AltWeeklies Wire
The News Wars Are Comingnew
If it's fight or die on the new media landscape, does anyone think traditional media won't fight? The classic portents of serious battle are converging.
Chicago Reader |
Michael Miner |
08-17-2009 |
Media
Sportswriters Can't Decide Whether Steroids is a Black Mark or a Gray Areanew
Baseball scribes would rather moralize about performance-enhancing drugs than make hard decisions about whether their use should keep players out of the Hall of Fame.
Chicago Reader |
Michael Miner |
07-27-2009 |
Sports
The Peculiar Challenges of Archiving Newspapers in the Information Agenew
Newspapers are practicing a journalism that will probably turn out to be as different from tomorrow's as it is from yesterday's. Transitional periods are fascinating as they happen and damned hard later to reconstruct. How complete will the record be of this one?
Chicago Reader |
Michael Miner |
07-07-2009 |
Media
Here Comes the Judge: The Web's Anything-Goes Era Can't Last Forevernew
In short, pretty much anything goes on the internet. But many signs suggest the courts aren't happy with this state of affairs, and web hosts don't expect it to last.
Chicago Reader |
Michael Miner |
06-15-2009 |
Media
Does 'The Sun' Have Anything to Teach the Miserable Newspaper?new
Sy Safransky, The Sun's founder, editor, and publisher, doesn’t worry about advertising falling off because the Sun carries none. The readers, almost all of them subscribers, pay the freight.
Chicago Reader |
Michael Miner |
04-13-2009 |
Media
Outrageless: Is Chicago More Complacent Than Other Big Cities?new
Big news in Chicago can be something of an illusion. Look closely after a media feeding frenzy subsides and you’ll often see that not only has little or nothing changed but no actual confrontation of any consequence has taken place between the powers that be and outraged elected officials, activists, and citizens.
Chicago Reader |
Michael Miner |
01-26-2009 |
Commentary
Being Obama: The President, Electednew
You didn't have to drink the Kool-Aid to see that the country was transformed just by choosing Barack Obama. Not since Kennedy has a president-elect so clearly stood for a new generation taking over.
Chicago Reader |
Michael Miner |
01-16-2009 |
Commentary
Inside Patrick Fitzgerald's Timing on the Blago Casenew
Did he compromise his own investigation to sound the alarm on Blagojevich? Or did the Chicago Tribune do it for him?
Chicago Reader |
Michael Miner |
12-22-2008 |
Commentary
Election '08: We Knew it Would End This Waynew
They said the 2008 presidential campaign would never end. On Tuesday night America proved them wrong.
Chicago Reader |
Michael Miner |
11-10-2008 |
Commentary
Voters Think the Media Favors Obama -- Do Endorsements Prove Them Right?new
Obama has rolled up the press like jitterbuggers rolling up a rec room rug. Not only have the dailies that always endorse the Democrat endorsed another, but reliably Republican papers have taken an existential leap into contrariness.
Chicago Reader |
Michael Miner |
11-03-2008 |
Media
A Former GM of Hoy Bets on New Mag for Next-Generation Chicago Latinosnew
Café bills itself as a "Latino lifestyle magazine," and the first issue came off the presses last week. It's a free bimonthly that the founders hope will go monthly next spring.
Chicago Reader |
Michael Miner |
10-27-2008 |
Media
Will the Chicago Tribune Endorse its First Dem for President This Year?new
I'm not at all sure the Tribune will endorse the Republican ticket. There are good reasons why it might not -- but also reasons anyone who wants to respect the Tribune should worry about.
Chicago Reader |
Michael Miner |
09-29-2008 |
Media
Fact and Opinion: It's All Just Content Nownew
Internet values are seeping into print journalism, and internet values reward instant punditry, the more flamboyant the better. Simple, solid reporting is OK, but flamboyance is what attracts page hits, and page hits attract advertisers -- enough of them, in a theoretical tomorrow, to keep journalism afloat.
Chicago Reader |
Michael Miner |
09-22-2008 |
Media
The Revolutionaries Inside the 1968 DNC Didn't Get Much Inknew
You've heard plenty lately about the action outside the '68 Democratic National Convention. How much do you know about what was going on inside?
Chicago Reader |
Michael Miner |
09-02-2008 |
Commentary
Why is Sam Zell the New Whipping Boy for Anti-Corporate Media Crusaders?new
I admire a gallant crusade as much as the next guy, but StopBigMedia.com has the ring of an army raised to fight the last war. Why should anyone in Chicago take up arms against big media when big media's already falling apart on its own?
Chicago Reader |
Michael Miner |
08-11-2008 |
Media
