Storytime

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Adjusting the News

“How does a news organization set, re-set, and adjust every day the balance between sizzle and steak, between glitter and grist, between what’s fun to know and what’s important to know? 

“News has to always be both and can’t ever be just one. If it’s just froth and eye-candy, it’s not news but entertainment. If it’s just worthy lectures, it’s boring and goes unseen. Professors can make students read their books. Reporters and editors can’t.”

 —James Fallows, senior correspondent, “Everything Old Is New Again, and Vice Versa: The Predicament of the Press,” The Atlantic, May 2014 (Image: Steve Breen, San Diego Union Times)

• Editorial Comment: I get it. Sort of “conflating” news and fun into better stories. And that’s the way it is now.

PeezPix by Ted Pease 

Godbeams











TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 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.) 
 
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
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