Jim Romenesko's column for the Poynter Institute's homepage is, for the most part, the only reason to visit the site. Built for journalists, Romenesko's link tidbits are the talking points that keep industry chatter flowing. But after a redesign of Poynter's site, Jim & Co. find themselves subjected to more backlash than usual. Is Romenesko just a dumping ground for he-said-she-said arguments and Sophie's Choice news about layoffs? CONTINUED »
"With typical Midwestern modesty, [Poynter industry blogger Jim Romenesko] says he didn’t set out to create a media-economics monitoring service but rather a national 'community of journalists' for 'people like me who are obsessed with newspapers.' That his site has become a high-tech tom-tom for angst-ridden members of a dying tribe was merely a side effect." [Portfolio]
That is, a gossip rag.
But the transition wasn't lost on Romenesko. That's why he launched the burgeoning coffee gossip blog Starbucks Gossip, though he claims its minuscule revenue "pays for my coffee and maybe a sandwich." Remember when that was the salary of a gossip blogger?
What’s the advice that Ken Rodriguez never got? “Don’t let anyone talk you out of your dream.”
Wow. Really, just wow. That's inspiring. We’re ditching this blogging thing and going to dental school.
We knew Jim Romenesko was taking it easy this week, but who knew he was phoning it in … through a 976 number?
So, remember yesterday when Keith Kelly wrote that Martin Dunn was about to be axed, and replaced by News of the World editor, Andy Coulson?
Well, apparently that rumor was about as factually correct as, well, your average issue of News of the World. In fact, Dunn himself writes to Jim Romenesko to set the record straight.
"As always, rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated," jokes the still-employed Daily News chieftain.
Oh, Martin. It's that incisive wit and penchant for sarcasm that enables you to come up with unbeatable headlines such as "Britney Shears" and "Father Nose Best," following Keith Richards' shocking revelation that he snorted his dead father's ashes along with a line or two of coke.
But we digress.
Dunn's full denial (which includes an anti-Keith Kelly barb!) after the jump.
But wouldn't that, like, put an end to Poynter's six-figure blogger?
• Aha. So this is why Jim Romenesko doesn't live in New York. [Gawker]
• This story on Anna Nicole Smith is not exactly about what the headline suggests it is. [AP]
• The same goes for this New York Times tea bagging story. [NYT]
• Christie Brinkley finally cuts that Peter Cook douchebag out of her life. Dina Lohan's Bungalow prospects just dropped by 5. [Star]
• Shiloh Jolie-Pitt gets papped for the first time. Hey, she had to pop her cherry at some point. [Mollygood]
Please, dear God, will something please happen? Please? Is this because everyone is off being fabulous and getting ready for the VMA's or because Lindsay Lohan's not in town … or because all the magazines already fired everyone that nothing is happening? Nothing.
We are really, really trying here people. Trying to bring you any sort of relevant and/or interesting information, but it's getting pretty damn close to impossible. We've even resorted to checking random media websites like "iMedia Connection." We know. It's pathetic. But, we found something that we are going to attempt to squeeze a joke out of. Starbucks! The only thing Jim Romenesko has to live for on days like today.
Starbucks is launching a "podcast series" called "Coffee Conversations." And they're airing on September 5.
September 5! The day when the Earth starts turning again and we all are so overwhelmed with Katie Couric and Radar (and something else we just wrote about but can't find in our new obnoxious, messed up archive system) that we will dance and dance in circles until we can't stop and we fall down. Wait, what were we talking about?
Oh, yeah, "Coffee Conversations." They are like these shows with people wearing socks and sandals (together) and probably have actually read Tuesdays With Morrie and well, we picture "Coffee Talk" except with WASPY gay men instead of a Jewish Mike Myers in drag.
The podcast will focus on the promoting the Starbucks brand with recipes, discussions about home brewing, and food and coffee pairings.
In July, Starbucks posted its weakest monthly same-store sales increase since 2001, according toe (sic.) Reuters. The new marketing push is to bring back consumers to the coffee chain.
Really? Starbucks saw a drop in sales? Could it have had anything to do with the fact that everyone just found out their stores are full of mouse poop and maggots? Surely, though, a podcast about how great/boring coffee is will really make us all forget.
Starbucks Serves Up Podcast [iMedia Connection]
Anyone who gets Jim Romensko to use the words "pull a Wemple" on his site is automatically our favorite person for at least a day. Which makes Bob Norman our favorite person of the day.
He is reporting that Sean Gardiner, a former Newsday reporter, is leaving Fourt Lauderdales' Sun-Sentinel to join the Village Voice as a reporter. And it doesn't look like he's going to bail out. Besides the free baby-sitting and corn beef sandwiches, there is something actually journalism related drawing him to this new job.
The basic reason I’m going to the Voice is because I’m a dinosaur, at least as far as the daily newspaper business goes. My strength is what I now hear called “long form journalism†(we used to just call it reporting out a story).
And in a true example of this ancient, rare form of writing about thoroughly investigated and "reported out" stories, Gardiner sheds some insight into the current situation at the alt weekly.
I’ve read about some of the stuff going on at the Voice. However it shakes out I look forward to working there. It appears to be the perfect job for me.
Wow. The New York Observer and Vanity Fair better watch out.
Sun-Sentinel Writer Headed to Village Voice [Daily Pulp]
Sometimes we could just run up to Jim Romenesko and kiss him.
He alone proves it is possible to find an alternative way to describe "snark," which is the most loathsome word in the blogosphere (thanks to Jon Friedman) it pains us to even utter it now.
Mr. Old School [Sam Slovick, LA Weekly via Romenesko]
• How long did it take Lizzie Grubman's intern to want a complete change of career? About three months. Too bad she didn't discover bloggers first. [Gawker]
• We wish were alive back when condoms were called scumbags. Whispering, "hey, you have a scumbag, right?" would just be awesome. [Slate]
• Sounds like Jessica Cutler may actually not get screwed. For once. [Wonkette]
• Walter Cronkite isn't the only one with a Katie Couric crush. We even think Jim Romenesko might have a chance. [NYO]
• Do people have to really, really, try to get into Harvard? Yes. They also need about 40 grand worth of "preparation services." [NYT]
• And just when you though perfume couldn't get any better than smelling like Britney Spears or Paris Hilton, Mariah Carey graces us with her shower spray. [Pop Sugar]
• Hey, New York Times! Yeah, you. 1999 just called — they want their "crazy Chinese tattoos are fake" story back. [NYT]
• Tales of an ex-newspaper addict are really, really terrifying. We feel so … so disoriented. [New City]
• Because when you get three friends or more together, buying movies online for $20 is so much cheaper than going to the theater. [ABC]
• Those deceptive little Trader Joe's winos are really pushing the buck. [Gothamist]
• Oh, Jim Romenesko, you got us good! When we accidentally clicked on something that led us to a "Bonnie Fuller plagiarized James Frey" tag, we got so excited. And so totally punk'd. [Romenesko]
• Katie Couric to CBS, Merideth Viera to Today, and Mimi Rogers to The View. And we're sure Elizabeth Spiers is just eating up the potential for media/Wall Street crossover. [Gawker, Ad Age]
• David Carr may think that indie mags can't make it, but Jefferson Hack is going to try to hack it down unda' anyway. [WWD]
• Michael Eisner's been to Disney, and feels he's finally ready for the Universal rides. [Mediaweek]
• Hey, Roger Clark! Take off your shirt! [NYO]
• Lucky and Cargo aren't the only mags with a magalog mentality. [Folio]
• Not to be rude, but can Bill O'Reilly, shut the fuck up? At least until next year? Christmas is over. [TV Newser]
• What is the standard reporting time for abducted journalists these days? How lucky are we for Jim Romenesko and his media mediation? [Romenesko]
We sort of understand why the Army, the Navy and all those soldier fighters aren't allowed to blog. They'll be blown up or get BCTs dropped on them or something. But the Washington Times staff? According to the Chicago Tribune, journos qualify as the type of "brilliant people" who should be allowed to blog. We don't understand.
Our bloggod Jim Romenesko explains: when Audrey Hudson's ran her mouth about Jack Abramoff on her personal blog, Wesley Pruden got a little pissed.
Memo from Washington Times editor-in-chief Wesley Pruden:
Any staff member who plans to set up or regularly contribute to an Internet blog, Web site, or other electronic billboard, posting service or message distribution system must first request and obtain permission from senior editors. We anticipate that most such requests will be granted if they come under these general conditions:
Oh, we so wish we could be there to watch the staffers run their Myspace and JDate accounts past Pruden for approval. Full memo after the jump.
Memo from Washington Times editor-in-chief Wesley Pruden [Jim Romenesko, Poynter]
Earlier: Operation Blogger Freedom
CONTINUED »
Jim Romenesko, the brass-knuckled blogger? That's what Slate's Bryan Curtis is claiming in Jimmy's treatment of college newspapers, where – thanks to this era of digital-giz-techno-net everything – students' mistakes are on full display for all to ridicule.
Having been both a columnist and editorial editor at our student newspaper, we know the pitfalls of work being published online. Like, it can even get syndicated.
But isn't university supposed to be a place where overambitious comm students can fuck up? Certainly, college newspapers must be the place to egregiously support underage drinking, racially offensive frat theme parties and a call for the chancellor to resign. Because if they're not, we're going to have to own up to the fact that student newspapers are just a grand excuse to print comics and crossword puzzles to complete during lectures.
The fear is that with the attention of big media, ambitious collegians may be tempted to skip ahead. They will put aside the date-rape and cafeteria stories and move too quickly into the dreariness of the "adult" world: COLA adjustments, forged National Guard documents, and so forth. The cherished intimacy of college journalism will give way to the partisan stew of the rest of it.
Though we like to think we can rest on the laurels of student apathy to keep that world far, far away from campus.
If there's one magazine you should pick up this week, it isn't Men's Vogue. Not that Jay Fielden's creation isn't worthy of your newsstand patronage, but, well, you should've bought it last week. This week is all about New York, which hits magazine racks touting its "Salary Guide" cover story.
Hundreds of salaries – supposedly accurate! – of New York's industry players are revealed, from the movie and film biz to media and (gasp) bloggers and (double gasp) porn moguls.
Rather than scroll through the whole list, we've put together the most satisfying comparisons for your cable news media-sized attention span.
• Brian Williams, Anchor, NBC Nightly News ($4 million) vs. Anderson Cooper, Host, Anderson Cooper 360 ($2 million) vs. Pat Kiernan, Anchor, NY1 ($200,000)
• Roger Ailes, Chairman, Fox News Channel ($7.1 million) vs. Andrew Heyward, President, CBS News ($1.5 million)
• Jake Gyllenhaal, Actor, Jarhead ($3 million) vs. Maggie Gyllenhaal, Actress, upcoming untitled Oliver Stone 9/11 film ($500,000)
• 50 Cent, Rapper, hyphenate ($50 million) vs. George M., Street musician, Astor Place subway station ($16,800)
• Martha Stewart, TV Star ($9.6 million) vs. Susan Lyne, CEO and president, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia ($4,714,469)
• Richard Johnson, “Page Six†gossip columnist ($300,000) vs. Jim Romenesko, Blogger, the Poynter Institute ($169,187) vs. Jessica Coen, Blogger, Gawker.com ($30,000)
• Bonnie Fuller, Editorial director, American Media ($1,574,851) vs. Janice Min, Editor, Us Weekly ($1.2 million)
• Russell Simmons, Founder, Phat Farm (from the sale of Phat Farm alone) ($119 million) vs. Kimora Lee Simmons, Creative director, Baby Phat ($17 million)
And just when you thought listicles were going out of industry fashion.
No longer are media scandals hidden away in Business sections or simply ignored. Thanks to journalists' devotion to buzzwords, we're pointed to the "The Romenesko Effect," which is essentially a glossy way of saying "blogs rock, man."
Apparently, there are whole sites devoted to media news and gossip. Who knew!
Using the new technology of the Internet to infuse newsroom scandals, gossip, and griping with tradition-soaked debates about journalistic ethics and practices, Romenesko and other online practitioners have democratized the closed and often-secretive news culture and put pressure on media executives to act more quickly under far greater scrutiny. The result: a heightened perception of public accountability.
We've been blogging for years and we never heard it described so sexy. Damn, sweets, we're sizzlin'.
Editorial Director
