Four today

1. Ever wonder why some news stories sound like press releases? Sometimes it's because the news stories basically copy huge blocks of text from press releases. A new site, churnalism.com, will help watchdog this shameful habit. PBS

2. Governments employ many layers of lawyers to figure out how not to tell people what's going on. ProPublica has gone through the excuses used to skirt the Freedom of Information Act to show just how its done. ProPublica

3. What's in a name? In the case of Medill journalism school, way too much. Daily Northwestern

4. AOL/Huffington Post is becoming fair and balanced. fishbowlLA

Deep thoughts

Simon Owens, who blogs at Bloggasm and writes for PBS MediaShift, interviewed me and a few other writers a couple weeks ago about the challenges of publishing a private blog while working as a professional journalist. My answers were a bit rambling but the story turned out well.

I'd be interested to hear what my cadre of readers think on the subject. Comment section is thirsting for your wisdom.

Incidentally, I am not of the opinion that objective journalism is some false notion that we should do away with in the name of honesty.