Thamus's favorite journalism pages, page 1

Last login: 30 hours agoThamus: Thamus is a 90 year old guy from Ireland.; Likes 5,371 pages, 33 videos, 39 photos • 368 fans • Received 157 reviews; Member since Dec 30, 2005

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Augean Stables & Is New AP Style Good For Journalism?: Jul 25, 1:04pm 3 reviews journalism, news
http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2008/07/25/is-new-ap-style-good-for-journalism/; All the news that's fit to pontificate about The new head of the AP's Washington Bureau, Ron Fournier, is changing the way the AP reports. Fournier is encouraging reporters to move away from dry, dispassionate reporting, and use instead the first-person and emotive writing. This is supposed to "cut through the clutter", and keep readers from being caught up in spin and propaganda. Fournier calls this "accountability journalism", which he defends as new and exciting way for journalists to do their job. Not all professionals are impressed and newsrooms are split on the new format for AP stories, which some staffers consider "innovative". Others simply don't believe it's as cutting edge as the AP thinks it is. When I saw "accountability journalism," I thought it meant that journalists will be held more accountable. Not at all, they are the ones holding their news subjects to account. Good luck with that. As a former Reuters foreign correspondent, my view remains that "reporting is reporting and opinion is opinion," and never the twain should meet in a news story (unless the opinion is spoken by a relevant source). But change will bring change, no matter what we old-schoolers say. I am actually more worried by the ignorance of young reporters I meet than I am interested in their ill-informed opinions. [PICTURE: While in the White House press corps, AP correspondent Ron Fournier interviewed the children's book character Flat Stanley after he visited the president (Flat George). We really need more journalism like this. What do you think, Flat?]

Why did they treat me like that?: Jul 16, 11:42am 0 review israel, journalism, human-rights, torture
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/999330.html

From triumph to torture: John Pilger on Mohammed Omer's treatment by Israel: Jul 16, 11:22am 0 review israel, journalism, human-rights, torture, palestinian
http://rinf.com/alt-news/surveillance-big-brother/from-triumph-to-torture-joh...

Portrait: Christopher Hitchens by Alexander Linklater | Prospect Magazine May 20…: May 2, 5:26am 1 review journalism
http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=10157

The conundrum of self promotion and social media: Mar 23, 7:56am 9 reviews journalism
http://fvrit.com/archive/2008/03/10/the-conundrum-of-self-promotion-and-socia...

The Journalist as Novelist of New York - WSJ.com: Mar 4, 10:24am 1 review books, new-york, journalism, irish
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120459199188109063.html?mod=googlenews_wsj; The journalist who became the novelist of New York Pete Hamill, a classic New York newspaper man, is writer in residence at New York University, a long way from gritty city desk journalism. He is the only person to have been editor of both the New York Daily News and the New York Post. In the past 40 years (he is now 72) he has also written 10 novels and two collections of short stories. But the focus of his now established literary life remains the same as in Hamill's newspaper career - New York City. Quote: His stories display the attention to detail and history that are the hallmarks of a seasoned reporter -like last year's North River, the tale of a middle-aged Irish doctor who unexpectedly finds himself raising his 3-year-old grandson during the Depression in Manhattan. "Unlike journalism, fiction is about people one at a time," Hamill says. "I've really been trying to get everything I know about New York into fiction." Mr. Hamill's most ambitious attempt was his last novel, Forever (2002), in which the main character gains immortality (as long as he remains on the island of Manhattan) and lives through 250 years here. Hamill has a fascination with immigration beyond his own family and his own Irish heritage, as his novels and his memoir, Downtown: My Manhattan, demonstrate. He writes about Italians and Jews, about Chinese families in his neighborhood and the the Meatpacking District that used to be full of immigrants from Spain. Quote: Looking at journalism today, Hamill doesn't think papers are going to vanish, but he doesn't feel that the business has "the same urgency to it." So is Hamill nostalgic for an older New York? He could do without the recent smoking ban. "It seemed too drastic, too much of a buttinski view." But he doesn't miss the gritty, crime-ridden 1970s: "I don't think 42nd Street was great when there were guys peddling heroin like Baby Ruth bars."

Journalism.org- The State of the News Media 2006: Feb 12, 5:14am 0 review journalism, news
http://www.stateofthenewsmedia.com/2006/narrative_newspapers_publicattitudes....

The Dubliner Magazine: On Talking Shite: Feb 12, 4:33am 0 review blogs, journalism, newspapers
http://thedubliner.typepad.com/the_dubliner_magazine/2008/02/talking-shite.html

A Handwritten Daily Paper in India Faces the Digital Future: Feb 2, 10:35am 3 reviews journalism, newspaper
http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2007/07/last_calligraphers; The last handwritten newspaper It's calligraphy to a daily deadline. Not only has the The Musalman Indian newspaper not yet reached the digital age - it hasn't even reached the Gutenberg age. The editor creates the rough outline of a page and sends the chosen scribbled texts to a translator to be turned into Urdu. Then it's on to the back room, "where writers take calligraphy quills in hand and begin to write tomorrow's newspaper." Quote: "Here in Chennai, in the shadow of the Wallajah Mosque, a team of six puts out this hand-penned paper. Four of them are katibs - writers dedicated to the ancient art of Urdu calligraphy. It takes three hours using a pen, ink and ruler to transform a sheet of paper into news and art. But The Musalman's future is uncertain because the art of Urdu calligraphy is a fast-fading tradition. The newspaper has no clear successor who would produce it in its handwritten form when the present editor can no longer do the job. In the meantime, the office is a center for the South Indian Muslim community and hosts a stream of renowned poets, religious leaders and royalty who contribute to the pages, or just hang out, drink chai and recite their most recent works to the staff.

Writers Blog: Banned From Louis Vuitton: The Price of Journalism: Oct 15, 2007 2:37am 1 review fashion, journalism, censorship
http://www.writerswrite.com/wblog.php?wblog=1010071; Journalist banned by hissy handbag hawker Journalist Dana Thomas has been banned from all future Louis Vuitton fashion shows because of her new book. The book, Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster has infuriated the top brass at LVMH-Mo�t-Hennessey with its unflattering portrayal of Louis Vuitton's practices, methods and promotion of handbags that are ridiculously priced. The theme of the book is that the massification of luxury goods has cheapened the concept of luxury altogether. Quote: "Now before you snippily ask, 'what's it to me that Dana may be permanently banned from the good seats at the Louis Vuitton fashion shows?,' consider this: Dana Thomas has been the cultural and fashion writer for Newsweek in Paris for twelve years. To ban her from a major fashion show is like banning Nick Roberts from ever going to Iraq or Afghanistan." LV company chief Yves Carcelle apparently called Thomas personally to inform her that she would never be invited to another Vuitton show or event as long as he was still in charge. So what pissed off the pompous purveyor of pricey pap? Could it be that Dana, exercising the right to express a professional opinion in her own book, wrote that LV is "the McDonald's of the luxury industry: it's far and away the leader, brags of millions sold, has stores at all the top tourist sites - usually steps away from a McD's - and has a logo as recognizable as the Golden Arches." Carcelle whined: "She complained to The Washington Post and The New York Post. If we're the McDonald's of luxury, then she is the McDonald's of press!" So, nady, nady nah! Who says the king of the "luxury" industry can't also be the Master of the Cheap Shot.