Doing journalism

Some ideas to mull over on a lazy summer Saturday (unless, like me, you are starting teaching a summer school graduate class next week, in which case you're planning a day of reading and creating lecture outlines).

Let's start with the thoughts of a recent graduate on the Innovation in College Media blog from which I filched the title of this segment. She says its time to quit talking about trying to save newspapers or broadcast, but rather to just save journalism. Ideas? A number, such as "Our readers, watchers and listeners aren’t sheep. They can and do think for themselves. They know what they want, and they’ll get it - somewhere." Her solution is to do more and in a bigger variety. I totally agree.

Also, Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post muses on originality and his Pulitzer Prize-winning idea. Is there nothing new under the sun? And how important is originality in journalism anyway -- can you be totally original? It's an idea that I've wondered about.

And here are some comments on "Saving the Newspaper" in a letter to the Post. The writer attacks the Post's "bias," especially on the Boy Scouts and NRA. I disagree with his perceptions of bias, but he represents a large segment of the community.