Owlspotting

Somebody asked me recently: What is courage in American journalism. He gave me abour two hours of in-flight thinking time, during which I wrote the folowing: “For Aristotle courage was the middle ground (“the golden mean”) between cowardice and foolhardiness. I believe that in American journalism courage is the middle ground between carelessness and complacency. […]

I never attempted to hide my weakness for singer-songwriters who can perform with little else but an acoustic guitar. You can’t hide behind an acoustic guitar and it’s the surest path to musical doom if it doesn’t give authority to your voice and, especially, your lyrics. Jenny Lewis knows that and watching her perform last […]

Legati-va bine centurile pentru ca s-a ridicat limita de viteza pe autostrada informationala. Numarul americanilor care consuma stiri online zilnic a urcat la cifra record de 50 milioane (un sfert din populatie) arata un studiu publicat joi de Pew Internet & American Life Project. Cresterea numarului consumatorilor de stiri se datoreaza in mare parte cresterii […]

Browsing the Web this morning I came across an intriguing little story in the Chicago Sun-Times about a Romanian man who was sent home to Romania after immigration officials found him living in the O’Hare airport. The story is fascinating to me as a journalist and I wish it told a more complete story of […]

When do you decide to unsubscribe from a magazine or a newspaper? What are the conditions that need to be met for one to pick up the phone (or the mouse), call the circulation department and say in the most sour tone possible: “Listen, your publication has become about as useful to me as ribbed […]

Last June I was learning to come to terms with the New York City music scene and a phenomenon I only brushed against during my time in Missouri. Rampant musical hipsterism or indie snobbery as I called it back then was the constant pursuit of the unknown, the not yet recognized “next big thing.” It […]

(Articol scris pentru HotNews.ro si publicat original aici.) In 2005 aproape 2,000 de jurnalisti american si-au impachetat birourile in cutii si au iesit din redactii poate pentru ultima oara. In ultimii cinci ani, ziarele americane au pierdut sapte la suta din forta de munca, aproape 4,000 de oameni. Viitorul ziarului american si al presei traditionale […]

NOTE: Although this post is in Romanian, it refers to an article I wrote in English about the Romanian blog world. Read it here. La inceputul lui februarie anuntam ca scriu un articol despre ce va insemna 2006 pentru bloguri in Romania. Predat cateva saptamani mai tarziu, articolul a aparut astazi in revista de limba […]

The world of American Journalism will never be the same. Knight Ridder, the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States (32 papers) has accepted a bid from McClatchy, a company half its size. Knight Ridder’s sale has been in the making since last year a group of investors began asking that the company bring […]

Dear readers, Welcome to the new and improved Owlspotting. We have tranfered the blog to a dedicated hosting space and changed the Blogger platform with WordPress. Short of a change in name, it doesn’t get any bigger in the blog world when it comes to change. A few thoughts: — Thanks to all those that […]