Sportswriting Can Transcend Sports

INQUIRER SPORTS COLUMNIST David Aldridge was fired in January. He was among the staff who were let go because of budget cutbacks.After everyone freaked out, Aldridge (on the right in the photo) was brought back. The management realized that Aldridge has a powerful voice that the staff and readership appreciate. It's a good thing he's back. Not only is Aldridge among the most plugged in reporters covering the NBA (and other sports), he is a fine writer...

Memo to Conlin: The Web Is Now World Wide

PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS sports columnist Bill Conlin will respond if you e-mail him. And he doesn't seem to take criticism lightly. When a blogger questioned one of Conlin's recent articles, Conlin wrote back, "The only positive thing I can think of about Hitler's time on earth-I'm sure he would have eliminated all bloggers."Whoa.And then Conlin explained how a 73-year old sportswriting legend pays the bills:"My fastball has slipped so much that...

A Journalist In Jail

ASSOCIATED PRESS photojournalist Bilal Hussein, an Iraqi citizen, is being held by American forces in Iraq. He's accused of being an insurgent, although exact charges are unknown. The US military has not disclosed details of his April, 2006 arrest or the reasons behind it."In the 19 months since he was picked up, Bilal has not been charged with any crime, although the military has sent out a flurry of ever-changing claims," AP president Tom Curley...

Journalism: Isn't It Romantic?

THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES broke up with his girlfriend. Is that news? What if the relationship was an affair that began when the mayor was married?What if the affair was with a local television anchor/ reporter?That was the case - the mayor dated Mirthala Salinas (pictured above) who was then working for Telemundo. She actually read the news of mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's divorce on air ... but failed to mention that she was a major factor in the...

Online Sex Predators Are Bad. News at 11.

THE IDEA OF ADVOCACY journalism has been around as long as niche publications, with the main concept being that the media outlet should act in the best interests of the community it serves.The danger is that you are allowing the media - which has a vast audience and massive influence - to decide what the values of the community are.But everyone can agree that adults should not be preying upon children online, right? And now an Albany, NY local newscast...

Doin' It Temple-style With Dr. Ruth.

FOR YOUR HOLIDAY PLEASURE, I bring you a fun little clip courtesy of MTVu. It features sex talk with Dr. Ruth with interviews done by Temple News sex columnists Brian Kirk and Holly Otterbein.You might recognize some of the people interviewed. Enj...

Does The World Care About Donda West?

THE PLASTIC SURGEON who operated on Kanye West's recently deceased mother appeared on the Larry King Live program. For about 1 minute. Then he left without really saying anything (click the blue link to see the video).Bizarre. And now I'm full of questions: why did the guy even show up? He says the media has the story all wrong. What's the story? Why did the guy leave? Did Kanye scare him?More importantly, should Larry King even be interviewing the...

Blatant Self-Promotion: Holiday Reading

IN CASE YOU'RE BORED over the next few days, here are a pair of stories for you.This one is about a bicycle race through a North Philly junkyard. Fun stuff.And this one is the lead article in the Philly Weekly's cover package about the new realities of crime in Philadelphia.Enjoy your time o...

Should The Journalist Name Names?

A TEENAGE GIRL in Missouri killed herself after receiving nasty messages via MySpace.A reporter from the St. Charles Journal reported the story, and wrote that the messages were actually sent by a fictitious person - a made up account from an ex-friend of the dead teen. And the parents of the ex-friend helped their daughter craft these evil messages that wound up causing 13-year old Megan Meier to hang herself.But the reporter did not publish the...

What If He Used His Real Name?

AN NY1 REPORTER called in to a talk show on his own station and asked a question. Except rather than using his own name - Gary Ramsey, he posed as "Dalton from the Upper East Side."And now he is unemployed.The topic was Bernie Kerik, the former NYC police chief who is currently facing federal indictment charges. Ramsey, posing as Dalton, came down hard on those who were giving Kerik a perceived easy ride in the press.What if Ramsey had used his real...

You Need To Appreciate Diversity.

A NEWS EDITOR at a Minnesota college newspaper was fired after he hung a noose in the newsroom. His message was to get work done in time, and the noose was a joking threat. Some, however, thought the noose in the newsroom was racist. The student says he was completely unaware of the racist connotations of the noose, and he knew nothing of the noose-inspired tension in Jena, Louisiana."I am definitely aware of it now," the fired student says.The noose...

Half-witted, Useless Crackhead? Ouch.

AFTER A WASHINGTON POST reporter received an unsolicited e-mail press release from former DC mayor Marion Barry, the reporter freaked out.He e-mail responded: "Must we hear about it every time this crack addict attempts to rehabilitate himself with some new -- and typically half-witted -- political grandstanding? I'd be grateful if you would take me off your mailing list. I cannot think of anything the useless Marion Barry could do that would interest...

Television To The Rescue?

THE CHAIRMAN OF THE FCC says newspapers need to be rescued.."In their role as watchdog and informer of the citizenry, newspapers are crucial to our democracy," Kevin J. Martin wrote in the New York Times today.He also points out this stuff: At least 300 daily papers have stopped publishing over the past 30 years. Those newspapers that have survived are struggling financially. Newspaper circulation has declined steadily for more than 10 years. Average...

Should Diversity Be a Hiring Factor?

A FORMER CNN anchor is suing the cable news network for discrimination. Marina Kolbe says that CNN released her because she was a 42-year old white woman.Her lawyer, according to the Fulton County Daily Report, claims that CNN, "embarked on a plan to replace its white anchors with on-air talent who were younger or who were ethnic and racial minorities."According to the article, Internal CNN memos suggest that, beginning in 1999, in some cases a job...

Television is Dying (That's Why You're Watching Re-Runs)

A CO-CREATOR OF THE television hit Lost wrote an op/ed in today's New York Times. He says that television is dying.The culprit? Video on demand, specifically TiVo, says Damon Lindelof. (I love it when people make me sound like I know what I'm talking about ... like when Sweeney mentioned that Craigslist is killing newspapers)."It (TiVo) enables you to ignore the commercials that keep the whole system running," Lindelof writes. "Twenty percent of...

How Far Would You Go To Get The Story?

THE CONCEPT OF WATERBOARDING became a huge sticking point during the confirmation hearings of new attorney general Michael Mukasey.But what exactly is waterboarding? It is a technique used by the military to get information from suspects, and some people consider the practice to be torture.Since so few people are aware of what waterboarding looks like, a journalist underwent a simulated version for Current.TV.I'm not looking for reactions to whether the practice is torture and should or shouldn't be condemned. I'm curious whether you believe this...

Killadelphia: Whose Fault Is It?

AN OIL HEATER REPAIRMAN was shot and killed not far from the Temple campus on Wednesday evening.Police have no suspects for the murder of Carl Tomberlain, which occurred near 18th and Norris Streets. The Inquirer story in Friday's paper had these details:In 1992, Tomberlain was sentenced to three to six years in prison in a multivehicle DUI accident on I-95 in Bucks County that left a 21-year-old woman dead on Nov. 13, 1991.He also was awaiting a...