-
Giving up on “Inbox Zero”
I gave up on Inbox Zero years ago. It always seemed to me like an elaborate game of whack a mole. I used to create folder after folder trying to compartmentalize and file away each and every email with the misguided idea that somehow I would more easily find what I need later, and that…
-
Former Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg on the future of war
-
Traditional media’s refusal to enter the link economy
Blogger ethics tend to be better than traditional journalism ethics when it comes to linking to sources. It’s actually far more likely you won’t find a single link in any articles in most mainstream news publications online. Sometimes they may even write out the source, but won’t link to it. Here’s an example of where…
-
Stop matching
“Matching” — when one or more news organizations writes a story based on a news item that another outlet broke first — is an institutional problem deeply rooted within many mainstream newsrooms. To paraphrase myself from this article, sometimes it’s a business strategy: Ignore your competition, don’t let your readers know they exist, pretend they didn’t beat you. Sometimes it’s cultural: The journalists come…
-
Anonymous Source-aholics Anonymous
Two very popular people have been in the news lately: “Senior government official” and “Law enforcement source.” When you, the reader or viewer, see or hear either of these mysterious figures cited, proceed with caution. Here are just a few recent examples: CNN’s John King and the Associated Press report that the Boston Marathon bombing…
-
The disconnect between traditional media and UGC
The majority of newsworthy video out of Syria, Egypt and all over the world, shot by camera phone finds its way to YouTube by way of citizens. The first thought of the shooter is usually not: “I need to share this with a major TV news network” because they don’t care about traditional television news…