Essays
First-person reflections on life in the media businessLatest Essays |
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New Media, New Censorship Concerns This NYT reporter questions the future of freedom of the press on the Internet. By Diana B. Henriques, December 17, 2008 |
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| Bloggers, Writers, Web World Go Vertical High-quality editorial talent will play a major role in keeping tomorrow's Web successes afloat. By Tony Tjan, November 26, 2008 |
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| The Last Magazine? The mag trade relies on 'an ancient and atrophied business model,' opines this industry expert, 'and we need a new model to breathe life into its ink-clogged corpuscles.' By Bo Sacks, March 23, 2007 |
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| Either, Or? It's Neither Why the split between "old" and "new" media doesn't make any sense By Dorian Benkoil, February 2, 2007 |
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| How Magazines Can Survive Industry wise man Bo Sacks proposes a new business model By Bo Sacks, December 15, 2006 |
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| Under Siege: An Editor in Iraq Driving the 'Highway of Death' and tracking nearby carnage were all in a day's work when the author served as The Washington Post's Baghdad bureau chief. Excerpt: Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone By Rajiv Chandrasekaran, October 11, 2006 |
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| Holy War, Holy Terror: A Correspondent Inside Afghanistan Reporting from war-torn Afghanistan for two decades, journalist Kathy Gannon describes hiding from Soviet helicopters, getting hate mail from readers accusing her of siding with terrorists and being the only Westerner permitted by the Taliban into Kabul. Related: I is for Infidel excerpt By Kathy Gannon, July 31, 2006 |
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| Bullshit Media Jobs Stanley Bing, author of 100 Bullshit Jobs...And How to Get Them shares which media jobs were made for bullshit artists Excerpt: 100 Bullshit Jobs...And How to Get Them By Stanley Bing, June 12, 2006 |
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| The Skinny About Media Lingo Unusual Origins of Media-Inspired Words By Richard Weiner, May 15, 2006 |
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| Citizen Media Critic: Violet's 'Modern Family Living' Finally, a magazine for families that look like yours By Rachel Kramer Bussel, November 18, 2005 |
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| Feeling Bad for Judy: It's Possible Jesse Kornbluth feels sorry for Judy Miller. But only a little. By Jesse Kornbluth, November 2, 2005 |
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| All About Peeve Christian Chensvold on the phrase that won't die By Christian M. Chensvold, October 26, 2005 |
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| Unwitting Media Mega-Players and the Red State Consumers Who Support Them Why media consumption in suburban Arkansas is increasingly more important than media consumption in the big city. By Elizabeth Spiers, October 10, 2005 |
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| Tim Russert and the Dead Woman: Real Men Always Cry Jesse Kornbluth on emotional media and "Meet the Press" By Jesse Kornbluth, October 3, 2005 |
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| New Launch Review: Men's Vogue The newest Condé Nast title gets it mostly right, awkward logo notwithstanding. By Elizabeth Spiers, September 21, 2005 |
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| Citizen Media Critic: Guide-ing Light The new TV Guide: lighter, fluffier, and infinitely less essential By Joel Keller, September 12, 2005 |
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| Starbucks Media The coffee company serves up a double shot of progressive messages By Jesse Kornbluth, September 6, 2005 |
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| Life After Nielsen Grab your soda and popcorn and turn on the TV! The hurricane starts in five minutes! By Elizabeth Spiers, August 31, 2005 |
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| I'm OK!, You're OK! Citizen Media Critic: Dana Vachon on why OK! magazine is the perfect American summer read By Dana Vachon, August 22, 2005 |
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| How Not to Pitch Three surefire dealbreakers By Elizabeth Spiers, August 17, 2005 |
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| Neither His Nor Hers Citizen Media Critic: Rachel Kramer Bussel on the latest offering in the "couples mag" genre By Rachel Kramer Bussel, August 15, 2005 |
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| Citizen Media Critic: If You're Thinking of Starting a Women's Mag... An open letter to would-be women's mag editors By Elizabeth Spiers, August 8, 2005 |
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| Acapulco Gold Travel writing and easy living south of the border By Nick Gallo, August 3, 2005 |
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| A Tale of Two Murders How the Internet gets media coverage for a convicted killer By Jesse Kornbluth, August 1, 2005 |
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| Working 9 to 5: When the Desk Job Sounds Appealing A former freelancer on making the transition from freelance to staff By Kristine Hansen, July 27, 2005 |
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| Citizen Media Critic: Chicken Soup for the Soul Magazine The best-selling book series begets a magazine—and never-before-seen Elvis photos By Elizabeth Spiers, July 25, 2005 |
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| Down and Out in China Luxury and Desperation in the Fastest Growing Economy on Earth By Richard Baimbridge, July 20, 2005 |
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| Citizen Media Critic: Justice Magazine The co-founders of Blottered.com take on a magazine about celebrity justice By Chris Gage and Andrew Krucoff, July 18, 2005 |
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| Do Not Try This At Home: One Man's Harrowing (And Slightly Ironic) Attempt to Get a Media Gig New Gridskipper editor Chris Mohney on how he landed his job at Gawker Media By Chris Mohney, July 11, 2005 |
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| Anonymous Reviewing: A Review A novelist and short-story writer (who shall not remain anonymous) on the dangers of unbylined reviews By Quinn Dalton, June 29, 2005 |
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| What Would Kinsley Do? Michael Kinsley, mischief and experiments in news-making By Elizabeth Spiers, June 22, 2005 |
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| Adventures in Journalism: The Last Days of Party Reporting A writer says goodbye to the party circuit By Elizabeth Spiers, June 8, 2005 |
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| The Writing on the Wall: When Reality Isn't Enough Jesse Kornbluth on why fiction is sometimes more comfortable than reality By Jesse Kornbluth, June 6, 2005 |
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| Notes from the Underground: Riposte A local news writer on why big city journalism isn't always the best kind By Cari Gervin, May 25, 2005 |
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| Dilemmas in Media Reporting: Is Navel Gazing Good for You? The surreality of media-on-media coverage—and why we need it By Elizabeth Spiers, May 23, 2005 |
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| A Day in the Life Adventures in magazine ad sales By Billy Lohman, May 18, 2005 |
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| If Your Journalism School Says It Knows What's Best For You, Check It Out An open letter to the class of 2005 By Greg Lindsay, May 11, 2005 |
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| We Don't Need No Regulation Why bloggers don't need standards: They already have them. By Elizabeth Spiers, May 9, 2005 |
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| The Internet Tail Will Come to Wag the Magazine Dog Jesse Kornbluth on the dwindling life expectancy of print-only media By Jesse Kornbluth, May 4, 2005 |
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| Wired, MAKE, and MacGyver The evolution of the geek mag By Elizabeth Spiers, April 25, 2005 |
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| Notes from the Underground (Newspaper) An ex-Queens newspaperman on the allure of a media job in the big city By Paul Menchaca, April 20, 2005 |
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| Ever Green A freelance novice gets a cold look at the trials and tribulations that surround that first, lucky clip By Scott Warren, April 13, 2005 |
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| Extremely Similar and Incredibly Suspicious Jonathan Safran Foer's new book reads a lot like his wife Nicole Krauss's new book. How much literary collaboration is too much? By Emma Garman, March 23, 2005 |
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| Hopefully (Not) Ten usage and grammar errors that could (or should) cripple a career By Jesse Kornbluth, March 21, 2005 |
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| Adventures in Journalism: Clueless is the new black? A day in the life of a Daily fashion reporter By Faran Alexis Krentcil, March 16, 2005 |
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| Adventures in Opinion Writing: No Easy Answers Why are there fewer female opinion writers? Another possible factor. By Elizabeth Spiers, March 14, 2005 |
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| Why I Steal Jesse Kornbluth's first column on books that will make you a better writer By Jesse Kornbluth, March 7, 2005 |
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| Citizen Media Critic: Lucky magazine Writer Rachel Kramer Bussel discusses her conflicted relationship with the infamous women's shopping mag By Rachel Kramer Bussel, February 9, 2005 |
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| Adventures in Journalism: Death Be Not Proud. Or Tactful. A newspaper reporter quits the darkest beat. By Geraldine Hayward, January 19, 2005 |
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| Adventures in Journalism: The Princess Diaries One of the perks of being a beauty editor: extra presents at Christmas. Lots of extra presents at Christmas. By Mary Lisa Gavenas, December 29, 2004 |
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| Adventures in Journalism: Scary Little Man In this week's episode of Adventures in Journalism, William Georgiades gets fact-checked—by Dave Eggers. By William Georgiades, December 2, 2004 |
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| Paid Content: Not for Nothing One writer explains why she's willing to write for free. By Deirdre Day-MacLeod, December 2, 2004 |
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| Doing It For Money This week mediabistro takes a look at the economics of producing content. By Elizabeth Spiers, November 30, 2004 |
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| Paid to Write One Woman's Unbelievable Story By Elizabeth Spiers, November 30, 2004 |
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| Mr. Klein and the New New Media New Media vs Traditional Media: It's hard to tell the difference anymore. By Elizabeth Spiers, November 23, 2004 |
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| Adventures in Journalism: Petty Games After an inexplicable rejection, William Georgiades wages war on the New York Press—from the offices of Esquire magazine. By William Georgiades, November 17, 2004 |
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| Anger Management for Journalists In defense of being pissed off. By Elizabeth Spiers, November 16, 2004 |
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| Starstruck A celebrity tabloid leads one writer to a Fuller, yet emptier, life. By Dana Vachon, November 15, 2004 |
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| I'm Not Feeling Like Myself Today A professional ghostwriter describes the strange experience of inhabiting someone else's life. By Deirdre Day-MacLeod, November 12, 2004 |
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| Adventures in Journalism: World Traveler William Georgiades chronicles the birth and painful demise of an ill-fated travel writing piece. By William Georgiades, November 10, 2004 |
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| Just Add Celebrities! Freelancer Kevin Baker discloses his secret weapon for pitching editors. By Kevin Baker, November 3, 2004 |
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| Ex Post Facto From spinning the debates to Rathergate, fact checking is finally getting its due. But one research editor wonders if our fixation on facts will ever get us anything besides bragging rights. By Lionel Beehner, October 20, 2004 |
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| Local Points An editor at a regional mag explains how to pitch your local magazines—and why you should, even if the pay is low. By Jen A. Miller, October 13, 2004 |
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| Confessions of a Bicoastal Writer New York City may be the publishing capital of the world, but a Seattle-based freelancer proves it's possible to make it in the big city from 3,000 miles away. By Sarah Jio, October 6, 2004 |
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| Scooped! You've got a great idea and an editor's interest, but the story gets trashed when a similar piece runs in another publication. What's a freelancer to do? A newbie writer offers her step-by-step guide on how to avoid—and survive—being scooped. By Allison Devers, September 29, 2004 |
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| Internal Bleed Our outgoing editorial intern wonders if he'll ever get a real job. By Greg Bloom, September 8, 2004 |
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| Byline Envy A plucky freelance writer learns how to surmount rather than succumb to the second sin. By Nancy Davidson, September 1, 2004 |
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| English, Languishing One writer wonders why no one seems to care about grammar and diction anymore. By Bruce Apar, August 11, 2004 |
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| Hide and Seek How to search for a new job without the old one catching on. By Corey Pein, August 4, 2004 |
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| Hack vs. Flack PR guru Richard Laermer knows why writers sometimes can't stand publicists—and what PR people should do to avoid that. By Richard Laermer, July 14, 2004 |
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| Battling Dr. Phil A reporter set out to write a fair, honest book on the phenomenon that is Dr. Phil. But how was she to react when the TV shrink's people decided she was just out for dirt? By Sophia Dembling, July 7, 2004 |
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| The Neverending Story The writing process is never done, as a financier-turned-freelancer has come to realize. By E. Jeanne Harnois, June 30, 2004 |
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| Blogging Fads Are blogs the great new way to get news, or just the best new way to spread buzz? By Lionel Beehner, June 16, 2004 |
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| Coming Out A secretly straight author takes a deep breath and exits the closet. By Allison Burnett, June 9, 2004 |
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| Sales Pitch One writer discovers that sales training can help in her freelance career. By Nancy Davidson, June 2, 2004 |
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| The Ballad of a Rookie Pitcher One of our favorite writers strikes out with his first real magazine pitches. But he'll be up again. By Chris Gage, May 19, 2004 |
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| I Want Some More Everyone thinks they deserve a raise, but very few actually do. How to figure out if you're one of them, and how best to ask for it. By Susan A. Patton, May 12, 2004 |
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| Elegy for a Temp Job AOL CityGuides finally decided to make its editors employees rather than contractors. Which sucks for New York's cadre of scribbling freelancers. By Adam Bonislawski, May 5, 2004 |
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| Living with The Fear A freelance correspondent in Baghdad wonders if it's time to get out. By Christina Asquith, April 28, 2004 |
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| Where Does It Hurt? Journalists' jobs often demand that we witness tremendous violence and horrible death. We're trained to turn off our emotions when we take in these things, but can we avoid being affected? By Caitlin Kelly, April 21, 2004 |
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| Falling Star On top of all her other sins, Bonnie Fuller has attempted to class up Star magazine—which, says a longtime fan, is ruining it. By Katie Haegele, April 14, 2004 |
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| Bitchbox Revisited Two years ago, a young Hearst editorial assistant sent mb's "Bitchbox" an anonymous rant about her job—which, after a Hearst investigation, she didn't keep for much longer. Now she's unmasking herself and explaining why she did it. By Jill Sieracki, April 7, 2004 |
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| Trading Places Moving from one career path into a glam media one instead doesn't mean starting over again—if you do it right. By Susan A. Patton, March 31, 2004 |
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| FishbowlNY Guide to Pretending Like You've Never Heard of the Blogs That Keep Mentioning You March 28, 2004 |
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| What I Learned in JOURN 371 As a University of Maryland classmate of Jayson Blair's, I wrote the first piece ever done about him. But I never published it. By Marisa Torrieri, March 24, 2004 |
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| Recruiters, Reconsidered Even in an age of online job boards, one industry vet explains why a recruiter can still be a big help. By Arnold M. Huberman, March 17, 2004 |
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| Recruiter, Schmecruiter A publishing- and media-world human resources vet explains why recruiters just don't make sense anymore. By Susan A. Patton, March 10, 2004 |
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| Oh, Canada An erstwhile New York writer now living in Toronto gives a her neighbors to the south a look at Canada's hot new magazines. By Sarah Lazarovic, March 3, 2004 |
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| Making Book The best way to get published is to find an agent. So how do you get an agent? By Elise Proulx, February 25, 2004 |
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| Lies, Damned Lies, and Google It's all the rage for writers to prove their points by citing Google. One problem: The stats are meaningless. By Lionel Beehner, February 18, 2004 |
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| Writer, Edit Thyself How can a writer and editor edit her own writing? A book editor and freelance writer gives tips on how she does it. By Jen Weiss, February 11, 2004 |
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| Sued by Lingua Franca A defendant wonders, when a magazine goes bankrupt, can it take down its freelance contributors with it? By Gavin McNett, February 4, 2004 |
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| The Truth About Recruiters A leading publishing-biz talent recruiter gives the lowdown on what folks in her business can and can't do for you. By Susan Gordon, January 28, 2004 |
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| Didja Hear? Why we like to break bad news. By Richard Laermer, January 21, 2004 |
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| Meet the Presses For the first time, a production editor visits his printing plant. By Norman Jeffries, January 14, 2004 |
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| I Was a Grade-School Glass A writer reflects on the meteoric rise and terrible fall of his journalism career. By John Barry, January 7, 2004 |
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| State of the 'Bistro Message As the year ends, Laurel Touby reflects on the little website that could—and all the great new things on tap for 2004. By Laurel Touby, December 31, 2003 |
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| Letters to the Editor mb readers believe there really is a Santa Claus—and that media should be deregulated. December 24, 2003 |
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| Bikerlady, Empress When a PR gal became a motorcycle writer, little did she know she'd end up building herself a brand. By Sasha Mullins, December 3, 2003 |
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| I Was Stalked on Amazon.com A screenwriter-turned-first novelist let his good customer feedback go to his head. So there was only one option when someone started campaigning against his book on the site: Fight back. By Allison Burnett, November 19, 2003 |
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| Nice Work, or Is It? One travel writer was feeling burnt out—until Crazy Horse reminded her why she loves her job. By Melissa Marshall, November 12, 2003 |
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| Reflecting Glass A former New Republic fact checker remembers the wake of Stephen Glass. By Benjamin Soskis, October 31, 2003 |
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| Writing vs. Writing How life in a newsroom can hurt—and maybe help—your fiction-writing career. By Dann Halem, October 22, 2003 |
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| Secrets of the Slush A book editor's advice for keeping yourself out of the slush pile. By Jen Weiss, October 15, 2003 |
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| I Am Not a Groupie There's a big distinction between music journalists and groupies. Isn't there? By Simona Rabinovich, October 8, 2003 |
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| Colonist For this aspiring novelist, a stay at an artists' colony is like a trip to the Riviera. By Allison Amend, October 1, 2003 |
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| Not in the Bathroom One editor explains how aspiring authors can make the most of writers' conferences by knowing when to talk to editors and agents—and when not to. By Jen Weiss, September 24, 2003 |
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| Faking It An erstwhile sex columnist says it's time for Sex and the City to go. By Angelina Sciolla, September 17, 2003 |
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| Sexy, or Sexual Harassment? Is there such a thing as sexual harassment when your job is reviewing vibrators? By Stephanie Pekarsky, September 10, 2003 |
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| I, Quarksmith Sure, give the creative geniuses their due. But don't forget the production people—the humble tradesmen who execute those bold designs. By Chris Gage, September 3, 2003 |
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| He Needs a Drink One writer searches for a bar of his own. By John Barry, August 20, 2003 |
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| Jealous Hippos In the insular world of emerging fiction writers, the Times Book Review carries cooties. By Allison Amend, August 13, 2003 |
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| The Perils of Overqualification In a bad job market, what's a work-seeking media pro to do when employers are scared off by his experience? By Scott Lajoie, July 23, 2003 |
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| This Is Not a Drill As his startup trims staff, one would-be editor learns to be ready for anything. By Chris Gage, July 16, 2003 |
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| Gay for Play? Was last week a great one for U.S. gays? Or was it great for the media to say it was a great week for gays? By Richard Laermer, July 2, 2003 |
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| United Nations One writer notes a lazy headline trend that's shockingly popular—nationwide. By Lionel Beehner, June 18, 2003 |
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| My Diversity Story In a mostly white trade-pub newsroom, one editor learned the value of affirmative-action programs—and the danger of too much racial cautiousness. By Charles Paikert, June 4, 2003 |
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| Selling Furniture, Tchotchkes—and Your Soul A freelancer was just biding time in retail. Until she got sucked in—and spat out. By Sarah Cavill, May 28, 2003 |
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| Off Pitch At a women writer's conference, one freelancer tries to land an agent. By Angelina Sciolla, May 14, 2003 |
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| When Nerds Go Bad The geeks shall inherit the earth, they say. But what happens when the smart kids turn into bullies, too? By Katie Haegele, April 30, 2003 |
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| Notes on Not Writing Or: How Lizzie Skurnick Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Procrastination By Lizzie Skurnick, April 16, 2003 |
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| Ask mb In our new advice column, Celeste Mitchell gives the lowdown on press credentials. By Celeste Mitchell, April 11, 2003 |
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| Crime or Coincidence? What's a writer to do when her ideas show up in the magazine she pitched them to—under someone else's byline? By Nina Willdorf, April 2, 2003 |
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| Why We Write in Starbucks Only $4 for what's left of bohemia—and the grande latte is free. By Lizzie Skurnick, March 19, 2003 |
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| The Positively True Adventures of a Literary Crash-Test Dummy When a nascent men's mag needed a gonzo hotdog vendor, Jon Hart was their man. March 5, 2003 |
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| We Got A Facelift, Baby! Over the coming weeks and months, we'll be rolling out our redesign, folks, and we really hope you like it. Click here to comment. February 9, 2003 |
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