A couple of larger media stories:
Sure, the Herald’s newscaster photo stunt is a little gimmicky, but it’s also a clever way at illustrating a serious issue that in another presentation (say, chock full of Nielsen research numbers) would make readers’ eyes gloss over. Of course, there are three reasons young people don’t watch the network, especially local, news: 1) broadcast times don’t match their lifestyle; 2) they’re not serious-minded enough; and 3) newscasts don’t speak to issues that matter to them. It’s hard to realistically gauge which mix of the three is responsible, but there’s certainly room wide open for some enterprising newscast to go with #3 and see about getting a new audience.
Dan Kennedy makes a convincing case that the New Republic’s subscription wall has cut the periodical’s stature down several notches. Perhaps it’s worth adding that the wall has come at the worst time, when the magazine’s rabin pro-Iraq war stance (and its condescending tone) has alienated much of its liberal readership without doing too much to gain a conservative audience.
Finally, Scot Lehigh’s op-ed on the Olympics reveals a most tortured inability to sustain a tone. Wild shifts from sarcasm to straightforward observations like "seemed put off by the story line NBC pressed upon them" would be fine for a blogger, but doesn’t Lehigh have an editor?
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