What I’m Reading

• The Best of Journalism (2009)
  A "running list of the best journalism" the author read in 2009. Many great examples here, and hours and hours of reading!
• Steve Coll: What I Read
  This series of "What I Read" columns fits nicely with our discussion of the "media diet" and the students' "media log" assignment in our MCJ 1 introductory course. Everyone has a media diet, after all; what does yours look like?
• Don't confuse them with facts
  "...we are a people estranged from critical thinking, divorced from logic, alienated from even objective truth. We admit no ideas that do not confirm us, hear no voices that do not echo us, sift out all information that does not validate what we wish to believe."
• Sorry, English major, the engineers have triumphed
  Is Google "making us stupid"? Or "shift[ing] the emphasis of our intelligence"? Or have we just changed with every new medium - all the way back to Gutenberg? An interesting discussion of this contentious issue, with some connections to our discussion in class yesterday about the role of information in contemporary society.
• I lifted (but attributed) most of this post on plagiarism Pursuing the Complete Community Connection
  Great tips on avoiding plagiarism from Steve Buttry.
• Covering the Decade in Magazine Covers
  A video showing 92 notable magazine covers. What is it about magazine covers that makes them so memorable and significant to us?
• A Case For Digital Media Literacy: Tracking Down A Meme WiredPen
• Magazines: Cheaper Subscriptions May Not Win New Subscribers - Advertising Age - MediaWorks
  Makes sense to me; a couple of good comments on this piece strike closer to the heart of the matter, though.
• Arguments for government subsidies for journalism: weak and inconsistent Pursuing the Complete Community Connection
  Should the government provide subsidies to help journalism survive? Steve Buttry discusses McChesney/Nichols' arguments in their recent book.
• No ads, no newsstand, no problem: first issue of WoW mag
  Convergence, community, and new magazine business models, all in one case study - the new World of Warcraft magazine. Cool.