news & culture resources
News
Is this news? At least it's information. Sometimes it’s images of information.
We can't call her "The Great Gray
Lady" anymore now that the Paper of Record has added color to its front
page. She’s still a great old beast, staffed with excellent writers,
editors, and photographers. The Sunday
Times is a feast. Sadly, much of the
paper is now available online only through paid subscription.
Still the best political
newspaper in the country. The crown of
inside-the-beltway baseball.
A great wire service,
particularly for
And for the rest of the
world.... Reuters usually gives it
as good as AP, plus you get a few viewpoints from outside the
Plain and simple, they have the cameras and
the bureaus. They can't give you the depth that newspapers and magazines can,
but they can give it to you when it happens, as it happens. Plus they have
forums, discussions on selected topics, live and archived video, and other news
junkie fodder. Most importantly,
they’re not Fox.
A trade magazine. The site includes links to all kinds of media, tools for reporters and editors, links to journalism organizations and awards, and much more.
National Press Photographers Association
Much like AJR, except for
shooters. Calendar, job leads,
educational programs, conferences, and more.
Direk Halstead’s site is a superb resource for still
and video photojournalists. Can’t recommend this enough for the pros.
ABC’s roundup of the days political events, real, imagined, and imaginary.
Drudge had his moment. He now has officially jumped the shark and is more or less a mouthpiece for the Republican National Committee. Good links though. Plus you can check in here first thing in the morning and see the Republican talking points for the rest of the day.
Yearbook News: Experts, Authorities, & Spokespersons
Here's a conundrum: everyone's an expert, but
there's never one around when you need to quote one. Despair no more. This site
presents a list of high-toned soundbyte merchants
arranged alphabetically by subject of omnipotence.
Everything you need to be a better journalist, plain and simple.
Cool idea: a site where you can sign up and track down that guy who let you
take a sip out of his flask that bad day in
Political Blogs
One of the newest phenoms spawned by the Internet. They’re often reviled by the pols and sometimes frowned upon by the mainstream media, but some of these folks are good reporters and they look to be having a wonderful time doing their thing. Blogs tend to be partisan, often to the extreme. The blogs I’m including tend to the left (excepting The Wonkette—see below—who is glorious independent) because, frankly, my head would explode if I tried to read the Freepers, as the right-wing blogs are known; as the old joke goes: they probably read better in the original German.
He’s can be very serious over the future of his beloved Democrats (and other times alarmist or silly), but there’s some good information here, much of it thoughtful and well reasoned, and there’s some very good jive regarding polling numbers and trends. Tons of good links to like-minded blogs.
This guy’s a flat-out good reporter. He chases some fascinating stories and seems to have a wealth of insider dope. Highly recommended.
Funny, smart, breaks a good story now and then, and doesn’t take himself too seriously. Makes guest appearances on Air America Radio.
Personally, I suspect Arianna Huffington is an alien. Or a mutant. Or something. But there are a lot of good writers here, and they do break stories. And Arianna shows up now and again, blinky and flapping her wings. God bless her.
Somewhere between inside information and gossip, the RS serves up some lively stew. Sometimes it doesn’t pan out and is gone in an instant, but very often, they’re ahead of the curve. A good place to watch stories break.
Sardonic
brilliance, even when foot-trippingly silly. When the news gets bloody and grim, and your
head feels like six
Editing
The bible of the editing profession. Media links, a library, information on research, lists of conferences, and a variety of articles.
Um…the comma goes inside the quotes…or outside? (Inside, usually.) If those kind of questions give you eye headaches and/or pay your bills, this is your site. Workshops, jobs, links, and, if you're rabid, you can subscribe to the hardcopy magazine.
Culture
Witty writing, plenty of surprises, and a lively discussion forum.
One of Portland’s claims to fame,
Powell’s occupies a four-story city block of books and has a dozen
satellite stores and a healthy web presence.
Imagine the Strand in
Those other book people. They pretty much have everything in print, plus you
can review books you love. Or hate. Or love to hate. If life’s a bit slow, look up your
all-time favorite book and read all the snotty things nobodies have written
about it. They’re also branched
out to sell, well, everything.
And if you can’t find it at Amazon, you
can find it here. Not my cup of tea, but you have to admit that there’s
something weirdly compelling about a global flea market. Plus Dick Cheney says it’s a great way
to get rich, and we know he’s never wrong.
They say it’s satire. I think it may be the real thing. Whichever, it’s good.
They're nuts, and they scare me a little bit
because I think they've come to believe their shtick, but they're still
extremely funny. These guys do slack like slackers wish. Better living through surreality.
Essentially, an online
encyclopedia that readers can log on and annotate. You
didn’t know that
Web Forums
Open source blogging. There are some wonderful people here. There are also a certain number of rather frightening people, but you don’t have to make them your friends. And if you have an interest—any interest—you’re likely to find someone who shares your obsession.
Similar to Livejournal, though it’s had a bad rep of late due to some online predators and, how shall we say, stupid people. That aside, it’s an interesting networking tool and much like Livejournal.
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