Another One Bites The Dust
(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
It was a hundred pages, give or take, but I’ll boil it down for you:
Nothing works, except The Wall Street Journal.
And now, that might be changing.
All Blog Posts from Public Eye
Read all 'Wall Street Journal' posts in Public Eye
November 16, 2007 4:44 PM Long long ago, on a college campus far, far away this writer did a grad school thesis looking at economic models of online newspapers, and whether newspapers could charge for visits to their website.
It was a hundred pages, give or take, but I’ll boil it down for you:
Nothing works, except The Wall Street Journal.
And now, that might be changing.
It was a hundred pages, give or take, but I’ll boil it down for you:
Nothing works, except The Wall Street Journal.
And now, that might be changing.
September 14, 2007 12:09 PM
Circulation Steroids?
Has it already been 25 years?
USA Today hits its silver anniversary tomorrow and the toasts are pouring in. What was mocked as "McPaper" back in the day is now basking in a flood of "ahead of its time" compliments and "they're number one"s.
Marketwatch's Jon Friedman offered up this view:
USA Today hits its silver anniversary tomorrow and the toasts are pouring in. What was mocked as "McPaper" back in the day is now basking in a flood of "ahead of its time" compliments and "they're number one"s.
Marketwatch's Jon Friedman offered up this view:
It was the summer of 1983. I had just landed my first newspaper job, at a daily with the unlikely name of USA Today. While the publication was not yet a year old, it had already achieved notoriety -- as a journalistic joke.And Editor and Publisher chimed in as well:
You see, I lived in Manhattan, where the New York Times is the dominant voice. Times loyalists, as well as newspaper purists and big-city pundits, got a kick out of ridiculing my new employer…
Figured. The city slickers didn't understand the strategy -- or the appeal -- of USA Today. Well, they get it now. USA Today now has an average daily circulation of 2.3 million.
Since it launched on Sept. 15, 1982, amid complaints that it lacked in-depth reporting and used too many snappy graphics and color photos in place of hard-hitting news, the national daily has taken position as a circulation leader, ranking at or near the top consistently.
In addition, the paper has transformed the way many dailies operate, from pushing shorter, quicker brief-style stories to leading the way in color photography long before others saw the need.
September 14, 2007 12:09 PM
Circulation Steroids?
McWow -- has it been 25 years already?
USA Today celebrates its silver anniversary tomorrow and the toasts are pouring in. What was mocked as "McPaper" back in the day is now basking in a flood of "ahead of its time" compliments and "they're number one"s.
Marketwatch's Jon Friedman offered up this view:
USA Today celebrates its silver anniversary tomorrow and the toasts are pouring in. What was mocked as "McPaper" back in the day is now basking in a flood of "ahead of its time" compliments and "they're number one"s.
Marketwatch's Jon Friedman offered up this view:
It was the summer of 1983. I had just landed my first newspaper job, at a daily with the unlikely name of USA Today. While the publication was not yet a year old, it had already achieved notoriety -- as a journalistic joke.And Editor and Publisher chimed in as well:
You see, I lived in Manhattan, where the New York Times is the dominant voice. Times loyalists, as well as newspaper purists and big-city pundits, got a kick out of ridiculing my new employer…
Figured. The city slickers didn't understand the strategy -- or the appeal -- of USA Today. Well, they get it now. USA Today now has an average daily circulation of 2.3 million.
Since it launched on Sept. 15, 1982, amid complaints that it lacked in-depth reporting and used too many snappy graphics and color photos in place of hard-hitting news, the national daily has taken position as a circulation leader, ranking at or near the top consistently.
In addition, the paper has transformed the way many dailies operate, from pushing shorter, quicker brief-style stories to leading the way in color photography long before others saw the need.
September 14, 2007 12:09 PM 
McWow -- has it been 25 years already?
USA Today hits its silver anniversary tomorrow and the toasts are pouring in. What was mocked as "McPaper" back in the day is now basking in a flood of "ahead of its time" compliments and "they're number one"s.
Marketwatch's Jon Friedman offered up this view:
Circulation Steroids?
(AP)
USA Today hits its silver anniversary tomorrow and the toasts are pouring in. What was mocked as "McPaper" back in the day is now basking in a flood of "ahead of its time" compliments and "they're number one"s.
Marketwatch's Jon Friedman offered up this view:
It was the summer of 1983. I had just landed my first newspaper job, at a daily with the unlikely name of USA Today. While the publication was not yet a year old, it had already achieved notoriety -- as a journalistic joke.And Editor and Publisher chimed in as well:
You see, I lived in Manhattan, where the New York Times is the dominant voice. Times loyalists, as well as newspaper purists and big-city pundits, got a kick out of ridiculing my new employer…
Figured. The city slickers didn't understand the strategy -- or the appeal -- of USA Today. Well, they get it now. USA Today now has an average daily circulation of 2.3 million.
Since it launched on Sept. 15, 1982, amid complaints that it lacked in-depth reporting and used too many snappy graphics and color photos in place of hard-hitting news, the national daily has taken position as a circulation leader, ranking at or near the top consistently.
In addition, the paper has transformed the way many dailies operate, from pushing shorter, quicker brief-style stories to leading the way in color photography long before others saw the need.
June 29, 2007 12:47 PM 
"The journalists who put out America's great newspapers are not driven primarily by commercial self-interest. If they were, they'd be working at hedge funds. The best newsrooms in America, including the Journal's, are run by people who believe in journalism itself, and its ability to illuminate, make sense of, and improve the world. It's a quaint notion, wildly out of step with the culture and, to more practical minds, bordering on the ridiculous. But it's this core belief, and the way it's reflected in the work every day, that make those newspapers desirable in the first place to people like Murdoch."
-- National Journal columnist (and all-around good guy) William Powers on Rupert Murdoch’s potential purchase of Dow Jones and Company, including the Wall Street Journal.
In Praise of Print
(AP)
-- National Journal columnist (and all-around good guy) William Powers on Rupert Murdoch’s potential purchase of Dow Jones and Company, including the Wall Street Journal.
May 15, 2007 2:10 PM 
We’ve all been there. Reading an online publication, our eyes are drawn to the “Most Forwarded Articles” or “Most Popular Articles” sidebar. Before you know it, you’re reading about peep jousting or “A Plan B for Darfur."
But the system may not be all it's cracked up to be: Today’s Wall Street Journal informs us that “a diverse group of actors -- ranging from spyware makers to a venture-backed start-up -- is helping push specific videos, articles and photos to the top of those lists.”
Great. We’ve just gotten acclimated to the fact that – in order to keep those ratings up – cable networks have changed the definition of news from “vital information you must know to be an informed citizen” to “hey, check this out!” And now we find out that the articles that “everybody’s talking about” could very well be ho-hum stories that mischievous online souls are trying to peer-pressure you into reading. It’s as if people who love “Friday Night Lights” could artificially boost the show’s ratings by turning their TVs off and on, so that Nielsen would think more people were watching than actually were.
Rigging the Popularity Contest
(AP)
But the system may not be all it's cracked up to be: Today’s Wall Street Journal informs us that “a diverse group of actors -- ranging from spyware makers to a venture-backed start-up -- is helping push specific videos, articles and photos to the top of those lists.”
Great. We’ve just gotten acclimated to the fact that – in order to keep those ratings up – cable networks have changed the definition of news from “vital information you must know to be an informed citizen” to “hey, check this out!” And now we find out that the articles that “everybody’s talking about” could very well be ho-hum stories that mischievous online souls are trying to peer-pressure you into reading. It’s as if people who love “Friday Night Lights” could artificially boost the show’s ratings by turning their TVs off and on, so that Nielsen would think more people were watching than actually were.
March 7, 2007 12:27 PM 
"As for the media, most of our brethren were celebrating the conviction yesterday because it damaged the Bush Administration they loathe."
--Wall Street Journal, March 7, 2007
To: Members Of Mainstream Media Cabal
From: Brian Montopoli, CBS Public Eye
CC: The Democratic Party, Rosie O'Donnell, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Comrades,
That was quite a rager last night, huh? I haven't been this hungover since after we doctored up that "macaca" video. As soon as the Libby verdict was announced, CBS News Prez Sean McManus sent a whole bunch of cake, all this top shelf liquor, and a selection of those delicious French pastries down to the newsroom. Five gin fizzes later, George Soros and a whole bunch of gay atheists show up, and Katie's got us cracking up with her "you might be an evangelical" jokes. I heard the parties were killer all over town – over at CNN, Blitzer and Dobbsie threw on Cheney and Nixon masks and totally made out. It was awesome!
Too bad about all those buzzkills, though. Here we are trying to celebrate the conviction and people like Howard Kurtz – who went to the University of Buffalo, by the way – are writing about how the proceedings gave journalism "a black eye." And in San Francisco they're whining about subpoenas. Waaah! Jeez, we don't care, jerks – an aide to Cheney got in trouble or something! At least the good folks at the Wall Street Journal has the good sense to point out that's all we care about. Not like that lame Bob Steele at The Poynter Institute, who said "[t]here is significant concern about what this could mean to journalists." Whatever, dork! Party! Woo-hoo!
Later,
Brian
Celebration Time
(AP (file))
--Wall Street Journal, March 7, 2007
To: Members Of Mainstream Media Cabal
From: Brian Montopoli, CBS Public Eye
CC: The Democratic Party, Rosie O'Donnell, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Comrades,
That was quite a rager last night, huh? I haven't been this hungover since after we doctored up that "macaca" video. As soon as the Libby verdict was announced, CBS News Prez Sean McManus sent a whole bunch of cake, all this top shelf liquor, and a selection of those delicious French pastries down to the newsroom. Five gin fizzes later, George Soros and a whole bunch of gay atheists show up, and Katie's got us cracking up with her "you might be an evangelical" jokes. I heard the parties were killer all over town – over at CNN, Blitzer and Dobbsie threw on Cheney and Nixon masks and totally made out. It was awesome!
Too bad about all those buzzkills, though. Here we are trying to celebrate the conviction and people like Howard Kurtz – who went to the University of Buffalo, by the way – are writing about how the proceedings gave journalism "a black eye." And in San Francisco they're whining about subpoenas. Waaah! Jeez, we don't care, jerks – an aide to Cheney got in trouble or something! At least the good folks at the Wall Street Journal has the good sense to point out that's all we care about. Not like that lame Bob Steele at The Poynter Institute, who said "[t]here is significant concern about what this could mean to journalists." Whatever, dork! Party! Woo-hoo!
Later,
Brian
January 26, 2007 2:00 PM 
You Go, Politico: Much has been made of the inauguration of the new online political news venture, The Politico (which has a partnership with CBS News). The American Journalism Review profiles the new mag this month, revealing why so many journalists at big-name outlets decided to join the start up.
John Harris, formerly of the Washington Post and the publication's editor in chief told AJR of the advantages of the Politico's non-traditional approach to writing: "The austere, voice-of-God detachment which is the classic newspaper style can be an impediment to engagement with the reader and a genuine understanding of what's going on with a story." However, some have their doubts about the potential for Politico's success: "I still don't know if there are enough people who will go to a politically focused Web site day in and day out and year in and year out and whether advertisers will want to advertise to them," Evans Witt, a former AP reporter who was the editor of PoliticsNow, told AJR.
I Love The Smell Of Advertising In The Morning: Changes at the Wall Street Journal have also been making news lately, and the latest is surely a welcome one -- for those who like to "scratch and sniff" their advertising. "The Wall Street Journal is on the verge of offering scented print-ad units that will appear on the regular pages of the paper," writes AdAge. L. Gordon Crovitz, publisher of the The Wall Street Journal told AdAge that readers should feel free to "'suggest scents that might be appropriate. One of my colleagues suggested new money.'"
To Be Continued…: The hoopla over a huge news story -- the NSA's domestic wiretapping program -- is not over yet...
Across The Media Universe: Smells Like Newspaper Advertising Edition
(CBS)
John Harris, formerly of the Washington Post and the publication's editor in chief told AJR of the advantages of the Politico's non-traditional approach to writing: "The austere, voice-of-God detachment which is the classic newspaper style can be an impediment to engagement with the reader and a genuine understanding of what's going on with a story." However, some have their doubts about the potential for Politico's success: "I still don't know if there are enough people who will go to a politically focused Web site day in and day out and year in and year out and whether advertisers will want to advertise to them," Evans Witt, a former AP reporter who was the editor of PoliticsNow, told AJR.
I Love The Smell Of Advertising In The Morning: Changes at the Wall Street Journal have also been making news lately, and the latest is surely a welcome one -- for those who like to "scratch and sniff" their advertising. "The Wall Street Journal is on the verge of offering scented print-ad units that will appear on the regular pages of the paper," writes AdAge. L. Gordon Crovitz, publisher of the The Wall Street Journal told AdAge that readers should feel free to "'suggest scents that might be appropriate. One of my colleagues suggested new money.'"
To Be Continued…: The hoopla over a huge news story -- the NSA's domestic wiretapping program -- is not over yet...
January 3, 2007 9:35 AM 
The Skinny Today: Iraq investigates questionable behavior before Hussein's execution, front pages become crowded with unlikely topics like education (and news that Evel Knievel is still alive) and President Bush submits an Op-Ed to the Wall Street Journal. The Skinny is Hillary Profita's take on the top of the news and the best of the Web.
The Skinny: Iraq's Cell Phone Follies
(AFP/Getty Images)
December 14, 2006 2:06 PM 
Breaking: Someone Has A Beef With The Media: Today it's Peter Kann, who happens to be the chairman of Dow Jones. His commentary appears in The Wall Street Journal's Opinion Journal (Which is owned by the company he chairs.) Since now is the time to publish lists, Kann lists "10 current trends in the mass media that ought to disturb us." Most of them are hard to argue with, like the "exaggerated tendency toward pessimism," which can lead to somewhat unsupported conclusions that become conventional wisdom. Writes Kann: "it's one thing--and an appropriate one--for the press to probe particular instances of political corruption. It's quite another thing to jump to the cynical conclusion that our political process, and all politicians, are corrupted--that 'they all do it.' They don't, and they aren't. Skepticism and criticism are essential to the media's role; reflexive pessimism is not."
No, Not That Presidential Campaign: It isn't getting as much attention as any and all things related to the upcoming 2008 election (McCain edges ahead of Hillary in hypothetical poll question!), but in case you were wondering who got nailed for campaign violations in the 2004 elections, it’s a couple of familiar organizations. The FEC announced yesterday that it settled charges against Swiftboat Veterans and POWs for Truth, MoveOn.org Voter Fund and The League of Conservation Voters. "The announcement settles charges the 527's 'failed to register and file disclosure reports as federal political' [committees], and 'accepted contributions in violation of federal limits and source prohibitions,'" writes Hotline On Call.
Paging CNN: CBS News has added two more to its ranks, both from CNN: CNNer Kelly Wallace will be joining the network in January as a correspondent based in New York City. One more CNNster, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has signed on as a contributor who will report occasionally for the "Evening News" in addition to his duties as CNN's chief medical correspondent. TVNewser notes that CBS News has a similar arrangement with CNN's Anderson Cooper, who does occasional reporting for "60 Minutes."
Across The Media Universe
(CBS/AP)
No, Not That Presidential Campaign: It isn't getting as much attention as any and all things related to the upcoming 2008 election (McCain edges ahead of Hillary in hypothetical poll question!), but in case you were wondering who got nailed for campaign violations in the 2004 elections, it’s a couple of familiar organizations. The FEC announced yesterday that it settled charges against Swiftboat Veterans and POWs for Truth, MoveOn.org Voter Fund and The League of Conservation Voters. "The announcement settles charges the 527's 'failed to register and file disclosure reports as federal political' [committees], and 'accepted contributions in violation of federal limits and source prohibitions,'" writes Hotline On Call.
Paging CNN: CBS News has added two more to its ranks, both from CNN: CNNer Kelly Wallace will be joining the network in January as a correspondent based in New York City. One more CNNster, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has signed on as a contributor who will report occasionally for the "Evening News" in addition to his duties as CNN's chief medical correspondent. TVNewser notes that CBS News has a similar arrangement with CNN's Anderson Cooper, who does occasional reporting for "60 Minutes."
Mike Huckabee on GOP "rock stars," 2012, health care reform and more.
