Here the whole media world is debating what or who is a journalist, but it appears that the definitional problems reach a little deeper than even that. A reader has an interesting point about yesterday's National Magazine Award nominee announcement:

How can the Chronicle of Higher Education be nominated for both a Pulitzer and a NMA? Shouldn't, by definition, they only be eligible for one or the other?

The Chronicle would appear by just about any definition to be a newspaper -- it's certainly printed on newsprint and there's nothing glossy about it. However the Chronicle's "About Us" doesn't say whether it's a magazine or a newspaper (although it's sister publication, the Chronicle of Philanthrophy is clearly labeled a newspaper), so we called Editor Phil Semas.

He told Fishbowl that it's a question they get with some frequency (including, interestingly enough, from the Pulitzer board itself), but that while the Chronicle considers itself a newspaper, under ASME's rules, it's also eligible to enter the National Magazine Awards.

We looked into it a bit farther today and it turns out that ASME's eligibility rules are rather loose. Their definition of a magazine? "To be considered a magazine, a publication must be issued at regular intervals at least four times a year and must be distributed or sold independently of other publications."

Indeed under ASME's definition, it would appear that just about any newspaper could probably enter the National Magazine Awards -- and certainly the Village Voice or Variety would probably qualify.

Someone might want to reconsider those rules before Maureen Dowd wins her first "ellie" for opinion.