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Presents various reactions to the decision of 'The New York Times' to reverse its report after the 'Daily News' reported how the paper treated the sports columns of Dave Anderson and Harvey Araton, which alluded to the paper's editorial stance on whether Augusta National Golf Club should admit women. Comment from Fox News Channel media commentator Eric Burns; Opinion of 'Chicago Sun-Times' columnist Rick Telander; Views of Floyd Norris, 'New York Times' chief financial columnist.

The article focuses on "Omaha World-Herald" newspaper reporter Steve Jordan who spent more than four decades covering investor Warren Buffett. It states that Buffett has purchased the newspaper in 2011, however Jordan does not feel intimidated about writing news about his boss as he is hands off when it comes to journalism. It mentions Jordan's book "The Oracle & Omaha" which is still being developed and will be a compilation of Buffett's business accomplishments. Jordan is reportedly a part-time musician who plays the drums in some groups around Omaha, Nebraska. It notes that Jordan is a local celebrity and that "Omaha World-Herald" hopes to attract national attention to Jordan who is its longest-running business author.

York, Pennsylvania has always been an offbeat kind of newspaper town, so perhaps it is fitting that, in an unusual deal, the owners of York's two dailies recently merged properties. There are strategic reasons for this transaction. The two newspapers that serve the region, which are now in a joint operating agreement (JOA), are the "Daily Record," a morning paper with 46,500 weekday circulation, and the "York Dispatch," with 37,300 weekday and 93,200 Sunday circulation. Another unusual fact about York is that for a long time it was perhaps the only U.S. city to have an independently owned Sunday newspaper, the "York Sunday News." York had three newspaper ownerships, the two weekday dailies and an independent Sunday. When the two newspapers entered into the JOA, MediaNews received an option to buy the "Daily Record," which became the basis for the recent transaction. In effect, the option was insurance against the time when the afternoon syndrome might begin to erode the Dispatch's circulation. Indeed, over the last five years the Dispatch's circulation has declined more than 7 percent while the Record's has gained nearly 7 percent. Thus, the transaction brought MediaNews what it probably wanted all along, control of a seven-day morning newspaper.

Provides information on the `Salt Lake Observer,' a newspaper published in Utah. Comments from Michael Kearns, its publisher/founder; Professional background of Kearns; Criticisms against the publication; Its markets.

This article examines how news outlets report issues regarding obscenities or crass language. In July 2008, the Reverend Jesse Jackson made such a comment with regards to Senator Barack Obama. His comment generally considered to be a crude colloquialism . Several prominent papers such as the "Los Angeles Times" and the "Chicago Tribune" published his comments unedited. However, others, such as the "Washington Post" and the "The New York Times" did not. Some argue that these papers did their readers a disservice because they could not discern for themselves the meaning or importance of Jackson's words. INSETS: A Stand for Civility;Avoiding Gutter Language;The AP's Take.

This article examines how the newspapers in the San Francisco, California, area has suffered more than others. The "San Jose Mercury News," was forced to lay off 31 out of 246 newsroom employees. In San Francisco, another newspaper is undergoing its own wrenching contraction. The "San Francisco Chronicle," the Bay Area's largest paper, announced it would reduce its editorial staff. When the numbers were finalized a few weeks later, 90 journalists, 23 percent of the Chronicle's newsroom had either simply resigned or agreed to take buyouts offered by the paper's owner, Hearst. Among those who've recently left the paper are Managing Editor Robert J. Rosenthal.

The article discusses the management of the "Richmond Times-Dispatch" newspaper, which added former marine Glenn Proctor to the staff as vice president and executive editor in November 2005. Proctor initiated a complete overhaul of the paper by focusing on reader-friendly journalism characterized by a focus on presentation and multimedia. Proctor has maintained quality and readership as the paper has shifted from a family-driven entity to a corporate-owned business, mirroring the path of newspapers around the United States.

This article features Ken Paulson and his contributions to USA Today. USA Today is a more settled place roughly a year after revelations of star reporter Jack Kelley's brazen fabrications shamed the paper and toppled its leaders. But the wounds from that episode still sting, and the paper's humiliation has galvanized efforts to shore up credibility. Paulson has steered the newspaper onto a course of painstaking attention to sourcing and attribution, of greater openness and accessibility to readers and staff, and of swift responsiveness to hints of reporter wrongdoing or missteps by the paper. Paulson developed many of his ideas about how to run newspapers as editor of smaller sister Gannett papers and as executive director of the Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center in Nashville, where educating the public about free speech and journalism's mission was central to his job.

This article focuses on the acquisition of Pulitzer Inc. and its flagship Saint Louis Post-Dispatch by newspaper chain Lee Enterprises. Founded in 1890 with A.W. Lee's purchase of Iowa's Ottumwa Courier, Lee has remained below the journalism industry radar, mostly because the vast majority of Lee's 44 dailies (pre-Pulitzer) are under 30,000-circulation. The company puts out good newspapers at healthy, consistent profit margins, focuses on building revenue and often outperforms other companies in advertising growth. Its papers have gotten little national recognition for journalism. But the Pulitzer deal, a $1.46 billion cash purchase announced January 2005, changes that. The deal is set to close by the end of June 2005. The acquisition of the Post-Dispatch is a decided departure from the company's small-paper history. INSETS: An Enterprising Company;Find Your Niche.

This article discusses a news outlet's need for news ombudsmen, also known as public editors, reader representatives and reader advocates, to assign someone to listen to audience concerns and analyze its news coverage. Bringing an ombudsman on board sends the message that the paper, station or network is willing to subject itself to the kind of scrutiny it applies to everyone else. And having someone whose primary job is to listen shows readers that their opinions matter to the news outlet. Studies show that there's a widespread perception that the ombudsman is a public relations agent for his or her employer. But others say the job's public relations value is important. An ombudsman can serve readers--and the paper--by explaining how journalism works and how the news organization makes decisions. This is critical, reader advocates say, because if newspapers don't do it, someone else will. Just as important as explaining journalism to readers, ombudsmen say, is communicating readers' needs to journalists. Most news organizations have created a barrier between what the reader wants and what the newspaper delivers. An ombudsman can also advocate better play for a specific story that readers crave. The ombudsman can play an important role in maintaining high standards. Public editors hear from readers about everything from spelling errors to reporting problems on major stories, and can in turn push for corrections. Accuracy is also improved by allowing the ombudsman to serve as a conduit for the staff's concerns. Many reporters and editors are glad their papers have someone explaining the news business to readers, even if they don't always agree with the conclusions they draw. INSET: Who Needs One?.

The article examines the challenges faced by USA Today on its third generation as a newspaper in the U.S. Born to derision in 1982, USA Today saucily called itself as the nation's newspaper and shocked journalists with its bold color, its big weather map, its late sports scores and its stories. As of April 2004, the newspaper is already 21 and a half. And as a young adult learns to compete journalistically with its more decorated elders, its elders want the paper to remain committed to its reader-friendly roots. The third generation will also test USA Today's journalistic ambition and leadership. Over the next few years, the paper will answer questions about whether it can keep the reporters it has worked hard to recruit, how well it uses their talents and how effectively it melds their skills with the paper's distinctive mission. The challenges USA Today faces bear some resemblance to those of the McDonald's. Like McDonald's, USA Today is a known product, beloved and purchased by millions of U.S. citizens. The paper circulates to 2.15 million people Monday through Thursday, and 2.6 million readers by its weekend edition, published each Friday. But less than 15 percent of those sales are home subscriptions.

The article discusses a student newspaper at the American University of Iraq-Sulaimani (AUI-S) called "AUI-S Voice." The newspaper works to bring Arab and Kurdish students together to cover the news in an objective way. Student Arez Hussen Ahmed works on the newspaper for which the author is a former adviser. The social and political climate in Iraq is considered, particularly how the sociopolitical climate has raised challenges for the newspaper. The freedom that the newspaper enjoys is described as is a disagreement the author had with the paper's first editor regarding his interview practices. The members of the editorial staff are described as is the paper's online component.

This article examines the state of newspapers and ways in which they can maintain their relevance into the future. The internet dramatically disrupted newspapers traditional market domination of news. The author suggests that papers fall back on things the internet does not provide such as investigative reporting. He contends that readers still need someone to put information into context and bring meaning to it. Trust and influence within the community is a good newspaper's most valuable asset.

This article describes the radical approach by noncommercial news outlets in an era of concentration, conglomeration and commercialization of news. These organizations away from criticizing their commercial counterparts, where most of them began, and they acknowledge that such news organizations often do outstanding reporting. But they treasure the opportunity to present journalism to their standards, with often limited resources and firepower. Less-commercial media can think more in terms of social responsibility, with less oppression from short-term profit demands. The journalism may or may not be superior to that produced elsewhere, but it comes from newspeople who are aiming high and relishing their independence. Only a handful of mainstream newspapers follow the relatively noncommercial model, but two that do, the St. Petersburg Times and New London's Day, seem to have larger newsholes than papers of similar size, more local news and art, greater insulation from economic downturns, and stronger focus on long-term goals. Outside the mainstream, other types of media can follow their own less-conventional avenues. But it is theirs to choose and present their views and stands on issues.

This article reports on how the Ashbury Park Press became popular through its award-winning article series on how New Jersey legislators profit from their jobs. On September 21, 2003, the Ashbury Park Press launched a compelling series titled Profiting from Public Service: How Many N.J. Legislators Exploit the System. For days, the newspaper detailed abuses and provided examples that filled 38 pages with 72 stories. The series was dispatched over the Gannett wire to the chain's six other New Jersey papers, which had all contributed at least one reporter to a five-month effort spearheaded by the Press and captained by its energetic new executive editor, William C. Hidlay. During the 2004 journalism awards harvest, the series won two lucrative prizes. But the articles also prompted controversy in New Jersey political and journalistic circles, where people had been accustomed to a more restrained form of reporting. Although the series did not accomplish all that it set out to do, notably in the area of pay-to-play reform, what the Legislature enacted amounted to the biggest ethics reform in New Jersey since Watergate. The Press will track the impact of pay-to-play reform when it takes effect in 2006.

This article examines why editorial pages keep publishing newspaper endorsements of presidential candidates even though few voters are being swayed by these endorsements. The impact of endorsement on national or even regional elections--contests in which candidates are well-known among voters--is negligible. A Pew Center for the People & the Press study released in January 2004, which measured media influences on voters during the 2004 presidential campaign, concluded that newspaper endorsements are also less influential than four years ago, and they dissuade as many U.S. citizens as they persuade. But when the hometown newspaper is the primary source of preelection information for a particular race, its endorsement can and does sway voters--positively and negatively. In 2000, Editor & Publisher magazine found that 70 percent of papers and 96 percent with circulations of 200,000 or more that responded to a survey were likely to make a presidential endorsement. Not among this group are the nation's two largest newspapers--USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. Neither endorses candidates of any kind. The founder of the first thinks endorsements are demeaning to readers, and the second views principles as more important than politicians.

The 2004 U.S. presidential election has presented fresh challenges as reporters struggle to chronicle not only the enormous fundraising operations of President George W. Bush and challenger John Kerry, but also to understand and document the ramifications of the campaign finance bill that Congress passed two years ago. Dubbed the McCain-Feingold law after its two main sponsors, it raised the limit on individual contributions to federal candidates from $1,000 to $2,000 and banned unlimited soft money contributions from labor unions, corporations and wealthy individuals to political parties. The press has been guilty of some missteps in its money coverage, including a preoccupation with dollars as the decisive characteristic in the presidential race and a tendency toward pro-reformer bias in its coverage. Some stories rely too heavily on jargon or fail to offer clear enough explanations for readers not steeped in the arcana of campaign finance law. But holding presidential fundraisers in private residences or channeling money into more secretive organizations is unlikely to stifle journalists' interest in a beat that inspired a generation of reporters and remains a priority at the nation's top papers.

In the wake of Jayson Blair, Jack Kelley and numerous other journalists who were into instances of fabrication and plagiarism, the U.S. newspapers are scrutinizing their operations and stiffening their defenses against ethical lapses. With dismaying regularity, papers across the country are realizing that they have been had by cheating reporters. Jayson Blair's bamboozling of the "New York Times," the most headline-grabbing example, is among the reasons the industry has since heard of sin after sin after sin. As each new case chipped away at the news industry's already fragile credibility, most newsroom leaders this year heard a call to action. Knowing that wiping out plagiarism and fabrication is pretty much impossible, editors started having at it just the same, tightening ethics policies, having heart-to-heart talks with their staff, monitoring corrections, tracking expense reports and learning about software that detects plagiarism. To set the stage for solid editing, newsrooms might have to rethink the traditional editor-to-reporter ratio. Often, top editors say, there are so many reporters per supervisor that an editor just does not have enough time in the day to give copy the attention it deserves, let alone know exactly what each reporter is up to. INSET: PLAYING DEFENSE.

Focuses on how editors decide when to publish high-impact stories with a single unnamed source. Importance of the originating news outlet; Reliance on the Associated press; Advantages of afternoon papers and evening newspapers.

This article discusses the news coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007. Because the campus is relatively remote the national media took time to arrive, leaving the bulk of the initial reporting to The Roanoke Times, a small, local paper, and the student-journalists of the Collegiate Times. Reporters at the Collegiate Times were first to interview those who knew the shooter and names of the dead. When staffers posted some of the victims' names at 4:07 a.m. on Tuesday, April 17, television networks and newspapers, including the New York Times, linked to the papers Web site or used the information and credited the paper.

The article reports on the sale of "Point Reyes Light," a weekly newspaper in Marin County, California, to editor and publisher Robert Plotkin in November 2005. The newspaper is legendary both in journalism circles and in Northern California because of its former editor and publisher, Dave Mitchell. The paper won more than 100 state and national awards during the time of Mitchell including the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 1979. A hallmark of the paper is its creative approaches to immigration stories.

This article profiles Everett J. Mitchell II, editor and vice president/news of the Tennessean periodical in Nashville, Tennessee. At his Louisville high school, Mitchell became managing editor of the paper, The Paw Print, in just his second year on staff. At the University of Kentucky, he was editor of an African American newspaper, the Communicator. Tennessean president and publisher Leslie Giallombardo appreciated Mitchell's experience in investigative reporting and watchdog journalism. Mitchell plans to encourage revelatory journalism by exploring major community issues like health insurance for the poor, local school funding and Nashville's music industry. He believes that journalists should tell the public why things are happening to help them make change if change is needed. Mitchell is the daily's first African American editor but not the first among Gannett's southern papers. He praises colleagues in Kentucky, Alabama and Mississippi. Mitchell was managing editor of Gannett's Detroit News for four years. He started there as a police reporter in 1989 and later became deputy city editor. After management jobs at the Cincinnati Enquirer and other Gannett papers in Oregon and Delaware, he returned to Detroit in 2000.

This article looks at the responsibilities and capabilities of Ken Paulson as the new editor of the newspaper "USA Today." The journal's music-loving new editor could be what the beleaguered paper needs. Former bosses describe Paulson as a people person, the kind of newsroom executive who has an open door policy, except he is the one stepping through the door, stopping to chat with reporters about stories and meeting regularly with staff. His appointment, which was announced on April 29, 2004, followed a devastating report by an independent panel that revealed not only long-running fabrications and plagiarism by Jack Kelley, the paper's former star foreign correspondent, but also ineffective leadership, lax editing, a virus of fear in the news section and broken internal lines of communication. Paulson's résumé includes stints as editor of Gannett papers in Westchester County, Brevard County, Florida, and Green Bay, Wisconsin. Paulson also served as an adjunct law professor at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. Paulson optimistically describes his new assignment as the best job in U.S. journalism. Paulson plans to hold monthly staff meetings and is planning to bolster the paper's international coverage.

This article looks at the state of broadcasting and journalism in Iraq, as of June 2004. In December 2003, some 290 publications, in addition to one television station and innumerable local radio stations, were operating in Iraq, according to a count by Gareth Bayley, the Coalition Provisional Authority spokesman to the Iraqi and Arabic media. Of the 130 or so publications that still come out regularly, only about 10 are daily newspapers. The lack of independent Iraqi media comes down to simple economics. Editor Hassan Fattah says the loss of "Iraq Today's" main funder and security concerns led him to close the paper, although there is still an online version. For the most part, the only organizations with enough money and desire to launch a media outlet are political parties. Most newspapers and radio stations, for better or worse, are openly run with a political agenda. Iraqi journalists often make up the majority of reporters at press conferences, and they are not afraid to demand answers from the U.S. spokespeople on the parochial as well as the political. They have insisted that a family whose car was crunched by a military Humvee get restitution, and they pointedly asked why the U.S. has refused to back immediate, direct elections.

Since the plagiarism scandals, iThenticate has sent offers to 200 newspapers in the U.S. It says it has added a number of them to its roster of clients, the papers wish to remain unidentified. Rates vary, but most newspapers can expect to pay a flat fee and an additional fee for every 500 words submitted for scrutiny. The program scours gargantuan databases of academic papers, Web pages and published work and in seconds produces a color-coded list of possible plagiarism instances. "The Courant" is using the software on many of its opinion-editorials to guard against shortcuts by contributors who may not know the guidelines for attribution, but not in other sections of the paper. Another plagiarism-detection service, MyDropBox, which launched in fall 2003, says it too has newspaper and magazine clients. But like iThenticate, it is keeping mum about who they are. For drive-by plagiarism detection, editors can turn to WCopy-find, a free downloadable program.

The House of Mean was what they used to call the news department at "USA Today." It was a bastion of top-down management, a place where following orders was the only way to prosper, where raising questions was the ultimate bad career move. Both journalist Howell Raines and the "USA Today" leadership were taken down by scandal. Now Ken Paulson, who most recently served as executive director of the Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center in Nashville, Tennessee and before that edited some Gannett dailies, gets the call to put the pieces back together at the nation's most widely-read newspaper. Speaking of direction, it will be interesting to see where Paulson takes the paper's content. One of the great journalism stories of the 1990s was the emergence of "USA Today" as a serious newspaper, a development that years before would have been unimaginable. But the newspaper's lofty aspirations, and the talented reporters it attracted, were out in front of the editing capacity and newsroom culture. "USA Today" is never going to be the "New York Times," nor should it try to be. It is great that another big paper is going hard after major national and international news.

The article offers views on a journalism scandal involving former USA Today news reporter Jack Kelley. Kelley is a journalism graduate from the University of Maryland. The war stories done by Kelly literally were war stories. Kelley punctuated these tales with a box full of props, which included his well-worn flak jacket. As a reporter, he was a recruiter's dream. However, USA Today disclosed that a number of Kelley's more colorful foreign reports, in a pattern reaching back a decade, were inventions. The paper alleges that there were further instances of plagiarized material, and over the course of the paper's investigation Kelley apparently attempted to coach some sources in how to parry the allegations against him. With the scandal, the questions that arise are: Did Kelley's reporting have the hallmark of work that was too good to be true? Did the paper overlook warning signs? The author's answer to these questions is maybe. But jealousy is part of the trade. Anybody who has been in journalism has seen colleagues with the uncanny knack for being in just the right place at just the right time, who are able to come across just the right anecdote for a lead, who can coax just the right quote from a source to make a story jump.

The article reports on the dismissal of Baltimore Sun newspaper editor Bill Marimow. Marinow was an award-winning investigative reporter during the glory days at the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper. The Sun's publisher at the time was Mike Waller, a gravely voiced former editor who remained a newsman until the day he retired. It is unclear exactly what precipitated Marinow's abrupt dismissal. During the Sun's bitter negotiations with the Newspaper Guild, The Tribune Co. took a hard line. Marinow publicly embraced the company position, but behind the scenes lobbied unsuccessfully for a less harsh approach. That turned out not to be a popular move with Tribune. And while Marinow had reduced the newsroom staff significantly via attrition, he adamantly resisted layoffs in his department. The editor's beheading triggered newsroom fears of yet more dramatic incursions by the bean counters. Some voiced concern over the fate of the paper's foreign bureaus. Jim Warren, a Chicago Tribune newspaper deputy managing editor, warned against casting his paper's parent company as an unfeeling meanie stomping on the cause of quality journalism. Newspapers like the L.A. Times and the Sun are true treasures. If the budget ax is wielded to beef up profit margins, it will be obvious.

Focuses on `Dnevnik,' a newspaper in Bulgaria. Circulation of the paper; Target readers of the paper; Views of the Bulgarian public on the newspaper.

This article describes how some news organizations are relying on their readers for newsgathering. It is called 'crowdsourcing' solicits tips and information from readers, who can influence stories as they happen rather than after publication. After a bridge collapsed in Minneapolis in 2007, the "Des Moines Register" posted a message on their web site asking readers for details. Gannett papers have found that crowdsourcing can be helpful in investigative endeavors.

This article examines editorial practices at "The New York Times," in response to its subdued reporting of the scandal at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The story regarding substandard medical conditions for returning veterans was first reported by "The Washington Post," and the Times has a policy of not following a rival. The author wonders if this institutional ego impedes the paper's responsibility to the public. Editor Bill Keller acknowledged as much but stopped short of reevaluating policy.

The article features Dr. Risk, a program by the Sacramento Bee which aims to invite Sacramento-area resident each week to offer counsel at page-one story conferences in an effort to remedy a troubled reader/journalist relationship. The program's result according to Morton Saltzman, the Sacrament Bee's deputy managing director, is that readers disgruntled over assumed biases and seemingly arbitrary front-page choices leave the Bee with a different perspective, and journalists leave the conference room knowing some concerns of those they write for. The first Dr. Risk after September 11, 2002 wanted more stories about the attacks. The next Dr. Risk wanted to know more about Afghanistan's relationships with its neighboring countries. Responding, the Bee ran a graphic on it. Among those who already became Dr. Risk include David De Luz, a public affairs consultant and Associate Justice Fred Morrison. Dr. Risk, Morrison pushed for coverage of the war in Iraq and legal issues he thought deserved broader attention. The Bee is not only paper to try to bring readers in. The Detroit Free Press has had an open invitation to the public since the early 1990s. And Tacoma, Washington's News Tribune and Portland, Maine's Press Herald also have brought readers in.

The article describes the role of visual journalist George Rorick in the evolution of graphics and design of modern weather maps. Rorick retired from the visual journalism faculty at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in Florida because of failing eyesight. But his influence continues. Rorick started in newspapers at 18, first in the mailroom and then drawing advertisements for a small paper in Benton Harbor, Michigan, the Herald-Palladium. He wanted to be an illustrator. Then he got the news bug. From there he went to the Denver Post, where he rose to become art director. After a few years, he returned to Michigan and the Lansing State Journal. That is where he was working in 1980, when he was asked to be part of USA Today. In the USA Today, he stumbled into doing the weather page. Rorick engineered the layout, helped scientifically picked which cities appeared on the map and created the explainer, the daily graphics that breaks down weather occurrences. Rorick believes in good visual journalism, not just decorative images. He wanted graphics that told stories, that explained things. From Detroit, Michigan, Rorick went to Knight Ridder in Washington, D.C. to develop the company's graphics service.

Focuses on the job restructuring plan of 'Philadelphia Inquirer' editor Walker Lundy in Pennsylvania in 2002, with the goal of increasing the newspaper's circulation. Drop in the newspaper's circulation since 2000; Number of positions created under the plan; Suburban zones covered by the paper; Comments from the newspaper's staff.

This article presents the author's perspective on the economic difficulties and subsequent layoff at many American newspapers. He objects to how the corporate entities that own the newspapers attempt to frame the cutbacks. They try to make the reductions seem like an opportunity for the papers to do more. The author recognizes the economic realities but finds the propaganda insulting.

The article presents an interview with Stan Tiner, executive editor of Sun Herald. In covering Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and its aftermath, Tiner said that there was the time in which they were swept up by the moment. The adrenaline that allowed them to go at the pace for a while eventually wore off, and journalists have to structure their coverage much better and be very deliberative about it. Since everybody on the paper's staff is living the same kind of life that people in the community are, they understand the things that are hurting their lives. For Tiner, the worst moment of their coverage was those early days when he just did not know whether some of his staff was alive.

This article profiles William E. N. Hawkins, executive editor at the Post and Courier in Charleston, South Carolina as of April 2005. Hawkins was once an Army intelligence officer in Vietnam, where he was involved with base security and gathering information about the whereabouts of enemy troops. After two years in the military, Hawkins embarked on a journalism career that has lasted more than 35 years. Hawkins joined the 99,000-circulation Post and Courier in March after 17 years as executive editor at the Herald-Sun in Durham, North Carolina. Hawkins was among 80 staffers let go in January after Paxton Media Group acquired the paper from family ownership. Hawkins, whose father was an editor at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, edited his high school newspaper and interned with a newspaper during his summer breaks from Cornell University. After Vietnam, he reported for the Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and then reported and edited for the now-defunct Evening Sun in Baltimore before taking the helm in Durham. Though he has been an editor for years, Hawkins' first love is reporting. Sometimes when his reporters were working on a big story, it seemed as if Hawkins were jealous of them, says Bill Stagg, who was metro editor and then managing editor at the Herald-Sun during Hawkins' stint there.

This article suggests that journalists should avoid political parties and fundraisers. The political reporters and the editor of the USA Today decided that in the name of objectivity, it's probably better not to attend. The left-leaning MoveOn PAC enlisted the help of some big-name musicians, including Bruce Springsteen, for a fundraising concert series that kicked off in September and includes shows across the country. The Vote for Change concert tour is taking place in swing states around the country. All proceeds from the concerts will benefit America Coming Together, a group pushing to unseat Republicans in November 2004. One date on the tour includes a lineup with Springsteen, John Fogerty and R.E.M. in Philadelphia, a reasonable drive from USA Today's headquarters in McLean, Virginia. USA Today editor Ken Paulson said that it's always best for journalists to avoid political parties and fundraisers and that editors thought the concerts would be tantamount to such events. The same sentiment was expressed at other papers, including the Washington Post and the Miami Herald. USA Today Managing Editor Carol Stevens said it was pointed out to reporters that it is just as much a political event as it is entertainment, since that might not be immediately apparent to somebody who was planning to go to the concert.

The article features Phantom Jack, a monthly comic book series depicting the exploits of a journalist, written by Mike Sangiacomo, a reporter for Cleveland, Ohio's Plain Dealer. Sangiacomo's lead character, Jack Baxter, works for a paper called the Clarion and can become invisible at will. This unique attribute aside, Sangiacomo says jack is a composite of himself and fellow journalists. Sangiacomo first launched his column, On Comics, in 1993, analyzing everything from the business to character development design. Years later, in November 2002, after other writers followed with similar columns, Marvel Comics challenged the comics journalist to develop characters and plots of their own. Marvel agreed to publish two of the 150 entries. Sangiacomo's comic, a winner, was the only one about journalism. Asked why he picked invisibility as his special power of choice, Sangiacomo says it suits a reporter. He says that reporters are not part of the scene, only ethereal observers. Sangiacomo says Jack will have to make a scrupulous decision every time he wants to employ his invisibility. Of his protagonist, Sangiacomo says he intends to cast Jack not as a pack scavenger, but as a human being. One who makes rational decisions but is imperfect.

The article provides information on the appointment of Mike Connelly as editor of the Sarasota Herald Tribune newspaper. Connelly is the former vice president of Congressional Quarterly journal. Connelly says that when it comes to journalism values, the difference between men and women is scant. He looks forward to continuing the Herald-Tribune's ambitious tradition of multimedia news and thoughtful enterprise pieces. He started his journalism career at the Wall Street Journal as a copy editor in 1981, becoming deputy bureau chief in Chicago, Illinois for the paper four years later and moving on to editor posts at the Saint Paul Pioneer press and the Baltimore Sun.

The article focuses on the contributions of writer Joseph Mitchell to the practice of journalism. Journalists of a certain age commonly cite Mitchell as a major influence and he is widely considered one of the most significant literary journalists of the 20th century. He was a champion of the uncelebrated and unwashed. At the beginning of his career, in the 1930s, Joseph Mitchell was a New York City newspaperman so prolific as to defy belief. So popular were Mitchell's dispatches that the paper splattered him on the billboards of its circulation trucks. His most prominent work appeared in the World Telegram. Aside from crime news, of which they are clearly weary, readers want more of just about everything. The news industry, in its pursuit of short term earnings, has tried to make changes by addition and subtraction. Readers are hungry for more analysis and context. They want more local news, more sports, more health and lifestyle, more science and stories that affect them. And they want stories that are written in a more engaging, entertaining style.

Features Bill Keller, executive editor of 'New York Times' and deals with the issues confronting him. Career background of Keller; Remarks from Keller about life outside the newsroom; His plans to bolster the paper's investigative reporting.