You, There: Quit Crying About Newspapers!
Here’s the link to my previously mentioned piece in today’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “Perspectives” section editor Kane Webb, who’s really a good sport given how frequently I’ve made fun of him on this blog, invited me to pen a response to TV producer David Simon’s recent Senate testimony lamenting the death of newspapers (and the rise of web media).
(The headline characterized Simon’s attack on the web as “wrong-headed” in my initial submission, but the copy desk changed it to “idiotic.” Man, those guys are hard-asses!)
Also, be sure to check out Kane’s column today “In Defense of Sportswriting,” which explores how the world of sports reporting is changing—in many cases for the better—due to the rise of web media and the “energizing” influence of new voices in the mix.
I may have some more to say on this a little later, but it turns out that Arkansas Project Girlfriend (APG) has some rather lofty expectations for what needs to be accomplished in terms of yardwork today. So for the immediate future, I’ll be pushing a mower and quietly cursing her. She is a super gal, and I am very fortunate to have her.
What chaps my butt is where they put your column- very back page of the section that very few people read. There’s some irony there somewhere, I think. In fact, had you not pointed it out here on The Arkansas Project, I would have (and did) missed it.
Nonetheless, and I’m not being a smartass here for once, you were spot on. I hope it gets picked up nationally.
So what you’re saying, AFG, is that the only people who read this are probably the people who read it online, who would probably be most inclined to agree anyway? Damn, I should have thought that through a little more.
D.
A note to say I appreciated your thoughtful reaction piece to the Simon essay. It was well-argued. Secondarily, you provided a tip, Fort Smith’s City Wire, of which I was not aware. Naturally I check in on the Fayetteville Flyer periodically already.
Also, now I’ve been made aware of your Arkansas Project blog!
Postscript: I first saw your sidebar in the print version of the Demzette. As a page designer I can verify it was appropriately and prominently displayed being a sidebar to a long centerpiece commentary in a feature section.