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ABOUT THIS COLUMN
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On Thursdays. we ask Poynter faculty and staff for their impressions of the week's news. By Friday morning, their musings on the news can be found here, at www.poynter.org/thisweek.
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Our impressions of this week (March 20-24, 2006) in media:
Flashback three years; Civil rights landmarks; Japan defeats Cuba; Basque separatists declare ceasefire
David Shedden
Library director
Monday, March 20:
The week began with the news media looking back.
Here is an excerpt from a story in the San Antonio (Texas) Express-News:
Iraq Boils, Three Years Later
BAGHDAD, Iraq --
Clashes between U.S. forces and suspected insurgents -- and fresh
allegations of American troops killing Iraqi noncombatants -- marked
the third anniversary Sunday of the start of the '03 American-led Gulf War II.
President
Bush marked the anniversary by touting the efforts to build democracy
there and avoiding any mention of the daily violence that rages three
years after he ordered the invasion.
The president didn't utter the word "war."
The war
began on March 19, [2003], Washington time -- early morning March in
Baghdad -- when Bush authorized an early strike by U.S. fighter-bombers
and offshore Tomahawk cruise missiles on a Baghdad bunker where Saddam
Hussein was reported to be sleeping.
Tuesday, March 21:
41 years ago today:
On March 21, 1965, the news media reported that Martin Luther King Jr. had begun a civil-rights march in Selma, Alabama. The Washington Star and Haynes Johnson would win a 1966 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished coverage of the civil rights conflict in Selma and particularly the reporting of its aftermath.
Wednesday, March 22:
The Tokyo, Japan newspaper, Asahi Shimbun, reported on its country's win over Cuba in the World Baseball Classic final. Here is an excerpt from a story on the paper's English-language Web site:
WORLD CHAMPIONS!
World Baseball Classic: Japan 10, Cuba 6
SAN DIEGO -- National honor restored, and then some!
After
a dismal showing at the recent Turin Winter Olympics, Japan's baseball
team did the nation proud Monday, beating Cuba 10-6 in the final of the
inaugural World Baseball Classic.
Thursday, March 23:
A big international news story from Spain dealt with the Basque separatist group ETA's declaration of a permanent ceasefire. The Madrid newspaper, El Mundo, has a special section about ETA on its Web site. (You may need to use a language-translation tool.)
Friday, March 24:
Each weekday, Poynter highlights the front page of a newspaper somewhere in the world. You can view the current ones at Page One Today / March.
Editors' Daily Dose of ROMENESKO
Jim Romenesko
Senior online reporter/ROMENESKO
We learned this week that
New York Times executive editor Bill Keller
doesn't read ROMENESKO
and other media blogs because "they can lead to a tremendous and to a
somewhat disorienting degree of self-absorption." No hurt feelings,
Bill, but I have to say you're missing a lot of good stuff about the
newspaper industry.
I'm pleased to report that other editors
are reading ROMENESKO. I learned that from the current issue of
The American Editor
[PDF], the magazine put out by the American Society of Newspaper
Editors. Here's what some news execs have to say about ROMENESKO:
"It's
not one of my priorities, but if there's something important on
Romenesko, I figure someone will tell me about it -- and they usually
do." -- PAUL ANGER,
DETROIT FREE PRESS"I know many
media executives and managers are cautious about what they send out to
their staffs for fear their memos might wind up in Jim's column." --
PAM FINE,
THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR"Because it is so widely
read by journalists, the echo effect can be overwhelming. [I'm]
convinced Howell Raines and Gerald Boyd lost their jobs because they
couldn't escape the Romenesko undertow. That said, it provides an
essential and immediate forum for discussion of important journalistic
issues." -- DOUG CLIFTON,
THE PLAIN DEALER (Cleveland, Ohio)
"His
site puts a spotlight on anything that goes wrong in the industry, and
then amplifies it. This country has a lot of good journalists and a lot
of good newspapers. That story is rarely told." -- VICKI GOWLER,
THE IDAHO STATESMAN
"It's great fun to see names of my buddies in the business make
headlines on Romenesko's site. And when ethics are challenged or
questioned, I value the insights from the best in our business that are
readily found there. Romenesko also can get the industry rumors flying
better than any other source. But he's not always there when the rumor
is shot down." -- JOAN KRAUTER,
BRADENTON (FLA.) HERALD"I
think Romenesko is a 'must-read' for anyone who really wants to keep up
with the daily nitty gritty of the business. That said, it's often
boring. Let's face it, the inside baseball of the news business is
often far from exciting." -- BILL ROSE,
THE PALM BEACH POST (West Palm Beach, Fla.)
Today, Argentina remembers the 30 anniversary of the military coup,...
