Groupon envy turns minds mushy

Advertisers love stories that conflate what they do with journalism, and the Atlantic's Elizabeth Weingarten delivers in her column about the Groupon academy - where writers learn to produce compelling ad copy and then tell themselves they're doing "hybrid journalism-advertising". From the story:

"Groupon really functions like a newspaper," said [Groupon Editor Eddie] Schmid, who worked briefly at the Chicago Sun-Times. "And that's really invigorating. There are dedicated stages, and teams that are really focused on making sure things are factually accurate, transparent, and funny."

But unlike most newspapers, Groupon is expanding rapidly. This year, the site expects to bring in more than $500 million in revenue. It might be the fastest growing company in the history of the Web, sending a clear sign that there's a market for creative writers -- and the type of hybrid journalism-advertising prose Groupon has perfected.

First off, newspapers could stand to learn how to be more funny and transparent (and, in some cases, accurate).

That said, just because the two enterprises use the written word as their means of communication and try to be accurate does not mean they have a hybrid relationship. Police reports also use written words and try to be accurate, but that doesn't make what I do hybrid journalism-law enforcement work.

Four today

Coming off a weekend away from the computer, so excuse me if some of these are a bit stale.

1. The good news: The Pentagon has hired the same firm that helped put together the Iraqi National Congress, which fed false information about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, to vet reporters who want to embed with U.S. troops in Afghanistan. From Stars and Stripes:

Rendon examines individual reporters’ recent work and determines whether the coverage was “positive,” “negative” or “neutral” compared to mission objectives, according to Rendon officials. It conducts similar analysis of general reporting trends about the war for the military and has been contracted for such work since 2005, according to the company. ...

U.S. Army officials in Iraq engaged in a similar vetting practice two months ago, when they barred a Stars and Stripes reporter from embedding with a unit of the 1st Cavalry Division because the reporter “refused to highlight” good news that military commanders wanted to emphasize.

2. How long before the Sun-Times sets?: The Chicago Sun-Times better make a deal soon or it might perish in bankruptcy court. Chicago Tribune

3. California watched: The Center for Investigative Reporting has announced its California Watch team. Former LA Timesman Robert Salladay, who had California's Capitol wired, will be a contributing writer and special adviser. Most of the members have a deep background in newspapers, which makes one wonder where the next generation of California Watchers is going to come from. CIR

4. The unkindest cut: Sam Zell, who may not be long for the Tribune Co., gets the rough treatment from Advertising Age:

The big man walks away a small man -- diminished in the eyes of history. He could have shuffled off this mortal coil with his legend as a real-estate genius intact, but instead he'll mostly be remembered for helping to drive the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times and his other papers more quickly into the ground. Surely he'll be the last big man to try to become even bigger through media moguldom.

Fine, fine, pile on Zell. But the more salient point in the article is buried at the bottom:

But to bring this full circle to Mark Zuckerberg [founder and CEO of Facebook]: You could think of a guy like him, if he has lasting power, as the prototypical media mogul of the future, I suppose. Except that Zuckerberg, really, is a post-media mogul: a manager, basically, of an incredibly vast digital spreadsheet that we're all kind enough to fill for him with our personal data and updates and pictures and whatnot. He's running a virtual Trapper Keeper, and it'd be totally empty if he hadn't somehow convinced 250 million people to B.Y.O.C. -- bring your own content.

The content king of the past had pretensions to controlling us -- or at least the body politic, the public conversation, the local and national agenda -- by controlling information. But the content king of the future has it much easier; he controls us more directly. Because, loyal subjects that we are, we surrender our information to the king willingly.

Walter Cronkite "gravely ill"

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that legendary anchorman Walter Cronkite, 92, is "gravely ill."

Newspaper bankruptcy watch: Chicago Sun-Times

What's wrong with Chicago?

Sun-Times Media Group, owner of the Chicago Sun-Times, filed for bankruptcy protection today, the New York Times reports:

The company said it would continue to operate its newspapers and online sites while it focuses on further improving its cost structure and stabilizing operations...

The company operates 59 newspapers and their corresponding online sites, including several papers in the suburban Chicago area.

Tribune Co., owner of the Chicago Tribune, which is the Sun-Times main source of competition, filed for bankruptcy last December.

Training your replacement?*

The Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism's jobs link has an interesting opportunity for an experienced journalist who wants to travel to India and do a little teaching (this is a cut and paste job - the spelling and grammatical errors are theirs):

Job: Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media

Visitng Faculty- Print and/or Broadcast (TV)

Location: Bangalore, India
State: Intl

Duration: 6-12 months

Salary: Rs. 45,000 per month plus free boarding and lodging. $1,5000 round trip airfare

Application deadline: Sunday, February 15, 2009

This is a full-time position.

The Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media, Bangalore, India seeks two journalism professionals in print and television to teach for 6-12 months or more, starting in July 2009 to May 2010. We offer Rs. a monthly stipend of Rs. 45,000 plus free boarding and meals at the campus residence. 4 days per week workload allows 3 days of free time to explore the country and enjoy the culture. We are one of the top journalism colleges in India offering print, web and boradcast for a one year post-graduate diploma program. Please visit www.iijnm.org and email me at amgeorge99@gmail.com.

Abraham M. George, Dean

Experience required:

Work experience of no less than 10 years in TV and/or print. Our main needs are to ytrain students in reporting and writing, scripting for TV, covering/broadcasting news, and producing documentaries.

The monthly stipend works out to about US$920 give or take, depending on when you do the conversion calculation.

*Update: The Chicago Sun-Times might be one of the first newspapers in the country to employ Indian copy editors, if rumors are to be believed. The company is looking for $50 million in savings and has threatened to cut one-fifth of its editorial force. Apparently, company officials made some noise Friday about outsourcing the copy desk (Chicago Reader via Romenesko).