When Black Friday Comes
Today is Black Friday. But for me, today is No-consumption Day — the day I refuse to spend money. My only nod to this orgy of consumption is that I’ll check CNN this morning to see how many people have been shot or trampled to death. Technorati Tags: Culture

Filter Failure, Filter Success
Following our discussion in my Introduction to Journalism class of Jay Rosen’s ideas for rebooting the news system in the age of social media and Clay Shirky’s idea of “filter failure,” I asked my students to answer this question on their blogs: What kind of filter do you have to be to get people to pay you to do it? I told them there’s no reason whatsover that I can think of why any one of can’t be the one who gives us THE

Dealing Opinions
Clark Hoyt’s public editor column today in The New York Times quotes Andrew Rosenthal at length about “a columnist’s license.” I like what he has to say. For example: First, the similarities. A columnist is subject to the same standards of factual accuracy as any writer in The Times, on any page. If a columnist writes that something happened on a certain date, or that the government spent a certain amount of money on something, or that a specific number of people have died in the war in Iraq, to pick a few examples, it is his or her responsibility to make certain that information i

Where Was The Press?
Sean Hannity apologized for his show’s poor editing of a story that lead to a misrepresentation of the facts. The misrepresentation was pointed out by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. My questions: Where was the press? Why is Jon Stewart doing journalism’s job? I’ve heard a lot of people bristle at the claim that Jon Stewart is a journalist. Count me in the camp that says he is not. But he is alone in doing one important job of journalism: Keeping tabs on the ethics of news organizations. (I do not count publications such as the Columbia Journalism Review because they are not news organizations. But CJR does do excellent work in keeping tabs o

11-11-11
On this important and solemn day, I’m wondering what it means to “support our troops” — especially after they have returned home. As a way to say “thank you,” please consider donating to Valour-IT.