Romenesko

Slate
Yet sometimes the section promotes premises so flimsy -- more and more straight guys are embracing their love of cats! -- that somebody must shout stop, if only to restore the Times section to its honest awfulness, says Jack Shafer.
> Shafer joined other journos on "Covering the Campaign" panel

> Can new media fill the void left by community papers?
> East Valley Tribune layoffs list includes well-known bylines
> Small papers, nationals should be able to stabilize revenues
> Fate of Star-Ledger in hands of other papers' drivers, too
> Boston Herald looks 100% better with new presses
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Romenesko Letters | Talking Points Memo
"Lots of journalists have worked in situations more menacing than covering Sarah Palin," writes retired New York Times reporter Adam Clymer. "Covering civil rights in the South in the 60s was much scarier. George Wallace used to point us out -- 'The Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Baltimore Sun are here today....' But when he did that, his burly plainclothesmen would sidle over to make sure no one went after us." || Dana Milbank: "It's taken an uglier turn" on the campaign trail.

Romenesko Letters
After reading Dana Milbank's piece on the Palin rally crowd, "I need to update my [Sept. 24] letter regarding whether the news media should continue to legitimize the McCain campaign," writes Perry Parks. "In short, the answer is no. It's ridiculous for journalists (especially black ones) to have to feel like they're entering a war zone when they cover a political rally in the United States -- and it's downright sinister when that atmostphere is fomented by the campaign itself." || WP chatter: "She was inciting hatred if not violence."
> Rob Johnson: "Since when do journalists shrink from reporting where they aren't wanted?"
> Andrew Sullivan: The mainstream media should dismiss Palin's candidacy as a joke, but they'd be accused of bias if they did.

Poynter's TampaBay.com | YouTube.com | Baltimore Sun
That's what Eric Deggans asks after watching Jim Cramer's "non-apology apology" for delivering a hysterical, get-out-of-the-market message on Monday's "Today" show. Deggans adds: "That the 'Today' show has turned Cramer into some percolating sage of financial wisdom during the country's increasingly frightening economic meltdown is grounds for journalistic malpractice charges." || David Zurawik: It's time to rein in the likes of Cramer and Ali Velshi on CNN.

Beachwood Reporter
"After spending a week now with the new paper, there is no doubt in my mind that this is a vast improvement," writes Steve Rhodes. "I expected a colorful and more dynamic appearance, but what I've been seeing every day is bolder than I thought it would be -- including the fact that the paper is doing a nice job of pointing readers to the Internet in sensible ways, which is a rarity."

Soup Cans
"Wake up early enough to get my blood moving and my body stretched out," Will Lyman explains. "Try to do a mental and maybe a physical check of the three parts of the voice: bellows, reed and resonator/soundbox." Lyman, who has narrated PBS's "Frontline" for 25 years, calls the program "the best long-form news journalism on the air today. I take comfort in the fact that, when I feel like I haven't done anything else of much importance in the last 12 months, I can always point to 'Frontline' as a significant contribution."

Content Bridges
Last weekend's Mercury News had nine movie reviews with seven different bylines, notes Ken Doctor. "Why not pick among the best reviewers -- the web makes that incredibly easy -- and give their readers the consistent, known-over-time voice and judgment they want to know? Instead, newspapers have taken yet another franchise -- film reviewing -- and turned it into a commodity. I've noticed a similar phenomenon with restaurant reviews."

Mediaweek | Portfolio.com
Hearst Magazines veep John Loughlin also suggested that publishers use in-store promotions to help sales. He said at the American Magazine Conference that if the current trends continue, magazines could be facing a time when instead of 1,000 titles, 200 or fewer are on display in stores. The situation, he said, "is unfortunately incredibly fragile." || Jeff Bercovici: Not as much happy-talk at this year's conference.

Miami Herald

Miami Herald

In one purported 2007 e-mail message, new Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho told former Miami Herald and Boston Globe reporter Tania deLuzuriaga that ''I love and miss you too," in response to a message from her. Several of the messages include correspondence between deLuzuriaga and Boston Globe editors as she was applying for a job at that paper -- e-mails deLuzuriaga then forwarded to Carvalho. One included details of her relocation expenses to Boston, and another discussed Globe salaries.

Bloomberg News | Orange County Register
Freedom Communications says it drew down the balance of its revolving credit "several weeks ago" because of uncertainty in the financial markets. A spokeswoman declines to say how much the company drew on its credit line or give details of the covenant violations. || Related story and Freedom's release.

Washington Post
Reporters covering Sarah Palin in Clearwater were greeted with taunts by a crowd of about 3,000, reports Dana Milbank. When Palin blamed Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media," her supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks, shouting abuse and hurling obscenities. Milbank says one supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy." || Politico.com: Couric mocks Palin's reading list.

Washington Post
The news media should think hard about how much prominence it gives to candidates' smears and counter-smears, says Eugene Robinson. "And we should be relentless in demanding that the candidates talk about the economy and the wars and America's place in the world. If they won't sit down to be interviewed, we can shout our questions at them. If they filibuster, we can cut them off. If they give evasive answers, we can ask follow-up questions until we run out of breath."
> Richard Cohen: MSM flunks for giving Palin a passing grade

LAObserved.com
Kevin Roderick writes: "Some staffers were approached last week about volunteering, 'enticed' with the threat that this will be the absolute final time that editorial employees will receive two weeks severance pay for each year of service when they leave."

East Valley Tribune
The Mesa, AZ-based Tribune will withdraw from the Scottsdale and Tempe markets beginning in January when it goes to a four-days a week schedule and cuts 142 jobs. It will move to free distribution in other cities it will continue to serve. || More from Tim McGuire.

Wisconsin State Journal
"Most people back off in the middle of a fight and we journalists don't do that," says Ellen Foley, 56. But, "I have watched my husband almost die twice in the last year, and that experience has led me to the conclusion that I need to start a new chapter in my life." She left the Philadelphia Daily News in 2004 to take the Wisconsin job.
> In February, Foley's husband entered what she calls Cancerland

CNN.com | washingtonpost.com
Kathleen Parker has heard from about 11,000 readers since writing her column critical of Sarah Palin. "I think most of the comments were more along the lines of -- that I was jealous, that clearly I couldn't stand for a pretty woman like Sarah Palin to be rising to the vice presidency, that probably I should be," she tells Howard Kurtz. "And that actually hadn't entered my mind, but..." || ALSO: Kurtz's chat transcript.

> Why it's important that there be an alternative media
> Citizen journalist could face prison for false Jobs story
> Bob Edwards: Murrow would be a podcaster and blogger
> WP summer internship application deadline is approaching
> Arbitron's new ratings tool could kill black-owned radio
> "Billion-Dollar Lessons" author has some media observations
> WJLA, Politico have both benefited from their partnership
> NBC News was the first to started using WH as a backdrop

Cleveland Plain Dealer
Ombud Ted Diadiun calls this op-ed "a thoughtful, fascinating piece of work by one of the most thoughtful, fascinating people who work here" at the Plain Dealer. He adds, though that "people called it deplorable, degrading, offensive, disgusting. Some canceled subscriptions and others threatened cancellation unless the paper apologized." || More editor/ombud columns:
> NYT has been tougher on Obama than on McCain
> Miami Herald's news coverage has been fair to Palin
> Howell: GOP and Dem WP readers are venting daily
> What Indy Star editor told his staff before the veep debate
> Baton Rouge Advocate wins praise for hurricane coverage
> Brancaccio: I'm our Designated Wacky Question guy
> News & Observer will continue to run "Mallard Fillmore"

Columbia Journalism Review
Carla Savalli, who resigned last week as Spokane Spokesman-Review assistant managing editor, says what journalists want to cover may not be what readers want to read. "We tend to pick lofty topics and put all the things on A1 that appeal to us as journalists and wonks. If it's not politics or deep analysis, then we don't think it's worth it. But I think there's great value in putting a great read on the front. A real surprise. We're not dumbing down the content, but it's a surprise and will give people something to talk about."

Romenesko Misc.
David Greising (left) writes to Tribune innovation officer Lee Abrams after reading his memo on ad sections: "The labeling of 'Special Advertising Section' should not be looked at as something that devalues the advertising. We should view it as the opposite. The labeling protects the value of the advertising, because it protects the editorial foundation on which the advertising is built."
> Mutter's pals in Chicago complain about the retooled Tribune || More criticism

Palm Beach Post
"Newsmax is the Fox News of online," says the website's founder, Chris Ruddy. (His partner is Richard Mellon Scaife.) "We are the 800-pound gorilla that tells the other side of the story. Our demographic is very high-end, affluent, well-educated ... rich Republicans," he says.

Huffington Post
"Jon [Stewart] deconstructs the news, I falsely construct the news," explained Stephen Colbert at the New Yorker Festival. He added that he cares about his guests' feelings, but not what they think of him. ("There's a difference.") He hopes he doesn't offend them -- "because usually these are very nice people, except for Bill Kristol."

Advertising Age
They are Golf Digest, Vice, Tokion, Essence and Make. Simon Dumenco writes: "The way I think of an AMVA: It's a 'thank you' to magazine-industry leaders who are passionate enough about their editorial mission to think beyond print." || Earlier: Dumenco comes up with a National Magazine Awards alternative.

Advertising Age
The Econonist's ad pages are up 7.2% this year, while the other newsweeklies are down. Also, notes Nat Ives, "the Economist's editorial approach has remained consistent while others try to reimagine themselves. As many media outlets have played up their writers and pundits as personal brands, sometimes putting their names in huge fonts and heavy type, The Economist has continued to eschew bylines." || Ad Age's Editor of the Year: Is National Geographic's Chris Johns. || Idea of the Year (reader-generated content) and more.

Boston Herald
Two outside firms will now print the Herald. One of the 130 employees let go because of the outsourcing says: "Long live the Herald, and may Boston always remain a two-paper town. I just hope the rest of us are lucky enough to once again find the kind of jobs we can devote ourselves to, jobs that will give us that same sense of pride."

Washington Post
"We all failed," says CNBC's Charles Gasparino. "What we didn't understand was that this was building up. We all bear responsibility to a certain extent." Washington Post executive editor Marcus Brauchli tells Howard Kurtz: "I regret that when I was at the [Wall Street] Journal, we didn't keep the focus on some of these questions, including the possible moral hazard posed by the structure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These are really difficult issues to convey to a popular audience."

New Yorker | Gawker
That's what Lauren Collins observes after spending time with Arianna Huffington. "Dish is her capital -- the means by which she makes connections and maintains them," writes Collins. "Because she defines the agenda for the Huffington Post, which defines the agenda for so many readers, passing a tidbit her way is, in a sense, an investment. Proprietary hints are the dividend. || Ryan Tate: It's not the juicy takedown we had hoped for.
> Ex-Chicago Trib editor's mags column now on HuffPost

New York Magazine
"I'm sure they would all be interested, from [Times publisher] Arthur [Sulzberger] down, in anybody giving them a better idea on how to run the business more profitably," says former Times executive editor Max Frankel. But nobody has. Joe Hagan writes: "There is no magic bullet to save the paper. All Sulzberger can do is try to safeguard the paper's editorial quality -- not just because he believes in it, which he clearly does, but because it protects him from the family constituency."

USA Today | paidContent
Tina Brown says of The Daily Beast: "I want this to be a speedy read that captures the zeitgeist. We'll be smart and opinionated, looking to help cut through the volume with a keen sensibility." || Staci Kramer: "At first look, The Daily Beast reflects Brown's experience as editor of Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Tatler and founder/editor of short-lived Talk: culture mixed with news of the day, quick hits and deeper dives, bold-faced names blended with writers known and not-so-known."
> Compare Daily Beast's logo with Philly Daily News'