It’s not very good, according to the latest assessment from Reporters without Borders. Here are the details, from the Paris-based advocacy group’s latest report. (What does it mean when there is more press freedom in Germany than in America?)
Here is the big picture:
Filed under Journalism
By Christopher B. Daly
The venerable opinion magazine The New Republic is getting a makeover. Here is a video report from the NYTimes about the new look.
TNR was founded in 1912 by Progressive journalist Herbert Croly. One of his first recruits was Walter Lippmann, who became one of the most prominent US journalists of the 20th Century. Here’s my take, from Covering America:
In 1912 a friend asked Lippmann if he would like to write a book. Lippmann
published A Preface to Politics the next year to favorable reviews, and while living
in New York and mingling with the leftist and bohemian crowd around the intellectual
and patron Mabel Dodge, he started another book. While he was working
on it, Lippmann got an invitation to lunch from Herbert Croly, a prominent Progressive
thinker and journalist. Croly, who had been impressed by Lippmann’s
debut book, had a proposition: How would Lippmann like to join the staff of a
new magazine Croly was putting together? The magazine was to be smart, literate,
and progressive. He could write and edit and make $60 a week. Lippmann
jumped at the offer. It was another stroke of good fortune. The magazine, which
still had no name, was eventually called the New Republic, and it became one of
the most influential journals of opinion and analysis of the twentieth century.14
Croly’s goal was to “be radical without being socialistic”15 and to advance his view
that the small, weak central government envisioned by Jefferson could not possibly
deal with the challenges posed by companies like Standard Oil or the big
meatpacking firms or the sugar trust. Instead, the country needed new agencies
like the Interstate Commerce Commission or the Food and Drug Administration,
staffed by a new class of expert public servants who would have the power
to police and guide these huge private enterprises. This was just the outlook that
Lippmann had been moving toward ever since he left Harvard, one that ultimately
drove him away from the socialists and muckrakers of his youth. . .
Filed under history, Journalism, journalism history
Today brings news of the passing of Stanley Karnow, who wrote one of the most-cited works trying to figure out what happened during the U.S. war in Vietnam. He was an exemplar of the journalist-turned-historian.
Here is the Times obit, which mentions that Karnow was also on the Nixon “enemies list.”
Here is the AP version, which notes that Karnow got his start in journalism on his high school newspaper and at the Harvard Crimson.
The ultimate quote:
‘‘What did we learn from Vietnam?’’ Mr. Karnow later told AP. ‘‘We learned that we shouldn’t have been there in the first place.’’
Filed under history, Journalism
By Christopher B. Daly
In case you missed it, here is the Washington Post‘s panoramic photo of Obama’s second inaugural, which is quite impressive. (I’m just not crazy about those tags. They take up a lot of space and block a lot of pixels. Maybe there is a better design.)
And if you want to know how it was done, here is an explanation by the Reynolds Journalism Institute at Mizzou.
Can you spot yourself?
Filed under Journalism
By Christopher B. Daly
This episode of press intimidation in Thailand — where a journalist was sentenced to 10+ years in prison for insulting the king — may seem like a throwback to journalists in many countries. His crime: Lèse majesté, which to say: an injury to the majesty of the ruler.
But don’t get too smug too fast. There are similar laws against dissing the king in the following places:
1 Current lese-majesty laws in Europe
1.1 Denmark
1.2 Netherlands
1.3 Norway
1.4 Spain
2 Current lese-majesty laws in the Middle East
2.1 Kuwait
2.2 Jordan
3 Current lese-majesty laws elsewhere
3.1 Morocco
3.2 Thailand
Yikes!
Lese-majesty is an old legal doctrine, which once ruled the British publishing world, including the original publishing efforts that developed into the American press.
Filed under Journalism
Sad news: the death of Eugene Patterson, a member of the “greatest generation” who really was a great journalist. Reading his obituary in the Times and the version in the Post today, I wondered how many tank commanders go into journalism any more. (After facing the Germans at Bastogne, why would he fear the KKK?)
This undated photo made during World War II, shows Eugene Patterson, commander of a tank platoon as Gen. George Patton’s 3rd Army drove through the German ranks. Newspaper editor and columnist Eugene Patterson, who helped fellow Southern whites understand the civil rights movement, has died, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013. He was 89. Photo: AP.
Filed under Journalism, journalism history
by Christopher B. Daly
Narratives in the news:
–Here is a smart piece about why some of us are drawn to TV narratives like Downton and other shows with strong narratives.
–Here is a smart piece about the power of narrators (although I think there is a bit of confusion here between narrators and protagonists, which are not the same).
Filed under history, Journalism
It’s hard to see how this is over.
And this one is definitely not over. (Here’s the Guardian’s version, which is a bit clearer.)
And this one won’t be over until you-know-when.
Filed under Journalism, Murdoch scandal
Whether you agreed with her or not, it must be acknowledged that Ada Louise Huxtable elevated the practice of American journalism just by being in it. I recall how many of her pieces were events in themselves.
Thank you, Ada.
Ada Louise Huxtable, with Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, in 1970, when she won the first Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.
Filed under Journalism, journalism history, New York Times
By Christopher B. Daly
David Carr has a worthwhile column today in the New York Times, making the point that many of the brand-name “legacy media” that were so recently written off are quietly staging a comeback. According to Carr, the dinosaurs are learning to dance. (In the final chapter of my book, COVERING AMERICA, I used a slightly different metaphor: I said the dinosaurs had to learn to ice skate!)
Here’s an excerpt:
In the last year, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index was up 13.4 percent, which was a significant advance, but legacy media giants like Comcast, News Corporation and Time Warner absolutely surpassed it in terms of share price.
Viacom, which has had serious ratings trouble with MTV and Nickelodeon, still managed to be up 16.1 percent on the year. We keep hearing how traditional networks are getting clobbered, but Viacom’s sibling, CBS, was up a whopping 40.2 percent.
News Corporation, despite being racked by scandal, was up 43 percent, and fellow global media conglomerates like Disney and Time Warner were up more than 32 percent. And Comcast, which has both the pipes and programming — cable and NBCUniversal — soared 57.6 percent.
One piece of data that Carr did not cite is the recent history of the market fortunes of his own employer, the New York Times Co. So, here it is:
Turns out, the value of Times Co. stock has been on a roller-coaster track over the past 12 months. The company had a terrific six months, from May to October, during which the value of a share of NYTCo stock almost doubled. Somewhere around Halloween, the stock cratered, and it has been basically crawling sideways since then. So, the Times Co. experience does not fit Carr’s trend story. I would say that would be a good subject for him to take up next: why doesn’t the Times‘ journalistic excellence translate into financial success?
It’s an important question to answer, because without making money, the Times will not long be able to dance or ice skate. Like other dinosaurs, it will die out.
Filed under Journalism, New York Times
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