The past couple of days have given us both a history lesson and a glimpse of the future for what passes for journalism in Chicago.
The Chicago-oriented website published by Arianna Huffington kicked itself into gear this week. While I will concede there is the chance it will get better, its beginnings are just as mediocre as I would have expected.
THE HUFFINGTON POST – Chicago on its first day gave us links to about a half-dozen news stories and features, all of which were lifted from the web sites of the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times.
The first “lede story” on the site’s first day of operation was nothing more than a link to a column written by Sun-Times Washington correspondent Lynn Sweet. Now I don’t have anything against the work of Sweet, who is one of the top reporters working in the Chicago news media.
She had an interesting column that day, and by and large the stories that were picked up from the two metro newspapers were the top bits of news for the day.
The problem is that because I had already looked at the Sun-Times and Tribune web sites (and the papers themselves) before going to the Huffington Post Chicago, I had already read every single bit of news that Arianna’s vision of the future of news media had to offer.
SHE GAVE ME nothing that first day I didn’t already know. And personally, I’d rather go straight to the websites that are producing copy to get stories firsthand. I don’t need Arianna’s vision of which stories she thinks I should read.
Insofar as the specialty columnists her site offered up, I could do without the ramblings of actor John Cusack – although I’m not going to be as critical of him as some pundits have been. It turns out that the actor who likes to think of himself as the ultimate Chicago sports fan couldn’t properly spell Larry Biittner, Chris Chelios or Michael Jordan.
But his typographical errors were mild compared to some of the whoppers that turn up on websites everywhere.
For those people who are convinced that these understaffed sites somehow give a personal touch to the news, proper spelling and good grammar are something that sometimes get sacrificed by the Internet – particularly if one is working on a business model that only is profitable if one does not have to pay the “hired help” who generate copy.
WITH ALL OF this, I don’t think the Huffington Post Chicago is a “must-read” site. I may check it out again in a month or so to see if it shapes up any (which is possible, I still remember how awful the Tribune Co.’s CLTV was in its first couple weeks of existence back in 1993).
But I don’t feel any need to add a link on this site to the Huffington Post Chicago, even though I try to keep a fairly comprehensive list of Chicago-oriented news organizations and their web sites down the right-hand column of the Chicago Argus.
For the time being, I will stick with reading the actual newspapers (and checking the websites to see if stories get updated throughout the day).
It was by actually reading the papers that I got a bittersweet treat this week – the Sun-Times is trying to give us unsubtle reminders of those days in the late 1970s and early 1980s when their staff combined with that of the now-defunct Chicago Daily News to create one of the top newspapers in the country – one that came very close to matching the Tribune’s circulation (about 700,000 copies sold per weekday for the Tribune, compared to about 650,000 sold per day for the Sun-Times).
MIKE ROYKO IS back in the newspaper. The Sun-Times on both Thursday and Friday reprinted columns he wrote for the newspaper during his six-year stint there, along with little boxes telling us whatever became of the people Royko wrote about.
It was interesting to learn that the Polish immigrant who got mugged and had the police thinking he was the robber did NOT wind up having his status affected by federal immigration authorities.
And it was refreshing to read a column that reported a story with a perspective, instead of just provided a forum for some literary gasbag to pontificate (a trend of which I am sometimes guilty of as well).
But it also had the negative effect of casting a pall over the rest of the paper – almost like it was showing us how much the publication has declined throughout the years. It was just as sad as last week when the Sun-Times editorial page reprinted a column written by Roger Simon.
OFFICIALLY, HE WAS a “guest columnist” filling the space of now-retired pundit Robert Novak. Yet I remember when Royko and Simon were the top columnists providing the Sun-Times with its voice in Chicago.
The Sun-Times is a newspaper whose ghosts have the potential to overshadow its current format. And that is not good.
There’s only so much old copy that can be reprinted before the Sun-Times becomes a nostalgia act. What comes next, the Sun-Times reprints the month-long series from 1977 about “The Mirage,” letting us know that the tavern on Superior Street was once used by the paper to document the degree to which government inspectors “shook down” small business owners?
It is in this environment that the present status of journalism came under scrutiny at the Chicago Tribune. The newspaper let several of its top editorial staffers go last week (including a managing editor, a Washington bureau manager and an ombudsman), and another 40 people were informed on Friday they no longer worked for the newspaper.
THE COMBINATION OF layoffs and buyouts are part of an effort to reduce expenses enough to allow Sam Zell and his people to claim a profit at a time when advertising lineage is plummeting.
When combined with positions that were vacant that will never be filled, there are now 80 fewer journalists working for the Chicago Tribune – although new Editor Gerould Kern wrote in a memo to staff (http://www.poynter.org/forum/view_post.asp?id=13544) that the truly significant number is 480.
That is the size of the Tribune’s remaining editorial staff, and he claims it to be bigger than any other newspaper publishing in the Midwestern U.S.
To me, what is intriguing about the Tribune these days is how it will cope with the losses of so many high-ranking people at once. Institutional memory is an important characteristic, even though some Tribune executives of today prefer to think of it as “museum-like” and dull.
BUT I CAN’T say I’m shocked that so many long-term Tribune people are willing to leave now. It’s not like the working conditions for those veteran newspeople paid much in the way of respect for their skills.
“Anybody in the newsroom over the age of 50 these days is being made to feel like they’re in Hell,” one veteran Tribune reporter recently told me.
With that kind of attitude prevailing, you can’t blame these people who thought they would devote their lives to disseminating the news for taking advantage of a generous buyout package (about a year’s salary along with continued health insurance benefits for some of the longer-serving journalists) for not working.
-30-
EDITOR’S NOTES: People who think the Internet is about finding video clips of kids fighting each other or cheerleaders landing on their butts might not care, but somebody (http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/Is_this_the_future_of_Philadelphia_journalism.html) has to figure out the future of who will generate the editorial content for websites, if the sites themselves are determined to take their copy from other sources. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times (which has felt disrespected by its Chicago owners) gave its assessment (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/webscout/2008/08/huffington-post.html) of the Chicago Tribune’s newest competitor for the attention of people wanting news and information about Chicago.
More than 11 years after his departure from this Earth (http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1107895,cst-nws-royko14.article), Royko’s back!
More jobs than expected (http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=30622) were lost at the Chicago Tribune in recent weeks. Meanwhile, the Sun-Times couldn’t help (http://www.suntimes.com/business/1110213,trib081508.article) but take a few digs at their competition’s financial problems.
Showing posts with label Arianna Huffington. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arianna Huffington. Show all posts
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
News-oriented websites not yet ready to be our primary source for news, information
The thought that Internet-based sites will replace newspapers as a primary source of news and information would not scare me so much if these sites were producing content that was worth reading.
Yet all too often, the sites that like to think they are creating a media revolution are doing little more than recycling the same stuff that any worthwhile newspaper is offering. For those people who think the Internet is superior because they can include snippets of related video, all I have to say is that anyone with a brain knows a good still photograph taken at the “moment of impact” will more dramatically tell a story than any video clip.
SO WHILE I am curious to see the project being undertaken by Arianna Huffington, the socialite who likes to think she’s the queen of Internet news, I am not expecting to see the “future” of Chicago newsgathering.
Specifically, Huffington is the politically oriented pundit who constantly turns up on television to pontificate about everything who three years ago started up her own website, the Huffington Post, as a way of creating and distributing half-intelligent features and commentary about the news.
Now, she wants to start creating sites oriented toward local markets across the United States, and she plans to start with the Second City. She has hopes of having a Chicago version of her website up and running before the August date on which Barack Obama (our hometown U.S. senator) formally receives the Democratic party’s nomination for president.
In theory, this means more competition on an already clogged Internet landscape, although the prospect of yet another Chicago-oriented site commenting on the news doesn’t scare me so much. Very few of these sites generate much in the way of content – other than telling me why they think the Chicago Tribune “stinks.”
I HAVE MY own reasons for believing that (and for realizing that the Tribune at times also does some of the finest work in journalism today). I don’t need some Internet geek to reinforce it.
Doing a local news report of any substance is a labor-intensive operation. It takes people actually doing the legwork to root around the much of facts and figure out which are of any substance and worthy of being written up into stories. There are times I realize how much better this weblog’s offerings would be if more were done in the way of reporting.
Which stories then deserve further analysis or commentary is another skill that takes time to acquire as one learns the intricacies of the Chicago market (I’m not saying only a native Chicagoan can learn, but it takes someone who is willing to become a Chicagoan “in spirit” to truly accomplish this).
From what I hear, the Chicago version of the Huffington Post (I’m not sure exactly what she plans to name the new site) is not going to be generating much in the way of copy. It plans to follow the business plan of many websites – scour through existing news and information and collect them in one place, with links taking a reader to specific places across the Internet where the news is really being reported.
BASICALLY, THE PERSON who puts together this new report is going to be someone who is content to sit in front of a laptop or some other computer and read other people’s work – rather than getting off his or her duff and come up with information that would allow them to create original journalism.
Why should I bother to read this new site when (in all likelihood) it will do little more than guide me to stories in the Chicago Tribune or Chicago Sun-Times that Arianna’s editor thinks I should read? I’m already scanning through those sites and many others (and reading the actual papers, which is a superior reading experience than any website can offer).
When it becomes a reality, I will read through her site a few times to figure out what it is actually adding to the mix of news and features. A pure aggregator of other peoples’ content would be worthless.
On the off chance that the site does generate a piece or two of original content, I’m not concerned. I believe the original content and commentary of the Chicago Argus (and its sister weblog, The South Chicagoan) is superior to anything her people will generate.
BUT THERE ARE not a lot of websites that are generating much in the way of original content. In fact, the business model of too many Internet-oriented information businesses seems predicated on the concept that someone else is paying for the actual compilation of facts into copy and other content that goes on the sites.
So what’s my point here?
I welcome Arianna Huffington to Chicago. I’m also awaiting the arrival of the Politicker, the New York Observer-affiliated collection of political websites meant to cover government intensely in each state. For some reason, these people think sites in places like Vermont and Nevada were more important to start up than a site for a place like Illinois – or anything in the Midwest region surrounding the Great Lakes.
Let them come and try to put together something that pretends to be a local news report.
UNLESS THEY ARE willing to start significant amounts of time and money (in short, to conduct herself like she is publishing one of those dastardly newspapers that the Internet is supposedly exterminating) into compiling the news, their products won’t be all that significant. Huffington will find that the existing newsgathering organizations are doing a more detailed job of informing people than she can dream of.
Advertising on the Internet is not yet at the point where it can support such an intensive newsgathering effort, so they likely would have to kick in some of their own cash to start things off. That is not likely.
For all we know, the Politicker will never arrive in Illinois. And Huffington could easily come and go from Chicago by year’s end, unless she views this project similar to how Rupert Murdoch views the New York Post.
Old Rupert (who some people think still owns the Sun-Times, even though he sold it off 22 years ago) views ownership of a local newspaper in New York City as being something that adds a touch of personal pride to NewsCorp and cannot be measured by accountants and therefore is worthwhile, no matter how much money it loses.
Somehow, I don’t think she has Rupert’s spirit in her.
-30-
EDITOR’S NOTES: Some news organizations view places such as the Huffington Post as a way of (http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-sun-rosenthal-22jun22,0,534813.column) directing more people to read their content.
I’m not alone in being skeptical that a Chicago-oriented version of the Huffington Post will have much of a chance (http://thecapitolfaxblog.com/2008/06/23/advocacy-journalism/) of catching on among people who want news of the Second City.
Arianna Huffington has a vision that a one-person staff can put together a site that (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jun/19/digitalmedia.pressandpublishing?gusrc=rss&feed=media) out-reports the existing news media. Take it from someone who is a one-person staff for this site – no one should ever be deluded enough to think the Chicago Argus does anything more than supplements existing news organizations.
Yet all too often, the sites that like to think they are creating a media revolution are doing little more than recycling the same stuff that any worthwhile newspaper is offering. For those people who think the Internet is superior because they can include snippets of related video, all I have to say is that anyone with a brain knows a good still photograph taken at the “moment of impact” will more dramatically tell a story than any video clip.
SO WHILE I am curious to see the project being undertaken by Arianna Huffington, the socialite who likes to think she’s the queen of Internet news, I am not expecting to see the “future” of Chicago newsgathering.
Specifically, Huffington is the politically oriented pundit who constantly turns up on television to pontificate about everything who three years ago started up her own website, the Huffington Post, as a way of creating and distributing half-intelligent features and commentary about the news.
Now, she wants to start creating sites oriented toward local markets across the United States, and she plans to start with the Second City. She has hopes of having a Chicago version of her website up and running before the August date on which Barack Obama (our hometown U.S. senator) formally receives the Democratic party’s nomination for president.
In theory, this means more competition on an already clogged Internet landscape, although the prospect of yet another Chicago-oriented site commenting on the news doesn’t scare me so much. Very few of these sites generate much in the way of content – other than telling me why they think the Chicago Tribune “stinks.”
I HAVE MY own reasons for believing that (and for realizing that the Tribune at times also does some of the finest work in journalism today). I don’t need some Internet geek to reinforce it.
Doing a local news report of any substance is a labor-intensive operation. It takes people actually doing the legwork to root around the much of facts and figure out which are of any substance and worthy of being written up into stories. There are times I realize how much better this weblog’s offerings would be if more were done in the way of reporting.
Which stories then deserve further analysis or commentary is another skill that takes time to acquire as one learns the intricacies of the Chicago market (I’m not saying only a native Chicagoan can learn, but it takes someone who is willing to become a Chicagoan “in spirit” to truly accomplish this).
From what I hear, the Chicago version of the Huffington Post (I’m not sure exactly what she plans to name the new site) is not going to be generating much in the way of copy. It plans to follow the business plan of many websites – scour through existing news and information and collect them in one place, with links taking a reader to specific places across the Internet where the news is really being reported.
BASICALLY, THE PERSON who puts together this new report is going to be someone who is content to sit in front of a laptop or some other computer and read other people’s work – rather than getting off his or her duff and come up with information that would allow them to create original journalism.
Why should I bother to read this new site when (in all likelihood) it will do little more than guide me to stories in the Chicago Tribune or Chicago Sun-Times that Arianna’s editor thinks I should read? I’m already scanning through those sites and many others (and reading the actual papers, which is a superior reading experience than any website can offer).
When it becomes a reality, I will read through her site a few times to figure out what it is actually adding to the mix of news and features. A pure aggregator of other peoples’ content would be worthless.
On the off chance that the site does generate a piece or two of original content, I’m not concerned. I believe the original content and commentary of the Chicago Argus (and its sister weblog, The South Chicagoan) is superior to anything her people will generate.
BUT THERE ARE not a lot of websites that are generating much in the way of original content. In fact, the business model of too many Internet-oriented information businesses seems predicated on the concept that someone else is paying for the actual compilation of facts into copy and other content that goes on the sites.
So what’s my point here?
I welcome Arianna Huffington to Chicago. I’m also awaiting the arrival of the Politicker, the New York Observer-affiliated collection of political websites meant to cover government intensely in each state. For some reason, these people think sites in places like Vermont and Nevada were more important to start up than a site for a place like Illinois – or anything in the Midwest region surrounding the Great Lakes.
Let them come and try to put together something that pretends to be a local news report.
UNLESS THEY ARE willing to start significant amounts of time and money (in short, to conduct herself like she is publishing one of those dastardly newspapers that the Internet is supposedly exterminating) into compiling the news, their products won’t be all that significant. Huffington will find that the existing newsgathering organizations are doing a more detailed job of informing people than she can dream of.
Advertising on the Internet is not yet at the point where it can support such an intensive newsgathering effort, so they likely would have to kick in some of their own cash to start things off. That is not likely.
For all we know, the Politicker will never arrive in Illinois. And Huffington could easily come and go from Chicago by year’s end, unless she views this project similar to how Rupert Murdoch views the New York Post.
Old Rupert (who some people think still owns the Sun-Times, even though he sold it off 22 years ago) views ownership of a local newspaper in New York City as being something that adds a touch of personal pride to NewsCorp and cannot be measured by accountants and therefore is worthwhile, no matter how much money it loses.
Somehow, I don’t think she has Rupert’s spirit in her.
-30-
EDITOR’S NOTES: Some news organizations view places such as the Huffington Post as a way of (http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-sun-rosenthal-22jun22,0,534813.column) directing more people to read their content.
I’m not alone in being skeptical that a Chicago-oriented version of the Huffington Post will have much of a chance (http://thecapitolfaxblog.com/2008/06/23/advocacy-journalism/) of catching on among people who want news of the Second City.
Arianna Huffington has a vision that a one-person staff can put together a site that (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jun/19/digitalmedia.pressandpublishing?gusrc=rss&feed=media) out-reports the existing news media. Take it from someone who is a one-person staff for this site – no one should ever be deluded enough to think the Chicago Argus does anything more than supplements existing news organizations.
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