Monthly Archives: January 2008

My advice for j-students who want to make a difference (and get a job)

Posted on January 31, 2008 by pat

I just told you how journalism is not a good career choice for most of you, but I know many of you are going to attempt to change journalism and I salute you. Therefor, I would be remiss if I … Continue reading →

Posted in education, multimedia journalism, new media journalism, State of journalism, Web development | Comments Off

Realistic job ads get more applicants. Who knew?

Posted on January 30, 2008 by pat

We’ve all seen the newspaper ads looking for people who know PHP, MySQL, Ruby, Python, Django, HTML, CSS, Javascript, Ajax, Flash, multimedia reporting, photo editing, video editing, Incredible Hulk strength, etc. Except most of us have never really seen those … Continue reading →

Posted in Mainstream Media, State of journalism | Comments Off

I spoke too soon

Posted on January 30, 2008 by pat

I said that Monday was the biggest day ever for this blog. I lied. Yesterday had about 200 more page views than Monday. Today is already beating Monday’s numbers. I’m not sure what exactly happened, but it appears to have … Continue reading →

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Is journalism a good career choice for most of you? No.

Posted on January 29, 2008 by pat

This question comes up a lot with j-school students, and the answer is an emphatic no. It just isn’t. I’m not going to blow any smoke up your ass. I’m just going to tell you like it is. I’m doing … Continue reading →

Posted in State of journalism | Comments Off

The audacity of ambition — and innovation

Posted on January 29, 2008 by pat

I don’t want to work for an industry that is content with the status quo. I don’t want to work for an industry that is afraid of innovation. I don’t want to work for an industry that blames its readers … Continue reading →

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The biggest day ever for the JI

Posted on January 29, 2008 by pat

Yesterday was the biggest day ever for The Journalism Iconoclast by users and page views. The surge in traffic was brought on by two posts becoming popular simultaneously, “Innovation is the path to salvation” and “You know, you don’t have … Continue reading →

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Innovation is the path to salvation

Posted on January 27, 2008 by pat

With rampant budget cuts, newspapers have taken the exact opposite approach. That’s exactly why newspapers are struggling so much. You cannot innovate when everyone has a bunker mentality, grasping desperately to the faint echoes of a dying industry. But newspapers … Continue reading →

Posted in State of journalism | Comments Off

You know, you don’t have to do video

Posted on January 25, 2008 by pat

Apparently every newspaper that has a bad Web site got some sort of memo that said, “if you just put video on your Web site, you’ll get tons of traffic and be a modern newspaper. It’ll be totally bitchin’.” But … Continue reading →

Posted in new media journalism, State of journalism, Web development | Comments Off

It’s not all doom and gloom for newspapers

Posted on January 24, 2008 by pat

Oh, the print editions are still dying, but Web sites are improving and becoming more popular. In fact, newspaper Web sites are doing better than ever: The Newspaper Association of America reported the number of unique visitors to newspaper Web … Continue reading →

Posted in Mainstream Media, State of journalism | Comments Off

If AT&T filters traffic I am dropping them and the iPhone

Posted on January 23, 2008 by pat

I signed up for a new two-year contract with AT&T because I plan on getting an iPhone this year after it’s updated. But that may not happen if AT&T goes through with its plans to filter content on its Internet … Continue reading →

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