As a relative newcomer to the Rake family, I was reassured and gratified by fresh research asserting that you, the average Rake reader, are not much of a couch potato. Or if you are, your eyeballs are fixed to a book or magazine rather than a TV screen. The numbers say twenty-six percent of you … Read more
“Truth be told, that’s one of the reasons I left. I couldn’t stand covering random assaults and vandalism, stories that had no impact on the average viewers. TV news does violence because it’s fast, easy, requires no frame of reference or special reporting skills.” – Heather McMichael, a former Kansas City Fox 4 Reporter….comments to … Read more
I’m a big fan of Robert Wright. His book, “Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny”, is one of the most sophisticated perspectives on human conflict — including radical religiosity — I’ve ever come across. His various web-sites are now consolidating, including bloggingheads.tv. There are entirely understandable reasons why commercial television stations, (hell, PUBLIC TV), haven’t … Read more
Even though the organizers of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland politely asked the likes of Sharon Stone and Angelina Jolie to stay home this year, the summit of big hitters is making news. This Reuters report on Bill Gates’ statement that the full marriage of television and internet is less than five years … Read more
This past Monday the Star Tribune staff received the following memo from editors Nancy Barnes and Scott Gillespie. “Rob Daves has agreed to take on the role of project manager of buzz.mn through the end of March. In this role, Rob will be in charge of working with everyone in the newsroom to make the … Read more
Steve Perry, the talented and reliably caustic editor of City Pages handed in his resignation Monday, ending 13 years, in two separate shifts, as the alternative weekly’s ruddering hand. Perry cited more or less predictable philosophical differences with City Pages’ new(ish) corporate management, a recognition that journalism is moving on-line and that now was his … Read more
The mice were snickering Monday. Within the Star Tribune there was much chatter about Kate Parry v. Sid Hartman, Round Two. Or is it three? Or four? Maybe you caught Parry’s ombudsman column Sunday criticizing Hartman — Sid Friggin’ Hartman! — for appearing in an ad for Sun Country airlines, (with Ex-KSTP sports anchor, Joe … Read more
I’ve been cautioned to be careful with this. Schadenfreude, though a lovely sounding word, is unseemly. Its supposedly beneath a responsible adult. But what the hell is a media blogger supposed to do when confronted with the train wreck ratings for KTLK-FM (100.3), where I very briefly co-hosted a show? I mean, come on kids, … Read more
A generally reliable voice from within the Star Tribune’s reporting ranks defends Ms. Moses in the previously-posted back and forth e-mail spat with City Pages’ Steve Perry. Reliable Voice defends her on the grounds that she may actually be making a defensible argument. Voice argues that Moses probably saw that she was the only one … Read more
Just one question here. You’re a big city newspaper manager. Why declare a letter to a rival editor “Not for Publication” and then copy a dozen reporters, several if not all of whom have little reason to be sympathetic to your argument? Have you perhaps not heard of the internets? You know, the thing with … Read more