Joel Stein: “Don’t e-mail me….Here’s what my Internet-fearing editors have failed to understand: I don’t want to talk to you; I want to talk at you. A column is not my attempt to engage in a conversation with you. I have more than enough people to converse with. And I don’t listen to them either. That sound on the phone, Mom, is me typing.”
Category / Journalism
One Thing’s For Sure: Cronkite, She Ain’t
James Wolcott: “No one over the age of 30 should be resorting to all those exclamation marks and capital letters like some juiced-up Crackberry addict. Couric officially bottomed out with a post entitled ‘Katie’s Apple Pie: The Recipe!’ in which she revealed, ‘Mushy apples are the most disappointing, ‘un-a-peeling’ (HA HA) culinary experience there is,’ and described Mutsu apples she picked from the tree as ‘GINORMOUS!’ Perhaps Couric is trying to relate to younger viewers and readers at their own dippy level—never a good idea. Or perhaps she’s trying to prove that despite the dizzy heights she’s reached in the news business, the fame and money that have been slung her way, she’s still the same unspoiled, unpretentious batch of homemade fudge she was before she clawed her way to the top. Katie Couric is caught in a tug-of-war between her serious journalistic side and the girlie side that wants to be everybody’s darling. It’s the girlie side that needs to go.”
Newsday Now Bleeding?
Editor & Publisher: “More than 100 newsroom employees at Newsday signed a protest letter sent Monday to Tribune Company Chairmen Dennis FitzSimons, which claims the company has ‘damaged Newsday as an instrument of public information and accountability’ and ‘attempts to increase its profits are dulling Newsday’s brand.'”
You Too Can Believe in Gossip Rags
Kimberly Maul, whose publication I am not obsessed with (contrary to her assertion), reports that the OJ deal has gone through. And this time she has a more credible than the National Enquirer. (Perhaps it was Maul after all who wrote the unsigned article and she is now proudly coming out of the closet as relying upon gossip rags for sources!)
By this journalistic measure, I wish to report the following news stories as true:
1. Infant Accidentally Packaged as Doll
2. Hillary Clinton Forced Into Sex Therapy
3. The “Eat What You Like” Diet Will Work for Everyone!
I remain absolutely positive that these three stories will be confirmed by someone credible. And I will, in the puerile spirit of this exchange, then shout “Neeiner! Neeiner! Neeiner!” back to the Book Standard.
You see, kids. You too can be a Web journalist!
Voice Expands Its Cultural Irrelevance, One Layoff at a Time
Ed Park, formerly of the Village Voice, reports terrible news. The Voice has canned book and film critic Dennis Lim. Apparently, meaningful arts criticism isn’t part of the new Voice. How long will it be before Beyonce profiles are the norm there?