The Good Old Days of Newspapering
“On behalf of the newspaper industry (new, cost-cutting motto: ‘All the News That’), I wish to announce some changes we’re making to serve you better. When I say ‘serve you better,’ I mean ‘increase our profits.’ We newspapers are very big on profits these days. We’re a business, just like any other business, except that we employ English majors.”
—Dave Barry, columnist, The Miami Herald, 2001
Ted Kennedy Dead at 77 —The Boston Globe
“Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed.”
—U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass. (1932-2009)
RIP, Teddy.
Ted: welcome back. Now this fries my French.
ReplyDeleteLook at the example from today's Merriam's word of the day. Bet some disgruntled copy editor wrote it. .) Hoping you ain't the Edward who said it--Hanker
Look at the word of the day example--sheesh
Merriam-Webster’s
Word of the Day
August 26
dead hand
Meaning
1 : an inalienable possession of property by a church or corporation
*2 : the oppressive influence of the past
Example Sentence
"If newspapers wish to survive," said Edward, "then editors need to wrest free from the dead hand of print journalism and embrace the more dynamic capabilities of the Web."
I'd be happy if they did employ English majors -- trouble is, they don't; they employ Journalism majors and MBAs.
ReplyDeleteAnd graphics artists and designers who cut the space for text in order to make their pages look "more inviting."
(Don't know whether I mentioned that I and 21 other editorial employees were cut by the Free Press on June 23. I have since sent out countless résumés and job applications, to no avail. I'm doing a lot of volunteer work, some free-lance book editing, and writing pamphlets for political candidates. And doing a lot of reading.)
In ancient times, Inever thought I'd cry for Ted Kennedy, but I am become Niobe -- too many good people dying. Another giant gone.
J.
RE: Kennedy
ReplyDeleteAmen. Can you believe Fox News is almost embargoing the story? Amazing.