My favorite news from 2019 was fake.
Category: news
Shit happens. We cover it.
PHOTO GAFFE
The nation’s photojournalists attacked a rural reporter for sharing his own pictures.
CODE DEAD
What happens if you publicly accuse someone of racism at a journalism convention? Nothing.
DIVERSITY BULLY
I’ll denounce and defend the woman who’s accused me of racism and sexism.
DARE TO STARE
This week’s mega-journalism convention has a “code of conduct” for the first time ever. So stop staring and don’t draw anything offensive.
HOW TO OUT-FOX YOURSELF
Should journalism organizations boycott Fox News? That answer requires more questions.
POST GAME REPORT
The Washington Post is hiring videogame reporters. Apply now.
WHEN JOURNALISTS HATE THE TRUTH
If you want journalists to hate journalism, just put them in charge of something. Anything.
ORANGE ARMOR
Here’s how reporters can ethically deceive Trump supporters to protect themselves. And they get a free T-shirt.
IMPEACH THE PRESIDENT (OF SPJ)
Want to learn how to run a meeting? Here’s what not to do. Compliments of the Society of Professional Journalists.
SUPER ZERO
Think Hollywood is liberal? Not when it comes to the Constitution. And not in front of the Constitution.
A DISNEY WORLD “DIE-IN” WILL FAIL
Anti-gun activists are heading to Disney World to protest. Here are 5 reasons they won’t intimidate the Mouse.
FREE PRESS EXPRESS
Cover one meeting in Alabama and you’ll get paid and maybe even arrested.
MUSK’S TUSK
When is it OK for a journalist to tweet about a guy’s “giant dick”? Unless the story is actually about his giant dick, the answer is never.
GOOGLE IS A BRICK WALL. GET PAID TO POKE HOLES IN IT
I’ll pay you $1,000 to write about this woman’s struggle with Google.
THE THIN-SKINNED WINNER
One unhappy videogame journalist reminds me of four lessons I learned three years ago.
THE NEW YORK TIMES IS BAFFLED BY WAFFLES
The nation’s most prestigious newspaper doesn’t understand most of the nation.
HOGGING THE SPOTLIGHT
I also have a beef with David Hogg.
WHEN WILL A VIDEO GAME JOURNALIST WIN A PULITZER PRIZE?
2025? 2050? Or in the next few years?
HOW A HINDU JOURNALIST BECAME A TRUMP FANATIC
He’s a quiet copyeditor named Bill.
“BLACK GUNS” ISN’T FOR BLACK GUN OWNERS. IS ANY GUN MAGAZINE?
The guns are black, but the magazines are white.
WHAT TEENS THINK OF THE NEWS MEDIA
Not surprisingly, they think adults are morons. What is surprising: Their mistrust of today’s journalism.
LET NAZIS TALK
When you ban hate speech, you give its speakers power they don’t deserve – and don’t really have.
WHAT I SAY WHEN I’M ASKED ABOUT IMMIGRATION
Journalists should critique both sides. Which means no one takes our side.
I’D RATHER GET BEATEN UP BY CONSERVATIVES THAN LIBERALS
It hurts just the same, but one side adds insult to the injuries.
HOW HURRICANES HELP CRANKY OLD JOURNALISTS
For a few brief days after the storm, the news goes back a quarter of a century.
CAN A STRAIGHT WHITE WOMAN LEAD A DIVERSITY COMMITTEE?
This one does – until tomorrow, when she’s being ousted for a black woman.
I’LL PAY YOU TO WRITE NICE THINGS ABOUT TRUMP…
I’m an editor in search of a pro-Trump columnist. But you won’t write about politics.
THE BEST MAG FOR THE WORST TIMES
Today, I subscribed to a magazine that’s so good, it would never hire me to write for them.
IN DEFENSE OF JEFFREY LORD
Despite the conservative outrage, CNN fired the pro-Trump pundit for the right reasons. But despite the liberal smugness, it also hired him for the right reasons.
NYT WTF?
The New York Times asks me for an interview. I’ve received better-written emails from Nigerian princes.
DATA QUEENS
I’m a “sexist troll” who deserves “a little more public shaming” because I designed this T-shirt. So says a herd of data journalists.
ROLLING STONE IS THE REALITY TV OF ETHICAL JOURNALISM
Who sends an actor to interview an escaped murderer? If Rolling Stone covered music like it covers news, no one would ever read it.
MEDIA ETHICS ISN’T A GAME
I figured I’d spend a few minutes unraveling the GamerGate shit storm. I mean, how long could it take?
SOME ETHICS ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS
The Society of Professional Journalists updates its celebrated Ethics Code – secretly and unethically.
WHAT DOES A PULITZER REALLY COST?
If you write a Pulitzer-winning story and no one reads it, doesn’t everyone lose?
BAD NEWS & GOOD NEWS FOR THE NEWS
Well, actually, it’s almost all bad news.
HOW SHOULD SPJ COVER JOURNALISM?
The nation’s largest journalism organization sure doesn’t think big.
LAUDERDALE CITY MOTTO: TO PROTECT AND SWERVE
A city attorney says he’s “unable not to respond” to charges that the police force is “not doing what it’s never done and is not doing now.” For this, he’s paid $240,000 a year.
A PICTURE PERFECT PROTEST
Civil disobedience with cameras gets meta when photographers cover it.
THERE’S NO CRYING IN JOURNALISM
Nothing’s more hypocritical than a thin-skinned journalist, and everyone in this story is both.
