Morning Reading List, 06.02.06

Gene Weingarten has some uplifting news for journalism hopefuls: Good jobs in journalism have become scarce as newspapers shrink and die, broadcast media fragment to smaller niche audiences and the public appears more and more willing to receive its "news" online from nincompoops ranting in their underpants. But, it's not like there is no hope. There are still high-prestige, well-paying positions in journalism. Unfortunately, they are filled by tired old coots who aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Me, for example. It'll take a hydraulic winch to pry me loose from this gig. The Atlantic: Serious about their dress code. (The Wonkettes' take here) Steve Pearlstein on the Post buy-outs: "[T]his one's gonna hurt. The Post hasn't seen a sudden exodus of so much journalistic talent since Ben Bradlee departed from the fifth-floor newsroom in 1991." Investigative reporter David Fallis also chimes in on the buyouts on the Post's internal board: The buyouts are one way to contain costs and offer people a generous chance to reinvent careers with a financial cushion. But make no mistake: These mass departures, like the layoffs elsewhere and the end of daily, competitive newspaper markets, will take something from readers. Hundreds and hundreds of years of institutional memory, talent and wisdom by year's end will have left the Post. This is real experience and core knowledge that cannot be replaced or reassigned. Across the board, stories will likely be the thinner for it. At the very time we should be reaching to provide even more depth and authority--one of the things newspapers can offer that people can't get elsewhere--we seem to be moving in the other direction (Other chatter on the issue here) Speaking of buyouts, the Wonkettes are pulling for someone to take the offer. TVNewser is hearing that "CNN's Reliable Sources, hosted by Howard Kurtz, has won the National Press Club's Arthur Rowse Award for Press Criticism..." The Post's "Black Men Project" debuts. Slate's Eric Umansky thinks they may (in true wingman fashion) be spending a lot of real estate to state the obvious: The Post devotes about two-thirds of its front-page footprint to what the paper promises will be a "year-long" series: "Being a Black Man." The first piece is a refresher course and primer on where things stand. "The dueling realities of their history," says the WP, "steady progress and devastating setbacksâ€”continue to burden many black men in ways that are sometimes difficult to explain." Tell me about it. The story's length: 3,635 words. The Nation / Campus Progress Student Journalism Conference begins today. Yesterday was Tony Snow's birthday. Ankush Khardori wonders if the White House press corps can learn anything from Canada.

Fishbowl

Morning Reading List, 06.02.06

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