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November 6, 2004
PressThink is Looking for a Second Author (Maybe) and a Donor (Definitely)"Odds are the right person is a journalist or ex-journalist, or has a background in media studies. But who knows? It could be someone young. Or retired. It would help broaden PressThink's sensibility to have someone female. It could be an inspired amateur with no background at all who's great with the Web."PressThink is thinking of expanding the masthead and taking on a contributor— one person to help me do this blog. Contributions once or twice a week, more when I am traveling or otherwise unable to write. I need someone familiar with the blog, able to diagnose and write vividly about press behavior, press thinking, press pyschology, as well as the tensions between mainstream journalism and the Web. Also someone able to research the Web, pile up the links, perhaps solicit guest writers, monitor comments, and generally add to the life of the site as it gains traffic and draws attention. Odds are the right person is a journalist or former journalist, or has a background in media studies. But who knows? It could be someone young. Or retired. It would help broaden PressThink’s sensibility to have someone female. It could be an inspired amateur with no background at all who’s smart and informed and great with the Web. And it could be that my search turns up no one quite right, so I drop the idea. The exact nature of the contributor’s contributions will depend, of course, on the contributor’s strengths and interests; but for one model see Terry Teachout’s About Last Night, elegantly written and designed. It features a regular guest commentator, Our Girl in Chicago. This is not a job. I can’t pay (well, maybe a small amount that would be symbolic only). But I can get the right person many thousands of readers—including working journalists—some blog visibility, your name in Google, a chance to have voice in debates about the future of the press, and to plunge into Web publishing, build a brand. You would need about 10-15 free hours a week to do this well. Also, I am looking also for a donor—foundation or individual—who might be persuaded to make a (tax-deductible) gift to NYU for purposes of sustaining and improving PressThink. The most immediate need is to pay a second contributor; beyond that I have other ideas for an expanded service that take investment. I also need a re-design. Finally, I renew my call to professional journalists who have something to say to their colleagues in the mainstream press about the predicament of the press in the wake of the 2004 election, and in light of bigger developments all around us. I would like to continue the examination of old think in the press, begun by ex-New York Timesman Doug McGill (The Fading Mystique of an Objective Press) and Sacramento Bee columnist Daniel Weintraub (No Longer Do the Newsies Decide.) Background to those pieces was my post: Too Much Reality. If you have an interest in any of these three items—second author, donor, gues writer—just e-mail me and we’ll take it from there. Thanks.
Posted by Jay Rosen at November 6, 2004 7:21 AM
Comments
Jay, I've got to say, I think this is one of the most *insightful* posts recently here. Full of good FACTUAL nuggets: "I can get the right person many thousands of readers--including working journalists ..." "... build a brand. You would need about 10-15 free hours a week to do this well. ..." "... gift to NYU for purposes of sustaining and improving PressThink" Ah, gatekeepers, barriers to entry, financial constraints ... Have you tried the Soros foundation? It's the one I've had mentioned to me most often. It won't support individuals (sigh ...), but per above, you might be able to work the NYU angle. Let us know how it goes, really. Posted by: Seth Finkelstein at November 6, 2004 7:44 PM | Permalink Definitely get a journalist in here to work with you side by side. Posted by: John Adams at November 6, 2004 8:22 PM | Permalink I vote for Rebecca MacKinnon. And here's a fine "blog comments civility" idea, which could kill two birds with one stone, if only it worked: Just as in bars(?) where if you swear you have to put a quarter in the [for whatever purpose] jar, in the comments you could have an "off topic" or "incivility" fine, which escalates with each successive infraction. The money could go toward paying your co-contributor, and would accrue rapidly. Yes, there is still the small matter of getting the commenters to pay up Posted by: Anna at November 7, 2004 12:57 AM | Permalink I'd reccomend Jan Herman over Terry Teachout Posted by: David Ehrenstein at November 7, 2004 8:39 PM | Permalink I think that, if the credentials are there, having a female voice here would be fantastic, as we, by definition, write from a different frame of reference towards the world than you/males. I think you have two choices in terms of that person's voice: erudite/philosophical like yourself, or more pithy/sharp to provide a contrast. (Which is not to say you aren't pithy/sharp, of course, just that your posts tend to be meaty and thought-provoking vs. short and punchy.) I'd love to see someone who is in their late 20s - mid-30s, who has been a generational bridge from the newspaper/broadcast era to the online/24x7/DIY era. I think people of that age group can offer unique perspectives. Finally, you might want to consider bringing in someone who is not on the inside of journalism, but who is a close observer/student of it. As I re-read the above suggestions, I noticed all of them tend to fall under "a different perspective to the same topic." I cannot nominate someone here off of the top of my head, but I look foward to the conclusion! (The above choices are interesting, but they already have broad pulpits. A new voice might be better.) Posted by: Elizabeth Albrycht at November 8, 2004 8:30 AM | Permalink This is a great inside baseball journalism blog, but I can tell from your questions sometimes that what this site needs in terms of analysis is someone who has all kinds of journalism experience plus professional academic training, steeped in the tradition of a research university. An English degree from Yale and a few years working for a mainstream newspaper is not enough, sorry. Most Ph.D. academics are too busy trying to publish so they won't perish that they don't have time for this kind of involvement with the profession. I decided a couple of years ago to leave academe and get back in the news business and to publish online rather than in obscure academic journals. I would be glad to help however I can now that I have some time on my hands. I'm not a woman or a minority, if you don't count my Cherokee blood, but I could offer a bit of regional and economic diversity. I'm just a poor working man's liberal reporter from the American South. To check out the most recent example of what I do online in my Sunday weekly column, here's the link: http://www.southerner.net/blog/weeklyblog049.html The main url for the daily headline site is here: My journalism experience clips page is here: And here's my resume, which is adapted from my academic curriculum vita:
Posted by: Glynn Wilson at November 8, 2004 12:42 PM | Permalink I am curious if interesting new technologies were discussed. Today, the experience of the user of a blog is to read it (with or without an aggregator), maybe read the comments, and maybe comment. Perhaps one follows blogrolls. Trackbacks allow blogs to interact automatically, but I haven't seen much come out of them. For blogs with comment sections, the commenters tend to form a community. But the comment technology is quite crude - just a list of comments. Threaded comments would be interesting (a la Slashdot) and allow the inevitable off topic drift to be ignored by those who don't care. Obviously blogs and journalism interacted this year. Bloggers had more influence than I expected - if nothing else, by casting shame on some journalists who didn't do fact checking. Blogging is a relatively new technology, with developing variations in usage. But as a techie who started with analog computers and an IBM 7095, it feels like more is on the way. There is bound to be something else that has as big an impact. It might replace blogging with something else, just as blogging has sort of replaced Usenet. It might greatly enhance it. Any clues at the conference? Blog + Wiki? Posted by: John Moore at November 8, 2004 5:24 PM | Permalink I think the content is the key be it printed or cyber. With so little actual original reporting on blogs what we have is a public op-ed page. For those who've tried to collect the $375 that the NY Times pays contributors for these pieces doing it for free is much easier. Generally it's the only way you'll be successful at it. That's because the papers are picky, blogs are not. Posted by: John Adams at November 9, 2004 9:41 AM | Permalink I will apply for second authorship. You can look at my site tomgrey.motime.com to see how I look at things, I'll submit my own cover letter separately. John Moore would be a good choice, too -- don't know why he didn't offer himself above. But if you want a woman, why not go for an evangelical, instead? FAR more under represented in MSM. Heck, why not a Black, female, evangelical? Of course, I mean the fabulous LaShawn Barber. Maybe she doesn't know you're looking... Posted by: Tom Grey - Liberty Dad at November 12, 2004 9:29 AM | Permalink |
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