Lovers of the Press, Liberty Must Root for Cubs

A call to patriots everywhere

By (Columbia Journalism Review)

As a Burkean liberal and paleo-librarian of longstanding, like many of you, The author has long understood that the Chicago Cubs represent all that is good in this life: the sun (day baseball); nature (ivy); tradition (a mechanical scoreboard); openness to alternative points of view and information from foreign, underdeveloped cultures (inning-by-inning out-of-town scores, even from the American League); transparency (W or L flags run up the scoreboard after games); nourishment (smokey links); democracy (I’m sure George Will or someone can help with that); free market capitalism (ditto) and prudent market regulation (see: Krugman).

Even the beer is good. Good. And. Cold. Goddamn. Tastes good to a man. Whew! Needed that. The beer is called “Old Style,” made from an “old-style” process known as “kreusening,” which is German for “methode champengnoise,” a technique practiced by plaid-shirt-wearing hermits in Fond du Lac and other Wisconsin enclaves. And it comes in a sixteen-ounce can, a great innovation in its day.

To see how Starkman ties this in to journalism, click here: http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/lovers_of_press_liberty_must_r.php

Cutline on P-D front page 9/24:

"...thanks to a double in the ninth inning by Rick Ankiel."

Cutline on front page of sports section, same day:

"The Cardinals' Rick Ankiel rounds second and heads for third after hitting his game-winning two-run triple Sunday night."

(Personal note: My wife caught this one and she's never even studied journalism.)

(From Tom Taylor's Radio Newsletter)

Feedback from the recent Clear Channel managers' meeting: Market managers were told that they will be given their revenue goals from above, and then they’re expected to hit them. So much for bottom-up budgeting. The subtle hint was that ‘You’ll hit them, or we won’t be seeing you at this meeting next year.’” He goes on to say that managers feel particularly helpless because “in reality, local markets have discretion on less than 20% of the expense line items in the budget” and that “a large percentage of promotion and research decisions are made in San Antonio”, leading to what he calls “micromanagement.”

Cartoon 'censorship' no laughing matter

Timothy J. McNulty | From the Chicago Tribune Public Editor

September 21, 2007

Several readers are asking why the Tribune "censors" some comic strips and not others.

The immediate case is a "Get Fuzzy" comic that was scheduled to run Sept. 14 but was replaced along with a note that advised that the comic "did not meet the Tribune's standards for taste."

The deleted strip refers to mobsters as goons. One character is looking inside a kitchen cabinet for cereal and says, "Bucky, I just want my nut crunch." Bucky replies: "The goons will be happy to provide that."

Entire article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-oped0921mcnultysep21,0,6829911.column

(From MediaDailyNews.com)