NY Times Co. Chairman gives the Globe until May 1

Check out last night’s coverage from NECN on the latest Globe woes and Arthur Sulzberger, Jr.’s hopes to keep her going despite the need for 20 million in Union concessions. The Boston Newspaper Guild (made up of over 700 Globe employees) has a petition and is holding a rally this Friday at Faneuil Hall. BU Journalism Chair, Lou Ureneck, voices Phil Bronstein’s comments that distributing news for free is not sustainable. The NY Times Co. is keeping to its 5/1 deadline for the Union to meet its demands.



Help support the Globe by buying a paper to read on your commute (your eyes will thank you for avoiding the typos in the Metro). Or sign up for home delivery like I just did. The Globe is offering 50% off home delivery subscriptions. Every little bit helps at this point. If you’re mooching off free news (hey, my hand is raised too), it’s time to support those writers about to get the ax.

Phil Bronstein on the Colbert Report

I'm sure most of you had heard of the Globe's recent financial troubles. Check out San Francisco Chronicle VP and Editior, Phil Bronstein, on The Colbert Report discuss the current state of newspapers. He says that sources like AOL and Google should pay papers for linking to their content and points out that financing stories, like the Globe's breaking piece on the Catholic Church sex scandal, cost those papers lots of moolah.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Phil Bronstein
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor NASA Name Contest

Savvy Context: The Writing Process, Part 1

The words “publishing” and “technology” are hot topics these days. The Google news search results wouldn’t surprise you: an obvious spike of news and blog articles popped up in August, almost doubling July’s figures. But while everyone’s debating which new e-book reader will become the market favorite and how publishers will survive the transition to the electronic book, I’m sitting back to consider the smaller, quieter effects of technology in the publishing world. Let the pundits and big voices handle the politics of the industry for a while: I want to get down to the basics, the parts of publishing technology you and I know best.

When I sit down to write, I turn on my computer. It’s natural for me, and to a degree, always has been natural. But most grade school pedagogy hadn’t (and maybe still hasn’t) acknowledged the importance of the computer in many students’ writing processes. I resisted traditional prewriting methods because I wanted to use the computer. So I outlined in my word processor; I used painting programs to (poorly) sketch out important scenes. I even put a slideshow together as a storyboard. Contrary to my middle school teachers’ beliefs, there are ways of making the computer and internet work for you in your prewriting. But old habits die hard, and even I admit that sometimes I just need to scribble something on a piece of paper.

So here’s the question: do we need to be able to change our craft to fit our resources? Is there a way to make everything we do to start writing electronic? Is our use of paper nostalgia? Or is there really something important about paper?

(image courtesy of ToothpasteForDinner.com)

Update! (10/09/08 @ 2:40pm) I was reading a post on The Book Bench, and found the following quote about writing by Don DeLillio:

The reason I use a manual typewriter concerns the sculptural quality I find in words on paper, the architecture of the letters individually and in combination, a sensation advanced (for me) by the mechanical nature of the process—finger striking key, hammer striking page. Electronic intervention would dull the sensuous gratification I get from this process—a gratification I try to soak my prose in.

Just more food for thought!

Wilpers takes Bloggers to Print and then International

According to Universal Hub, Former EIC of the now defunct BostonNow, John Wilpers, is seeking global bloggers for GlobalNews Enterprises. As GNE’s Director of Global Blog Development (fancy sounding, eh?), Wilpers is teaming up with local TV exec and NECN founder Phil Balboni and former Globe publisher Benjamin Taylor, among other notables, to form the “first fully web-based news organization to provide daily coverage of international news.” They plan to get 70 bloggers on board from around the world. While their site won't be up until early 2009, you can register in the mean time as a future subscriber or contributor. Don’t be intimidated by GNE's impressive Nova-esque graphics; if you’re interested in writing, contact them.

Wilpers is known in Boston for his work with TAB, Metro, and AOL's Boston CityGuide and has also worked with the Washington Examiner. He was EIC for BostonNOW for its first eight months in 2007 and then served as a consultant. The paper went under in April of 2008 when its main Icelandic backer, Baugur Group, pulled the plug due to poor foreign credit markets (a little bit of foreshadowing that hits close to home).

Although BostonNow was frequently slammed for its outrageous, often tabloid content and antics, it was the first US print paper to publish local blog content and to seek out and recruit bloggers. Even with the paper’s random and disjointed organization, its influence is undeniable. Since the publication's brief run excerpts from blogs are now printed in many papers, including Metro and The Boston Globe to name a few. Many heavy-hitter publications even have their own staff blogs (cough cough, Fringe?). BostonNow, despite its flaws, played a part in that.

I’m interested to see how GNE develops and whether it will be successful as BostonNow once planned to be. You can read more on Wilpers' thoughts on the evolution of blogging and its importance in the print world here.