Category Archives: Journalism

I Too Speak English ‘Goodly’

Business, English, Journalism, libertarianism, Media, Outsourcing

The Orange County Register is trying a new way to cut costs:

[O]utsourcing to India. Mindworks Global Media will copy edit some of the papers stories for a one-month trial starting next week. And a community newspaper owned by the O.C. Register’s parent company–it didn’t name which one–will outsource page layout to Mindworks, which is based outside New Delhi. …
Copyeditors do a lot more than spell checking; they also take on syntax and grammatical issues, thinking about local idioms and sayings.
Is that outsourcable? Chief copyeditors at places like the New York Times and New Yorker are revered. If that part of the newsroom is sent overseas, what’s next, reporting?

As a matter of interest, I had offered my weekly column, “Return to Reason,” to the Orange County Register. I had proposed to undercut any of the crappy syndicated columns the paper features. I had promised to suitably tone down and tailor the tenor of the column too.

You’d think a libertarian paper would give preference over its editorial pages to a few of America’s underappreciated libertarian writers. Or, at the very least, choose to “reinvent itself” with something interesting, instead of the banal, boring, oft-immoral columns that are distributed to hundreds of newspapers across the country.

(I even submitted a shortened version of the fiercely libertarian “They’re Coming For Your Kids,” whose passion and reason only writer William N. Grigg approached. I’m sure he too would not mind replacing the syndicated Larry Elder in the OCR.)

But, I was lucky to get a reply. Courtesy is scarce among the American editorial-page establishment. On the odd occasions my column was published, it was expected to be gratis.

I’m a little tied up now with writing obligations—columns and book—but hey, OCR, if India disappoints, I’m an ace editor. I speak and write English goodly; exceptionally goodly. I’ll both outperform and undercut Delhi.

I Too Speak English 'Goodly'

Business, English, Journalism, libertarianism, Media, Outsourcing

The Orange County Register is trying a new way to cut costs:

[O]utsourcing to India. Mindworks Global Media will copy edit some of the papers stories for a one-month trial starting next week. And a community newspaper owned by the O.C. Register’s parent company–it didn’t name which one–will outsource page layout to Mindworks, which is based outside New Delhi. …
Copyeditors do a lot more than spell checking; they also take on syntax and grammatical issues, thinking about local idioms and sayings.
Is that outsourcable? Chief copyeditors at places like the New York Times and New Yorker are revered. If that part of the newsroom is sent overseas, what’s next, reporting?

As a matter of interest, I had offered my weekly column, “Return to Reason,” to the Orange County Register. I had proposed to undercut any of the crappy syndicated columns the paper features. I had promised to suitably tone down and tailor the tenor of the column too.

You’d think a libertarian paper would give preference over its editorial pages to a few of America’s underappreciated libertarian writers. Or, at the very least, choose to “reinvent itself” with something interesting, instead of the banal, boring, oft-immoral columns that are distributed to hundreds of newspapers across the country.

(I even submitted a shortened version of the fiercely libertarian “They’re Coming For Your Kids,” whose passion and reason only writer William N. Grigg approached. I’m sure he too would not mind replacing the syndicated Larry Elder in the OCR.)

But, I was lucky to get a reply. Courtesy is scarce among the American editorial-page establishment. On the odd occasions my column was published, it was expected to be gratis.

I’m a little tied up now with writing obligations—columns and book—but hey, OCR, if India disappoints, I’m an ace editor. I speak and write English goodly; exceptionally goodly. I’ll both outperform and undercut Delhi.

Navel-Gazing Nation?

America, Journalism, Media, The Zeitgeist

The coverage of Tim Russert’s untimely death is obscene. Can you imagine the BBC lamenting for days on end the passing of one of their broadcasters, or even the head of the BBC network? Never. It would not happen. You’d hear a curt, solemn announcement to the effect that, “Our colleague has passed away tragically. We mourn his death and extend our condolences to his family. Now to the news of the day.”

This pathological coverage, once again, is of a piece with the childish, self-centered, deeply silly American media, which knows not what its proper mandate is. Has such impropriety afflicted the national psyche? You tell me. I suspect most Americans are preoccupied with other matters. I hope so.

Mature, normal people know when to grieve, how publically, how loudly, and how long. When the president of the US pauses, on an official visit abroad, to declare to the world how sad he is about the death of a man his audience doesn’t know—you know what a naval-gazing nation we’ve become.

This kind of coverage applies with spades to the elections: Since 2007, cable networks have focused exclusively on the elections to the exclusion of most other new and certainly world news.

As I asked in “Elections Fatigue”: “America’s pathological, election-time self-absorption makes a mockery of the idea that the US is suited to lead the world. Shouldn’t a world leader take an interest in the world?”

I suspect that Mr. Russert would have been appalled by the choice of broadcasting his colleagues have made.

Update II: Tim Russert Dead At 58

Journalism, Media

When a relatively young–presumably healthy–person like Mr. Russert dies suddenly, it is a reminder of one’s own mortality.

Tim Russert seemed a genial, if unremarkable, gentleman, which is more than one can say about most other media personalities.

Update I: I must say I was never able to detect the telltales of an interesting mind in Mr. Russert, but as his friends eulogize him, I will say this: He was objective and I never made out his political preferences or biases.

In the arid journalistic landscape of today perhaps that is in itself remarkable.

I find the instant eulogizing media has launched into a little distasteful. It’s too soon, too loud, and too self-referential—each personality making sure his relationship vis-à-vis Russert is front-and-center.

The man is not yet in the ground. Some quiet grief seems in order–a time to ration speech for a change.

Update II: Russert did prepare extremely well for all his interviews. Again, that’s rare in journalism nowadays. He was also a devout Catholic and devoted father and son. What’s not to admire about that?

Here’s what I find ironic: Keith Olbermann has been leading the tribute to Tim on MSNBC. Although there are aspects of Olbermann’s show that are appreciated—his coverage of the war and the demise of civil liberties under Bush—”Countdown” is pure advocacy, not journalism. I read recently, moreover, that Russert was deeply disturbed about this development—the turn against journalistic objectivity MSNBC had taken with “Countdown.” If this is the case, how does letting the Obamacentric Olbermann lead the network’s extolment honor Russert and his mission?