Among the doom a gloom media news lately (the newspaper layoff count has passed 14,000, and newspaper circulation is down just about everywhere), there may be some positive signs as well. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, where I also work, is hiring four people: A business health care reporter A data specialist An investigative reporter And [...]

CNN.com launched a redesign; I’m sure you’ve seen it. It’s very modular and includes a few new features. But here’s my complaint: Headline style. According to the AP Stylebook, numbers less than 10 are spelled out, and numbers greater than 10 are, you know, numbers. (According to Fake AP Stylebook, “The numbers one through ten [...]

I’m guest-editing over at Overheard in the Newsroom on Saturday and Sunday! If you’re not already familiar with the site, take a look — it’s all of the crazy things you hear in a newsroom. My first pick: Reporter: “There’s something wrong when I see ‘Newspaper reporter killed’ in a headline and my first thought [...]

Back in March, friend and co-worker Christopher Ave wrote a song from the point of view of a just-laid-off copy editor, “Copy Editor’s Lament (The Layoff Song).” Now you can get a copy of that song — only 89 cents at Amazon. Next month, the music video should be ready, too. I can’t wait to [...]

The 20-year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall is a few weeks away, which reminded me of a big “lesson learned” journalistic moment. During the 1980s, the Eastern Bloc began to crumble. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan delivered his famous “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall” speech in Germany. By 1989, major reform [...]