Journalism

People complain about reporters asking asking crazy questions, but those are sometimes the ones that get the most interesting results. For example, in the video below, the reporter goes through the trouble of setting up an ambush interview on a Congressman, and then asks him a really dumb generic question: "Do you fully support the Obama agenda?" I mean, seriously, couldn't he … [Read more...] about What’s The Real Bob Etheridge Story?

With regard to the issue of giving credit for discovering the "Sotomeyor & Associates" issue, Eric Turkewitz comments: Something might be in the public domain, but it if is buried in a box of other documents, someone still has to go find it. Whether this qualifies as that proverbial box of documents is, of course, another question. I have to assume that, given the high … [Read more...] about Why Eric Turkewitz Still Matters

Radley Balko used to piss me off. Back in my early days in the blogosphere, I sent him a few links to stories I thought might interest him. He then mentioned those stories in his Agitator blog, but didn't credit me for sending him the links. Of course, I had no way of knowing for sure if he was using the links I sent or if it was just coincidence, but it happened often enough … [Read more...] about On the Ethics of Sourcing For Bloggers and Journalists

A couple of weeks ago, Kip Esquire posted a New Years Day update explaining that he was changing careers. He's made up his mind do something entrepreneurial rather than work for someone else, but, I would entertain one exception: namely this blog. Punditry and commentary. If anyone out there has any interest in hiring me as a paid occupational journalist or commentator, then I … [Read more...] about Who Wants to Be A Reporter?

I've had a few short seminars in newswriting, and one of the things they emphasize is writing a great lede. That's the first sentence of a news story, and it's supposed to hook the reader into the rest of the story. I spotted this awesome lede in a piece by AP writer Rob Gillies: Greyhound has scrapped an ad campaign that extolled the relaxing upside of bus travel after one of … [Read more...] about Rob Gillies Demonstrates How To Write a Great Lede