Category Archives: State of journalism

Telecommuting can replace newsrooms

Posted on March 16, 2009 by pat

BeatBlogging.Org doesn’t have any offices. There is no newsroom. Jay Rosen and I don’t even live in the same state. Oh, we do collaborate like mad. We just don’t need to be face-to-face to do it. The NYU students who … Continue reading →

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We are witnessing a journalism revolution

Posted on March 15, 2009 by pat

If you read one blog post this year, make it Clay Shirky’s “Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable.” It’s the kind of thoughtful research and ideas about the future of newspapers and journalism that you won’t find in Time Magazine or … Continue reading →

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Why do we let journalism bigwigs get away with bad ideas?

Posted on February 12, 2009 by pat

Few journalists would have had the audacity (or is it stupidity?) to pitch a story idea to Time Magazine about micropayments for journalism. Even fewer journalists would have gotten that story idea accepted. And almost none of those journalists would … Continue reading →

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Is your proprietary software better than open source?

Posted on January 21, 2009 by pat

That’s a question every news organization should ask itself, whether it be for its main CMS or other Web software. And when I say proprietary, I don’t mean just software built in house but also software provided by vendors. If … Continue reading →

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Why even have a press if…

Posted on January 15, 2009 by pat

“If you’re just going to repeat press releases, why have the press?” – Dan Lyons. That’s fantastic insight from Lyons in these times of churnalism. Lyons was supposedly banned from CNBC for telling one of its reporters to apologize to … Continue reading →

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News site needs new, innovative user interfaces

Posted on January 12, 2009 by pat

We can all agree that the Web is a vastly different medium than print. Which is why I can’t understand why almost every news site tries to emulate the user interface of a newspaper. The mediums are nothing alike, and … Continue reading →

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Today’s Thought: What/who will be left to rebuild journalism?

Posted on December 12, 2008 by pat

Let’s be clear about one thing: 2009 will be much, much worse for journalists and established media companies than 2008. Much worse. And 2008 has already seen more than 15,000 jobs lost at U.S. newspapers. I believe 2009 will be … Continue reading →

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My candid thoughts on journalism

Posted on November 24, 2008 by pat

Journalism is at the beginning of a tectonic shift and massive upheaval, and yet, I consider this to be an incredibly exciting time to be in journalism. We stand on the doorstep of history. We’re watching the reinvention of a … Continue reading →

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The real challenge that journalism needs

Posted on November 14, 2008 by pat

Forget the Knight News Challenge. It’s not what journalism really needs. What journalism needs is a challenge to create local news startups with new business models — to make products that people care about again and that are sustainable without … Continue reading →

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We were never in the newspaper business

Posted on November 13, 2008 by pat

We were always in the news business. That’s what our readers and users care about. It’s the news. If people cared about the paper more than the news, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and … Continue reading →

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