From Neiman Reports, a special issue on Reporting from Faraway Places: Who does it and how? From NeoAmericanist, Andrew O'Connor on infotainment’s appeals and consequences. TV news is driven, more and more, by the latest scoops on JonBenet, Caylee, and Natalee; the inside story of how tabloid-TV stories are made, bought, and paid for — and Larry Garrison, the man who's often behind it all. Arianna Huffington has created a media upstart valued at $100 million — what's it really worth? How the drive to attract massive numbers of visitors to their Web sites (and the advertisers that might follow them) is having a profound effect on news judgment at traditional news organizations. Who is Howard Kurtz and why shouldn't you care? A question of credibility: Journalism is more than thorough research and investigation — it also includes the open handling of sources. The rules say reporters shouldn’t get involved with the people they cover, but when faced with the aftermath of a devastating earthquake, some veterans realized there are times to abandon professional standards. From CJR, the hamster wheel: Why running as fast as we can is getting us nowhere; video journalism is dying — long live video journalism; and an interview with Mike Liebhold of The Institute For the Future. He bribed, he blackmailed, he extorted, he lied — was Jack Anderson a reporter or a spook? (and more) A report from the borderland between history and journalism: Writing in new genres involves learning new skills and sometimes jettisoning old habits. Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club was once the favoured watering hole of veteran reporters, inspiring classic novels and countless brawls. Death to the Generic News Story: If I've read that headline a hundred zillion times before, it can't possibly be news. What's the point of journalism school, anyway? The rally to restore journalism: In both our media and our politics, style over substance has become the status quo.
