Monday, February 14, 2005

Jay Rosen: "I don't think he should have resigned. I don't know why he did. Neither the public overlooking this sad event, nor the participants in it know why Eason Jordan quit." Scott Rosenberg: "Eason Jordan's trial-by-blog is simply the latest example of the convulsive and painful but inevitable and long-brewing transformation of professional journalism from a protected sphere into a more open environment. That's important, but it's hadly news any more. The Gannon story, on the other hand, offers us a peek into the next chapter of the story -- the one in which an opportunistic political establishment, sensing the vulnerability of the media, grabs the moment to reshape the public's very grasp of reality." 6:56:29 PM    comment []

Dave Winer on big media: "And, get this, their problem is on the scale of the problem that French monarchs faced. We don't need these guys anymore, and the smart ones are getting a clue about that. That's certainly what I saw in North Carolina. My guess is that the news will take a bit longer to reach NYC. They ought to be helping us expose their incompetence, much the way a good software vendor seeks out bug reports." I think we still need pros, and will continue to need them (us). But a certain amount of guillotine contemplation is healthy. 2:40:42 PM    comment []

Hoggard calls out County Commissioner Skip Alston for saying the City staff is racist: "Alston's fellow Commissioner Billy Yow rightfully got put through the ringer (sic) for his promotion of a T-shirt that portrayed a little boy taking a pee on the the NAACP.  Alston should be similarly reprimanded by his peers, both black and white, for making such an outlandish, hurtful, unfounded, all-encompassing, and asinine remark." Hoggard's been digging into yesterday's compelling article by Margaret Banks in the N&R about a failed Greensboro housing project. City Councilman Tom Phillips and I both have our takes on his opinions. Meanwhile, the paper's political blog is pushing ahead with the story -- maybe they could let Margaret Banks guest-blog if she has something to add? -- and editor JR is linking on and off his paper's site to keep the conversation going. 2:25:58 PM    comment []

How the (early-season AP proclaimed) mighty are fallen: "(T)his was a bad game between two bad teams," says ACC Hoops about NC State vs GA Tech. 11:27:01 AM    comment []

N&R's Denise Becker on High Point vs Las Vegas in the furniture market biz; Ivan Cutler commentary. 11:13:31 AM    comment []

Dan Gillmor: "Go, Greensboro. This is going to be complicated, but fun." 11:06:03 AM    comment []

Lex Alexander: "Another day, another guru." And the N&R is calling for submissions from the community: "Greensboro and the Triad, we know you have stories. It's time to bring 'em." 11:03:01 AM    comment []

Jerry McClough has a brief audio post (click "others" in the final sentence) on the Chapel Hill blog conference: "That's how much power we have." 10:54:35 AM    comment []

I met my Valentine when I was 24 and she was 26. Sophisticated adults, we thought ourselves then. She came to my desk, a very cute new reporter in the Forbes building, and asked to borrow a document. Flirting ensued. She came into my office and shot nerf hoops and was my friend in the year while my father was dying. We spent some late nights at the copy desk and some long lunches at Japonica. We went for drinks at the White Horse and dinner at La Ripaille and saw an Eric Bogosian play and bought scalped tickets to REM at Radio City. We doubled on my bike around the Village. We had a fight when she fact-checked a story of mine. We kissed on Broadway and 103d Street. We had a secret romance that only two people in our office knew about for a year or so. I liked that she was a good speller and possessed a well-cloaked terrible attitude. We had a big wedding and moved to France and then to North Carolina and had some children and got a dog and now we are middle aged and she's still very cute and is a little jealous of my blog but otherwise tolerates me and we are going to Revival Grill tonight for dinner on Valentine's Day. 9:18:13 AM    comment []

NYT: "With the resignation Friday of a top news executive from CNN, bloggers have laid claim to a prominent media career for the second time in five months." Above the fold, lede story in biz section. Sensationalistic journalism about those wild-eyed bloggers. Comprehensive coverage by Jay Rosen, who the Times managed to avoid quoting. Wall Street Journal: "None of this does Mr. Jordan credit. Yet the worst that can reasonably be said about his performance is that he made an indefensible remark from which he ineptly tried to climb down at first prompting. This may have been dumb but it wasn't a journalistic felony...it does not speak well of CNN that it apparently allowed itself to be stampeded by this Internet and talk-show crew." 8:58:47 AM    comment []

Diary of a Soldier: Missing Home 8:43:41 AM    comment []