NYT editor opens up about relationship with WikiLeaks*

New York Times executive editor Bill Keller has written a long piece talking about how his paper came into possession of the WikiLeaks cables and battlefield dispatches, and its relationship with WikiLeaks's quirky, genius founder, Julian Assange. The story is here.

*Update: I should have noted that Keller's article is an introduction to a 2000-page e-book the NYT will publish Monday on the WikiLeaks affair. The first two chapters are profiles of Assange and the alleged source of the WikiLeaks material, Pfc. Bradley Manning. The rest appears to be a compilation of past stories, along with links to the cables that served as the basis for reporting. The book will sell for $5.99.

Meaningless

Someone is killing words.

In an interview with der Spiegel last month, Wired's Chris Anderson declared "journalism," "media," "news," and "newspapers" to be among the victims:

Sorry, I don't use the word "media." I don't use the word "news." I don't think that those words mean anything anymore. They defined publishing in the 20th century. Today, they are a barrier. They are standing in our way, like a horseless carriage.

Anderson then proceeded to dig up their bones to further his point:

I read lots of articles from mainstream media but I don't go to mainstream media directly to read it. It comes to me, which is really quite common these days. More and more people are choosing social filters for their news rather than professional filters. We're tuning out television news, we're tuning out newspapers. And we still hear about the important stuff, it's just that it's not like this drumbeat of bad news. It's news that matters.

Maybe we should let those social filters work a while longer before we change the dictionaries.

In related news, NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen added his own word to the hit list, telling fishbowlLA that "blogger" wasn't long for the world. Somehow I don't think many people will miss it if it goes.