There has been talk lately about how the basic unit of journalism (at least the basic unit of print journalism, and one of the basic units of online journalism), the article, has reached the end of its cycle of utility. (John Bethune has a good summary of some of the arguments, including those by Jeff […]

So I’m going through the list of panelists at the first A.J. Liebling convention more closely, and it occurred to me that there may be a touch of historical irony in Jimmy Breslin’s attendance there. His panel was called “Racism, Sexism, Elitism and Journalism.” But of course, Breslin famously called his Asian, female colleague at […]

Even in a media ecosystem that throws news and entertainment into the same marketplace, the desire for quality journalism will persist in enough audience-citizens, enough privately held companies, and enough philanthropic foundations to keep at least a few serious news organizations afloat—as long as the society that they serve continues to adhere to the principle […]

It’s interesting to see the News of the World/Murdoch scandal through Chinese eyes, and see that all of Western media can very easily be tarred by the actions of one unscrupulous media baron. With the help of Google Translate and a native speaker of Mandarin, I was able to get through this Chinese media analysis […]

As I mention in an earlier post, I’m writing a dissertation about [More], a 1970’s journalism review that grew out of the journalism review movement, the alternative press movement, and the New York Review of Books. Several times during its short existence (1971–1978), [More] ran a conference counter to the American Newspaper Publishers Association convention. […]

My dissertation keeps getting smaller, or rather, the topic keeps narrowing. But I think this is the final shrinkage, and it’s the good kind. I worked my way from The Intellectual History of Journalism (the life work of several scholars), to Anti-Intellectualism in the American Press (tough to grasp, tough to research), to Opponents of Anti-Intellectualism […]

Journalism belongs in the university. I believe this deeply, almost like a religion, and not just because I am a professor of journalism, a doctoral student in journalism, and a graduate of a journalism school. In fact, as much as I value my education, I actually came out of J-school disillusioned with journalism education, though […]

One of my concerns (and also a concern of some of my mentors and academic idols) as a journalism historian is how to refer to the loosely organized group of not-quite-professional people who take it upon themselves to organize a day’s events into what we call news. It grates on me when I hear news […]

An excerpt from A.J. Liebling’s 1975 revised edition of The Press, his compilation of Wayward Pressman columns and other press criticism: When I put together The Wayward Pressman (1947), the first collection of the Wayward Press pieces I do now and then for The New Yorker, I dedicated it, “To the Foundation of a School […]

A good trend piece should be pop sociology. But getting the kind of statistics that you need to prove a trend is difficult for a reporter to muster on a reporter’s deadline and budget. So I hereby call for a severe reduction in trend stories. Run ’em when you got ’em, of course, when you […]