Gawker: Romenesko

Design Drama

Hamilton Nolan — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 14:25:29 EDT

Romenesko, the quintessential journalism news site, has redesigned itself from a green-and-muted brown palette to a green-and-black palette. Is this the end of our hero? Eh. [Romenesko]

"Romenesko Without Morals"

Pareene — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 10:42:17 EDT

In a lengthy and kind of pointless story about ur-media gossip blogger Jim Romenesko, former New York Times editor Howell Raines basically blames the mild-mannered media reporter for the death of newspapers, sort of. Raines thinks Romenesko's nasty habit of reporting lay-offs, buy-outs, and paper closings makes everyone in the media feel so bad that they think print is dying and then it dies. Then "a young New York-based reporter at a major newspaper" says: "'I think Romenesko is what Gawker would look like if it had morals.'" We humbly disagree, young anonymous reporter. Jim (god bless him), with his endless stream of damning links presented with minimal commentary, is the amoral one. We pass moral judgment on all of you! (Also, though it is hard to remember now, there was a time when Jim Romenesko Was Not A Blogger.) [Portfolio]

King Of Journalism Will Crush Starbucks Propaganda!

Hamilton Nolan — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:11:37 EDT

We find it endlessly amusing that mild-mannered Jim Romenesko, who runs the most feared blog in journalism (except this one), puts an equal amount of passion into "Starbucks Gossip," his other blog that is, for some reason, the preeminent inside news site for the coffee chain. And he's not too happy about the company's corporatized attempt to move in on his territory with its new, half-bright "MyStarbucksIdea.com" site. Romenesko is throwing down in public!

"MyStarbucksIdea.com was clearly inspired by my site, which was created nearly four years ago to move barista/customer conversations to the web," Romenesko said in an e-mail Wednesday.
"My site will continue to thrive because it's an authentic reflection of how customers and employees feel about the company. MyStarbucksIdea.com, on the other hand, is clearly a corporate propaganda site," he said. [Seattle Times]

Motherfuckin right, Romenesko! He's like the Shepard Fairey of Starbucks bloggers. A serious fight could be brewing, and we, for one, are more than ready to see a pay-per-view boxing match between Jim Romenesko and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz—possibly in a steel cage, or a vat of pudding.

Can there be a peaceful resolution? One commenter on Starbucks Gossip suggests a possible path to settlement:

and what is the big deal? Stop being morons - get your own coffee company then you can complain. Why be a bunch of white trash losers and complain about things that have nothing do with you - and start something just to hear yourselves speak. Get a life.

Posted by: Gooooogirl | Mar 20, 2008 7:32:19 PM

ABC Totally Pissed At Alessandra Stanley

abalk2 — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 12:40:41 EST

A letter to Romenesko, sent to us as well, by ABC News Senior Vice President Jeffrey W. Schneider begins: "There are glaring errors in Alessandra Stanley's column today." At this point there's little more to do than shrug one's shoulders and mutter the Hebrew from the Passover question. We're not sure how something like this could have happened!

There are glaring errors in Alessandra Stanley's column today. For the record, Charlie Gibson was in Washington, DC for the State of the Union (not at his desk in New York as Stanley wrote). He anchored both "World News" and ABC's primetime coverage of the President's speech from Capitol Hill. Following the speech, he interviewed Senators Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain.
Stanley also falsely asserts that since Gibson took over as anchor in late May, he anchors solely from New York City. That is demonstrably untrue. Gibson has reported from: The Middle East to cover the escalating violence between Israel and Hezbollah, including from Jerusalem, the Israeli-Lebanese border and Larnaca, Cyprus (July 16-19); from New Orleans for the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina (August 28 &29); from Nickel Mines, PA to cover the Amish school shooting (October 3); from Amman, Jordan for Bush-Maliki summit (November 29 & 30); from Washington, DC, when the 110th Congress convened (January 4); and from Philadelphia (October 5), Boston (October 24), Dallas (November 13), Houston (November 14), Atlanta (November 15&16), Detroit (January 29 & 30), and Chicago (February 12 & 13).

Finally, Stanley take a gratuitous and unfounded swipe at Gibson stating that he is on vacation while Williams reports from the Iraq. For the record, this is Gibson's first vacation in ten months.

Unfair swipe at ABC's Gibson [Romenesko]
Anchor in a Desert War: Brian Williams, Reporting [NYT]

Anna Nicole Smith: Too Soon?

abalk2 — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 13:44:06 EST

Give the girl credit: She didn't care what she put in her mouth while she was in this world and she went out of it the same way.

[Via Romenesko]

Media Bubble: H-P Had Hard Time Finding Anyone Drunk Enough To Play Reporter

abalk2 — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 12:50:56 EDT

• Hewlett-Packard considered the feasibility of planting agents in two news bureaus. It's unclear whether or not the placement actually occurred; maybe Bill Keller can ask Patricia Dunn about it after dinner tonight. [NYT]
• New Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman wants to buy lots of small, cheap web properties. That ought to keep Redstone off his back for a while. [NYP]
• "Romenesko, the sex-offender registry of journalism ethics ..." [API, via TS-ORJE]
• There are about thirty parties interested in buying Time Inc.'s niche properties, but they're mostly European and don't know any better. [NYP]

Jim Romenesko's Condo Puts You One Step Closer to Glory

Jessica — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 13:30:15 EDT

Though you might not know it from the fabulous decor and the classy cock artwork, but you are looking at the condo of a blogger. It's not just any blogger, though — this condo belongs to MEDIA BLOG LEGEND JIM ROMENESKO, and it could be yours, all yours. As posted on his other blog, Romenesko is selling his 1-br condo in Evanston, IL; the asking price for this den of sin is a cool $229,000, but that gets you access to the building's pool and health club (nothing feels better than pounding the treadmill after a rough day of updating the sidebar).

Think about it. You could wake up every day, put on your Romenesko costume, and blog from the same sparse living area as he once did, breathing the same stale air, warming your overworked hands in front of the same electric fireplace. You could be...complete.

After the jump, more pictures of the power cave. And the bedroom shot — oh, how he teases.

Buy now!: Zine, books, my Evanston condo [Obscure Store]
1236 Chicago, Evanston IL [Coldwell Banker]

Media Bubble: Kids and Media, Part 8 Million of a Series

abalk2 — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 12:20:13 EDT

• Young people like iPods, social networking, the internet. Reading newspapers? Not so much. You're shocked, right? Who keeps putting up the money to fund these studies? [Guardian]
• Wait, young people! If you promise to watch the news, Brian Williams will read your e-mails and Katie Couric will blog for you! Not curmudgeonly uncle Charlie Gibson, though. He just wants you to sit down, shut up, and listen to what he's saying. [NYP]
• We would pay good money to see a bare-knuckle fight between Bill Cosby and Len Downie. Seriously. [Romenesko]

World's Tiniest Violin Plays for All Photographers Forced to Take Pictures of Near-Naked Broads

abalk2 — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 18:30:56 EDT

Last week, The Wall Street Journal wrote a trend piece on the latest practice in wedding photography:

[R]eflecting popular culture's turn toward the risqu and voyeuristic, more photographers are setting up in dressing rooms to immortalize unguarded, preceremony moments. Wedding albums and public photographer Web sites alike are filling up with a different view of the bride — daddy's little girl cavorting in lingerie, adjusting a bra or hiking her gown for a bathroom break.

Sounds good so far, right? Who wouldn't want to see a woman, flushed with the joy of finally trapping her man, taking the time to hit the can?

After the jump, the persnickety professionals who populate Jim Romenesko's Media News site decide to spoil the party.

Matt Mendelsohn ("[f]ourteen years at UPI and USA Today covering the White House, the Gulf War, the Oscar") writes to say:

Like a lot of my colleagues who practice wedding photojournalism — Greg Gibson, a former AP staff photographer and two-time Pulitzer winner; Amy Deputy, a former Baltimore Sun staffer; Daniel Sheehan, part of a Pulitzer team at Newsday; and Joseph Victor Stefanchik, a former Dallas Morning News photographer and winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Award for International Photojournalism (not sure if I'd call that group "so-called") — I sighed heavily when I read the article. Sure, none of us have seen anything that remotely resembles such a tawdry trend. For me, not once in over 400 weddings.

while Gibson adds:

I have photographed many brides getting into their wedding dress, many of which were in some state of undress. This is quite different from a boudoir shoot, and to me is one of the most important aspects of the wedding day. There is something magical, euphoric and uplifting in watching a woman become the "bride" while surrounded by her friends and family on one of the most important days of her life. I'm afraid an unfortunate side effect of the WSJ article is that important storytelling moments like this have been cheapened and equated to something they are not intended to be

Clearly, the Journal has hit a nerve. We guess taking pictures of chicks in a state of semi-undress sounds a lot classier when you don't use the words "sultry" or "boudoir." On an unrelated note, we just bought a digital camera. Drop us a line!

Brides gone wild: Sultry wedding photos [post-gazette.com via WSJ]
Trend? What trend? [Romenesko]
Boudoir images aren't new [Romenesko]

Media Bubble: Mort Is Still Not Happy

Jesse — Fri, 26 May 2006 14:30:40 EDT

• Remember how Women's Wear reported last week that Mort Zuckerman's doesn't like how he's characterized in onetime News editor Ed Kosner's forthcoming memoir? Well, he still doesn't. And now he's demanding corrections. [NYP]
• OK! America is now apparently doing OK in America. [Guardian]
• Charlie Gibson knows he's old, and he hopes he doesn't get hit by a truck. [Newsweek]
• Ellen Levine got to pick her Good Housekeeping replacement: Prevention's Rosemary Ellis. [WWD]
• Obligatory Romenesko-isn't-working-today-but-we- still-are post. [Romenesko]

Yet Another Argument for the $30K+ Value of J-School

Jesse — Wed, 17 May 2006 09:24:39 EDT

Because without it, sometimes bigots wouldn't get a fair hearing.

Stanton Recalls J-School Being Like Marine Corps Boot Camp [Romenesko]

Today in Blindingly Obvious Discoveries About People in Pajamas

Jesse — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 11:10:05 EDT

Um, duh.

Real Journalism Is Difficult and Bloggers Want No Part of It [Romenesko]
Blog, Humbug! [Philadelphia Inquirer]

A Bad Good Friday in Medialand

Jesse — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 09:52:04 EDT

It's gonna be a long day.

Romenesko

Media Bubble: It Is the Best of Times for Celeb Weeklies, and It Is the Worst of Times

Jesse — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 17:02:33 EDT

• Celebrity Living notwithstanding, of course. [WWD]
• Times crossword calls a scoundrel a "scumbag," and readers are incensed. Naturally. [Slate]
• Katie decided to move to CBS because her daughters said she should. [NYT]
• But the Couric girls' advice causes biz challenges for both nets. [WSJ]
• Which is just as well for Jim Romenesko, who's sort of obsessed with her. [Media Mob/NYO]

Right-Wing 'WP' Blogger Is a Shonda to His People

Jesse — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 15:41:29 EST

See, this is why they never should have let his type into the club in the first place.

Domenech Quits WashingtonPost.com Over Plagiarism Charges [Romenesko]
Ben Domenech Resigns [WP.com]

This Weekend in Ombudsing: Free Speech vs. Religious Sensitivity vs. Barney

Jesse — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 14:53:58 EST

Jim Romenesko provides a nice roundup today of how most of the nation's newspaper ombudsmen weighed in on the major media-ethics question of whether papers should stand up for free-speech rights and publish the Danish Mohammed cartoons that have sparked worldwide protests or respect religious sensitivities and refrain from publishing them. Some of the dozen columns highlighted included:

• Oregonian public editor Mike Arrieta-Walden: Not running Muhammad cartoons is like avoiding the n-word.
• Boston Globe ombudsman Richard Chacon: The paper "exercised an uncomfortable but necessary restraint."
• Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell: Editor Len Downie made a valid decision not to run the cartoons.
• Seattle Times executive editor Mike Fancher: The paper has "a responsibility to be sensitive to people."
• Minneapolis Star Tribune reader representative Kate Parry: Running the cartoons now is like shouting "fire" in a theater.
• Rocky Mountain News editor John Temple: Decision to withhold cartoons may come back to haunt editors.
• PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler: I thought The NewsHour handled the touchy story just right.

And what did our very own Barney Calame, public editor of The New York Times, have to say this weekend?

This fall's Congressional elections seem certain to rouse the interest of citizen-readers of The New York Times in the votes their legislators are casting in Washington. Given a newspaper's fundamental role in helping readers hold lawmakers accountable, providing lists of roll-call votes on major legislation should be an essential ingredient in The Times's Congressional coverage. And it has been for a long time.

But the paper has begun to move away from publishing even some of the most important roll-call votes....

You get 'em, Tiger.

Not Rumming Muhammad Cartoons Is Like Avoiding the N-Word [Romenesko]
The Case of the Missing Roll-Call Votes [NYT]

Newspapermen Are Born and Not Made, Apparently

Jesse — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 08:43:49 EST

Yeah, it's almost as though he was bred for it.

ProJo's Sulzberger Said to Have a Real Knack for the News Biz [Romenesko]

The Only Working Boy in New York City (or Evanston)

Jesse — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 08:45:37 EST

Our early morning surfing:

Sigh.

Media Bubble: Zip Zilch Nada

Jesse — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 10:30:35 EST

• When Jim Romenesko takes the day off, it's as though the entire media world has taken the day off. [Romenesko]
• In this case, it has.

Media Bubble: Media Conspiracy to Convene at Time Warner Center; Surprisingly, It's Not Jewish

Jesse — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 15:00:14 EST

• Emap considers sale of FHM to Hearst. More interesting — unless Keith Kelly is kidding, which is doesn't seem like he is — there will be a secret ceremony Nov. 28 at which outgoing Time Inc. EIC Norm Pearlstine will pass a Vatican-like miter to successor John Huey. Time Warner brass and Time Inc. top editors will be in attendance, alongside, we assume, a goodly contingent of Freemasons. [NYP]
• Bob Woodward's no ordinary reporter, says Jon Friedman [MW]
• But he's also no Judy, says Jack Shafer. [Slate]
• Wall Street agrees that newspapers are dying. Which could very well become self-fulfilling. [IHT]
• Amusingly baronial former newspaper publisher Conrad Black indicted on eight counts of fraud. [CS-T]
• Ziff Davis shutters Sync. [Jossip]
• Heretofore-believed-to-be-mild-mannered Jim Romenesko is, in fact, the scourge of college journalists everywhere. [Slate]

Media Bubble: Syd, Jim. Jim, Syd.

Jesse — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 13:10:41 EST

• Syd Schanberg says journalism's big problem is insufficient transparency — that is, not enough journalism about journalism. In next week's "Press Clips," we fill him in on the existence of Jim Romenesko. [VV]
• Amid yesterday's newspaper-circ horror show, Post gains on News. Yay! [NYP]
• Yet the News is still ahead. Yay! [NYDN]
• Never mind the Judy mess; NYT still hasn't fulfilled post-Jayson promises. [PR Week]
• Why'd Andrew Heyward stick around CBS News for so long after the Memogate debacle? For his pension to kick in, of course. [Radar]
• Can't figure out why you should care about the recent sale rumblings at Knight Ridder? Because no less is at stake than — cue ominous music — the entire future of print journalism. Well, fuck. [LAT]
• Ted Koppel is leaving Nightline, in case you didn't know. [WP]

Dubya Dubya Dubya

Jesse — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 11:10:07 EST

Wal-mart and the web? Well, yeah, OK.

But might we suggest a third defining W that has been (ahem, Armstrong Williams, Scott McClellan, Judith Miller) bad for newspapers?

Newspapers Have Been Hurt By Two Defining Ws of Our Age [Romenesko]

Also, Mags Slaves to Circ! TV Slaves to Viewers!

Jesse — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 17:10:03 EDT

Speaking of which: Get clicking, people. Numbers ain't looking great today, and if you don't step up we'll have to get someone else fired.

Online Writers Can Quickly Become Slaves to Instant Ratings [Romenesko]

To Excessively Explicate: We're Making Fun of the Analogy, Not of Pinch

Jesse — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 10:15:36 EDT

Plus, Sulzberger molests small boys.

NYT Mess Looks More and More Like Catholic Church Scandal [Romenesko]
Crisis of Faith [National Journal]

Media Bubble: Special 'Death of Newspapers' Edition

Pareene — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 17:44:39 EDT

• Gannett's profits have "slumped." To blame: newsprint, lack of political ads, oppressively high reading level of USA Today. [Yahoo]
• Newspaper readership is down! Again! And average reader age is up! Again! [Strib]
• Is Yahoo Public Enemy No. 1 For Big Media? [MediaChannel]
• Related: Will Google Kill News Media? [PC World]
• Jack Shafer on how no possible good can come of this Plame business. [Slate]
• That Freilich — what a card! [Romenesko Letters]

Easy Access To Bleak Assessments

Pareene — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 13:43:48 EDT

We're so excited about this that we almost busted the sirens out again — do you notice anything slightly different about Romenesko Letters?

How long has that been there? How could we have missed it? Permalinks! No longer will you have to write "see my letter to Romenesko" on your blog and pray that your readers are smart enough to scroll down past the last three Bob Bateman emails to find you half-way down the page — now there's a complicated three-step process that'll lead your readers directly to your denunciation of media conglomerization! Or some other denunciation! Or a funny poem!

We decided to test the feature out by trying to get a permalink for Daniel Radosh's 10/3 letter about his mother and the New York Times' policy on use of the honorific. First, we searched for "Radosh." There were 18 results — Mr. Radosh is prolific — and none of them were the one we were looking for. Then we searched for some keywords from the letter: "Times" and "honorific." Nada. So we searched for the letter's title — "Ms. and NYT." Boom! First result! Your permalink, sir. So if you're searching for that one specific thing you read about how newsrooms used to be smoky and have integrity and rotary telephones, all you need to know is the exact title of the letter. Because Jim Romenesko is still not a blogger.

Romenesko Letters

But What Did Rehnquist Think of Katrina?

Jessica — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 09:30:52 EDT

New on Poynter, your one-stop source for one-note journalism.

Romenesko [Poynter (sidebar)]

Dept. of Things We Pretty Much Already Knew

Jesse — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 08:54:07 EDT

Although he is, apparently, a rock star. That one we didn't know.

Rockin' the Flat World [Fortune via Romenesko]

Maybe He's Jim's Long-Lost Brother

Jesse — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 11:55:01 EDT

It's hard running a business — like, say, Mediabistro — that's built on networking and cocktail parties. (We know, because half of us used to work there.) There are so many people to meet, so many drinks to throw back, so many names to remember. And sometimes, unfortunately, you get those names a little mangled. Like in this latest cocktail-party invitation, which found its way to our inbox last night:

From: "Laurel Touby | mediabistro.com"
Sent: Sep 1, 2005 6:42 PM
To: Bill Romenesko
Subject: our next All-Media Party

Hey, you can't be expected to remember every little person in medialand.

Romenesko [Poynter.org]
All-Media Party in Chicago [Mediabistro]

The Scariest Thing We've Read on Romenesko All Week

Jesse — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 11:40:49 EDT

So maybe all that drinking is bad for us?

Romenesko [Poynter.org]

It's Not Easy Being Tenured

Jesse — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 10:50:00 EDT

Life is hard for freelance writers — the unpredictability, the financial stress, the totally power-imbalanced relationships with editors. Many freelancers, in fact, are forced to take side jobs that will at least provide a regular paycheck.

So we can only imagine how unpleasant things have been for giving-it-up freelancer Ben Yagoda, who's stuck with that horrible side gig as a tenured English professor.

We don't know how he's made it this long.

After 29 Years, Yagoda Decides He's Had It With Freelancing [Romenesko]
My Life as a Hack [Slate]
Directory [University of Delaware]

If Media News Falls in the Forest...

Jesse — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:25:46 EDT

No, it won't make a sound. Not today, at least:

One wonders why we all bothered getting out of bed.

Romenesko [Poynter.org]

Media Bubble: The World According to Jim

Jesse — Thu, 25 Aug 2005 14:15:47 EDT

• It's Jim Romenesko's media world now. We all just live and work in it. [Boston Phoenix]
• Things were bad enough for biz books already — now they'll have to compete with free-spending Conde, where Si says he'll put up to $100 million of his money into launch his new business mag. [NYP]
• Playboy to go digital. You know, so you can read the articles at home, in privacy, late at night. Like you do at all those other websites. [Folio:]
• The power of the press in action: News story leads to anti-bestiality law. And not a moment too soon. [E&P]

Department of Questionable Corrections

Jesse — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 14:33:59 EDT

Romenesko takes note today of this item in Westword, Denver's alt-weekly:

Correction of the day: The July 27 edition of the Denver Daily News contained the following statement: "The Denver Daily News would like to offer a sincere apology for a typo in Wednesday's Town Talk regarding New Jersey's proposal to ban smoking in automobiles. It was not the author's intention to call New Jersey 'Jew Jersey.'"

We'll just say this: The North Jersey town in which we grew up had 16,000 residents and three synagogues. And school closed for the High Holidays.

UPDATE: Albany macher Shelly Silver, on the other hand, thinks it's about time we became Jew York. [The Forward]

The Message [Westword, last item]

All the Stream of Consciousness That's Fit to Memo

Jesse — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 11:00:00 EDT

We like it when Times jefe Bill Keller channels Joyce for (largely incomprehensible) portions of staff memos:

(But, wait! Where's Rick going? Ah, Rick is going to follow in the footsteps of John Geddes and yours truly, and spend a few months running the night side of the paper, an experience that will leave him even better equipped to be our news whip when he returns to that role at the end of the year. And what about Craig? Hold your horses, folks, this is JIM'S announcement. Craig deserves his very own message. It will be arriving soon enough. End of digression.)

Yes, what about Craig? We're on the edge of our seats. Really.

Bill Keller Memo on Jim Roberts' New Assignment [Romenesko]

Romenesko Finds the Line, Prances Across It

Jessica — Tue, 02 Aug 2005 13:50:24 EDT

No, we didn't not make this up. The Poynter Institute's six-figure media blogger Jim Romenesko has a dorky little secret. It's an old blog entry, where readers could go to share fond memories of their favorite "news bloopers." Like, remember back in 1988 when the Savannah Morning News made a dummy box that actually went to print?! Ah, good times, man.

Whoops! [Romenesko]

Great Moments in Romenesko

Jesse — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 11:25:24 EDT

You think?

Romenesko [Poynter.org]
As News Looks to the Stars, Is It Reaching New Lows? [API]

Michael Wolff, unpatriot

Gawker — Sun, 06 Apr 2003 15:54:28 EDT

Rush Limbaugh recently played clips of New York magazine's media critic and embedded journalist Michael Wolff asking questions during CentCom briefings. Limbaugh accused Wolff of being unpatriotic and antimilitary and gave his listeners Wolff's email address, encouraging them to voice their displeasure. I thought I'd return the favor. Rush Limbaugh's email address is 70277.2502@compuserve.com
The Doha follies [The Nation via Romenesko]