Some other editors of the year (or any year)

I can be a bit of a scold to colleagues, exhorting editors to move more boldly and swiftly into the future. As an industry, newspapers have been slow and clumsy at innovation. But a lot of editors do outstanding, innovative journalism (as well as outstanding traditional journalism) and I would like to recognize some of them. [...]

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Editor of the Year? Who, me?

Looking back over the past year or so, in many ways it was the most frustrating, disappointing period of my career. I normally would avoid looking back on it at all. I am a positive person and have been looking forward to a new job that has taken me out of the newspaper business. But [...]

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@statesman: A case study in using Twitter on breaking news

Maybe the best piece of advice I can give for using Twitter to cover breaking news is to study how @statesman covered last week’s terrorist attack in Austin, Texas. I almost didn’t blog about this. The attack occurred last Thursday as I was winding down work at Gazette Communications and preparing to move out to [...]

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Erik Wemple named editor of our local startup (soon to be named))

We just sent out this press release. I am looking forward to meeting and working with Erik Wemple. Arlington, VA, February 22, 2010 – Erik Wemple has been named editor of the local news startup soon to be launched by Allbritton Communications in the Washington region. Wemple comes to Allbritton after eight years as editor [...]

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Farewell to Gazette Communications and Iowa

Today was my last day at Gazette Communications. Tomorrow morning Mimi and I will start our drive to Virginia, weather permitting, for my new adventure with Allbritton Communications. This will be the fourth time I’ve bid farewell to Iowa. This state will always be special to me. I’ve spent more than 14 years working for three [...]

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I lifted (but attributed) most of this post on plagiarism

I really don’t have time to write a full blog post today. I’m wrapping up one job and getting ready to launch another, and I don’t have time for the thought, writing and rewriting that an original blog post requires. So I think I’ll lift most of my material from others or recycle from things [...]

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Finding and developing story ideas

This is the handout for the workshop, developing story ideas, which I presented today for staff members at Gazette Communications. We discussed how to come up with good story ideas and how to develop a plan to execute them. Every good story starts with a good idea Story ideas are literally all around you. You [...]

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Farewell to my maps

I’ve always loved maps. I credit my longtime love of the New York Yankees to my love for maps, which goes back even further. I had flash cards with maps of the states and countries of the world, and memorized the shapes, capitals and other facts before I was six years old. The cute-little-kid stories [...]

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Twitter for newsroom leaders

Here is the one-page handout I gave newsroom leaders Saturday at a workshop on Twitter for newsroom leaders at the Mid-America Press Institute. I referred participants to my slides for the workshop as well as to my earlier blog posts on leading your staff into the Twitterverse, Twitter time management, Twitter tips for journalists and [...]

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Gazette ad helped sell our condo in 3 days

As one who is leaving the newspaper business for a digital startup, it pains me just a bit to write this blog post. As one who spent 38 years in the newspaper business (starting in high school, so I’m not as old as that may sound) and wishes my print colleagues nothing but the best, [...]

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Arguments for government subsidies for journalism: weak and inconsistent

The weakness of the arguments for government subsidies for journalism can be seen in their inconsistency. The advertising model that has supported journalism for more than a century has broken down, authors Robert McChesney and John Nichols argue in great detail in their book The Death and Life of American Journalism. They argue strongly for [...]

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Twitter time management

I’ve fielded the question/complaint several times in recent weeks: How do I find time to Twitter? At one level, the answer is simple: You make time for what’s important and Twitter is an important skill for journalists to master. Figure it out. But I also understand the question and complaint. Twitter can easily suck up [...]

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