back, 'no, no, no, no, hold on a second Bill.'" || Watch the interview or read the transcript.
> Folkenflik: O'Reilly likes the word "perspicacious" (see Lesson No. 3)

Providence Journal
About 50 "involuntary job losses" will occur at the Dallas Morning News, with about 30 coming at the Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif., and an unspecified number at The Providence Journal. || Romenesko Memos: Houston Chronicle to cut workforce by 5-6%.

New York Sun
The Sun reports political, cultural, labor, and religious leaders rushed to praise the struggling paper Thursday and expressed hope that it will continue publishing. Mayor Michael Bloomberg says: "I actually think the Sun's municipal coverage is actually very good. It is one of the great strengths of the paper. While other papers seem to have done less in covering the city, the Sun has worked hard on coverage of municipal issues."
> Even Sun critic Alterman admits he's "a bit regretful"

Washington Post
Brit Hume, who has just anchored his last political convention for Fox News, says: "I'd like to walk away while I'm still doing okay and not have people say 'he was fading.'" In cable news, he says, "you work quite hard. I've got to be in there with my hands. I'm 65, for God's sake. I don't want to do all that stuff anymore."

New York Observer | Slate
"It's just part of politics," says New York Times political editor Dick Stevenson. "I don't think anybody here takes it personally. ...There may have been a few moments when we looked around nervously and wondered whether the Republicans would storm out of the arena and into the workspace and come after us, but by and large we know we're just a prop in the process." || Jack Shafer: Beating up on the press always attracts votes, but rarely enough to turn an election.

> Report: Revamped Chicago Tribune reduced to three sections
> Time Out New York memo confirms "tight cash flow situation"
> America's most influential fashion editors, according to Forbes
> Total newspaper ad revenues fell by $3B in first half of 2008
> Oklahoman cuts 150 jobs | Eagle-Tribune downsizes (item #2)
> Chicagoans just might find the new WSJ mag in today's NYT
> NYT's Telegram & Gazette cuts 36 jobs, scraps zoned editions
> Let's hope journalists find the stamina to sort through pols' BS
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Columbia Journalism Review
The corporate offices check it out, too. Gannett spokeswoman Tara Connell initially responded to Gannett Blog founder Jim Hopkins as she would to any journalist. "But over time, the blog has changed," she says. "When we asked the blogger to correct factual inaccuracies, nothing happened. Standards of accuracy and fairness were dropped in favor of rumor mongering and sensationalism. The attacks he inspired became personal, particularly against women in the company. For these reasons, we don’t participate."

Louisville Courier-Journal
Kentucky Kernel adviser James Winn and two University of Kentucky student photographers aren't expected to be charged after spending about 36 hours in a St. Paul detention center. "From my perspective, it was fairly obvious I was a journalist," says Winn. But officers at the protest scene "had everybody in a circle and they were putting people into processing no matter what their appearance was. I don't think I was treated terribly unfairly. It's part of the process."

Cityfile
"Why are the Sun's current backers -- including Bruce Kovner, Tom Tisch, and Michael Steinhardt -- giving up?" asks Cityfile. "They've got plenty of other stuff to worry about, that's why." (Actually, they're not giving up; Sun editor Seth Lipsky says the original investors will continue to support the paper with new capital.)
> It would be a pity to see the Sun set so early in its second life
> The Sun may be old-fashioned, but it's been anything but tired

Romenesko Misc. | Etaoin Shrdlu
"After The Speech last night, I couldn't help recall our third cover featuring McCain and....," former Life managing editor Bill Shapiro writes to Romenesko. "Take a peek. I think you'll find it very fun and rather prescient." He adds that John McCain "was thrilled" to meet Tina Fey. "They got along very well: They had lunch and he gave her an impromptu tour of the Senate building. Makes us wonder if when McCain met Palin for the first time, he said, 'You know, you remind me of someone..." || NY Observer on Fey's pose. || Update on McClatchy news veep's Palin column: It brings in dozens of comments, and a follow-up post by Howard Weaver.

Portfolio.com
Michael Rogers says during his two years at the Times he's become more worried about some newspapers but less about what the Times is doing. "They're doing all the right things. We're looking at quite a shakeout over the next five to eight years, but I think many companies are positioning themselves properly to get through it. I think the Times is doing more than most any other media company I've worked with in the past."
> Earlier: Rogers sees NYT Co. becoming a digital foundry

Politico.com | Fox News | Huffington Post
Roger Simon on why he's "apologizing": "We have asked pathetic questions like: Who is Sarah Palin? What is her record? Where does she stand on the issues? And is she is qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency? We have asked mean questions like: How well did John McCain know her before he selected her? How well did his campaign vet her? Bad questions. Bad media. Bad." || Newt Gingrich: "The American people are going to discount the elite media 90% by October." || Rachel Sklar: If the media are the enemy, they're doing something right.
> Old friends in the media see a new side of McCain

Investigative Reporters and Editors
Investigative Reporters and Editors has hired Columbus Dispatch projects editor Doug Haddix and St. Louis Post-Dispatch computer-assisted reporting editor Jaimi Dowdell. They'll share on-the-road training duties, and run IRE workshops and seminars.

Associated Press | Content Bridges | New York Times
Its launches Sept. 16. The new design will provide easier access to free content, says Wall Street Journal managing editor Robert Thomson. || Ken Doctor:: "That redesign is overdue, with WSJ.com looking a bit long in the tooth these days." PLUS: More on WSJ. magazine.
> NYO to launch its first editorially driven magazine

Los Angeles Times
James Rainey wonders if "the extra punch" in US Weekly's Sarah Palin cover story was ordered by the magazine's owner, Barack Obama supporter Jann Wenner. Editor-in-chief Janice Min says her boss played no role in the story, and that "reporting on the people who are going to lead the country in an aggressive way is what the press should be doing." Rainey's reaction: "There's aggressive and then there's nasty. And Us clearly tilts toward the latter."

Washington Post
"I'm in great demand," says PBS correspondent Gwen Ifill, "but I'm not speaking for the whole race. My job is to be a reporter. I cannot be the great interpreter. It's not my job to be on someone else's air telling them what black people think." She tells Howard Kurtz that a white TV reporter asked her after Barack Obama accepted the nomination in Denver: "Aren't you just blown away by all of this?" She said she wasn't. "Aren't you in the tank?" the reporter wondered.

Forbes
"Reading Clay Felker's obits, I was reminded Clay himself once said he was afraid that television would completely overwhelm magazines," says David Granger. "And that didn't happen. I don't buy that anything else will either." The Esquire editor rejects the idea that the golden age of magazines has passed. "Some of the best magazine journalism I know of is running right now in Esquire and The New Yorker and New York magazine and a lot of others."

Wordyard | WSJ.com
If Peggy Noonan wrote a column that was as honest with her readers as she is when she thinks the microphone is off, Scott Rosenberg would read it religiously. "Virtually every journalist in DC could go a lot farther down the road of writing what they know and think," he says. || Noonan discusses the incident.

New York Post | New York Observer | Wall Street Journal
Investors are said to have given the Sun until the end of the month to find new angel investors -- or else the plug will be pulled, reports Keith J. Kelly. He hears the paper is losing money at the rate of $1 million a month. || Editor Seth Lipsky tells John Koblin: "I would encourage you not to assume that the paper is doomed." || More Lipsky: "I'm resisting the suggestions that it's over."
> Gawker calls the Sun's guidelines for interns "pretty hilarious"

LATimes.com Readers' Representative Journal
The policy for the first time takes into account the online world vs. the print world. A cover note that was sent to LAT staffers with the updated policy says "a less formal voice may be appropriate in online stories and on blogs (as is often the case in feature stories too), but a conversational style is not an invitation to abandon The Times' high standards by introducing gratuitous obscenities." || Did two words in a recent Times book review prompt this?

Romenesko Letters
John Maggs has some questions for New York Times editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal: Is columnist Bill Kristol still a part of John McCain's kitchen cabinet? Are there any rules about a columnist actively advising a political campaign that he's writing about? Are there any rules about disclosing such a role? Should New York Times readers know, one way or the other?

Etaoin Shrdlu
"I believe I'd fire any reporter who wasted a chance to question Gov. Sarah Palin by asking a single question about pregnancies, DUIs or thuggish boyfriends," writes McClatchy vice president/news Howard Weaver.

Time.com
"To the extent that Brian Williams is ever flappable, he got a bit flapped" when Jon Stewart asked him about the MSNBC family feud, reports James Poniewozik. The Time critic notes that Williams represents stability and even-handedness in the news and "when he, and NBC News' other straight-news folks, make their frequent appearances on MSNBC (or vice versa), the drama clings to them by association."

Portfolio.com
"Obviously, part of the strategy here is to 'work the refs' -- that is, to mau-mau reporters, editors, producers and commentators into going easier on John McCain and harder on Barack Obama," writes Jeff Bercovici. "That can work in a limited way -- skeptical coverage of Obama seemed to increase somewhat after Hillary Clinton aired similar grievances. But the hyper-aggressive way Team McCain's pursuing it it risks alienating neutral journalists."
> Palin coverage "has been well within the bounds of responsibility"
> McCain strategist "is outraged by journalists doing their jobs"

MinnPost.com
Matt Rourke, who was arrested in St. Paul on Monday, says: "I heard an officer say, 'What are we supposed to do with him?' And the arresting officer say, 'What do we charge him with?' It seemed they knew I was press but no one knew what to do. I was getting passed around but no one was willing to do anything." The Associated Press photographer was hauled in for "Riot -- gross misdemeanor," but the DA isn't expected to charge him.

Vanity Fair
Several other media people are on the Vanity Fair 100 list. From the summaries:
* "The curmudgeonly Walt Mossberg, 61, has exerted a power rarely matched by critics in any field."
* "Huffington Post passed the Drudge Report, its longtime rival, to claim the title of top political-news blog."
* "Often characterized as a right-wing ideologue, Rupert Murdoch is a clear-eyed pragmatist."
* "Soft-spoken Bill Keller had the nerve to publish bold exposes of the Bush administration's secretive tactics in the war on terror."
> The Next Establishment list includes Anderson Cooper, Joshua Micah Marshall, Jared Kushner, and Andrew Ross Sorkin.

Valleywag
Steven Levy got exclusive access and information for a Chrome story in the October Wired. "This story was trickier than most, since Chrome was still a secret when the issue was under production," writes Owen Thomas. "Normally, dozens of eyes would fall on the story." Wired executive editor Bob Cohn how he pulled it off.

Editor & Publisher
Anchorage Daily News executive editor Pat Dougherty says about 50 media outlets have called for his views on Sarah Palin in recent days. He tells Joe Strupp that some depictions of Alaska have been a bit unfair. "It is in the nature of these things to be somewhat caricaturish. We are a long way away and people are not that familiar with the state. The sketch is a little cartoonish." On Palin, the editor says the inquiries are fair, but outside press needs to avoid stereotyping the governor.
> Ex-Anchorage columnist calls Palin's term "a mixed bag"

Portfolio.com
"The eschatological angst that characterizes much of the newspaper industry does not exist at Dow Jones," said Wall Street Journal managing editor Robert Thomson as he introduced the new WSJ. magazine. He also took a swipe at New York Times' T magazine: "I can think of a newspaper in New York that regards its glossy magazine as something of a house of ill repute."
> Wall Street Journal starts its hub desk next week