Too Cute

.

The Cat News

“‘That the 21st century New York Times devotes space to cat stories might appear silly, if not pathetic,’ Ehrlich* writes. But it’s neither, he explains. We understand our world, in part, through the art of the story, and cats do us great service as proxies in our struggle to frame the world. Plus they’re cute. Their stories provide reporters, editors and readers relief from life’s toil, which dominates the rest of the paper. Plus they’re cute. Cats reconnect us, however tangentially, to the animal world. Plus they’re cute.”

—Jack Shafer, senior media writer, “Why BuzzFeed’s Exploding Watermelon Won’t Destroy Journalism,” Politico, April 18, 2016 (Thanks to alert WORDster and cat-watcher John Ward)

*Matthew C. Ehrlich, “Taking Animal News Seriously: Cat Tales in the New York Times,” Journalism, 2014.

• Editorial Comment: The New York Times had 10 Pulitzer finalists this year. Pretty cute.

PeezPix by Ted Pease

The Taxi







Get TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM in your email every weekday morning during WORD season. This is a free “service” sent to the 2,000,000 or so misguided subscribers around the planet. If you have recovered from whatever led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. But all contain at least a kernel of insight. Don’t shoot the messenger.) #tedsword
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

“Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard
.