Holidays are a reminder that we’ve gone another turn around the sun, a time to take time to take stock.
And of the many ways to celebrate Thanksgiving—touch football, Maalox, sleeping outside of Best Buy—let’s remember that the one that’s probably least divorced from the day’s traditional meaning is to reflect back and give thanks.
Last year, when we asked what you were thankful for in the world of journalism, people mentioned their favorite sportswriter or tweeter. Someone was thankful for having a job. And a journalist from Uganda was thankful for the new career he launched after his radio station was shut down by the government.
That was a sobering reminder of how much so many of us have to be thankful for.
So this year, we’d again like to ask you to tell us what you’re thankful for in the world of journalism. Happy Holidays.
As a devoted news consumer, I am thankful that the New York Times has chosen to eschew the temptation to sink down into the profitable mud of Politico-style "journalism" by upholding their standards of style and content. Their website is consistently innovative and accessible. They have invested much time and effort in recruiting the very best journalists from the blogosphere and from Washington Post(heh). They spend significant resources to moderate their comment threads. They encourage their journos to interact with their readers. They generally refrain from engaging in gossipy, overblown cable-style minutiae. They still extend the subjects of their reporting the courtesy of "Mr." and "Mrs." and refrain from such cheap shots as "rage-filled blowhard." In retaining their standards of journalism when everyone else is swimming with Politico, they are without question the finest news venue in the country. I wish them a very profitable year.
#1 Posted by James, CJR on Tue 23 Nov 2010 at 11:57 AM
the "off" button on my cell phone, computer, ipad, netbook and ipod. And David Rohde's new memoir.
#2 Posted by Amy Simon, CJR on Tue 23 Nov 2010 at 12:14 PM
I'm thankful for the expansion of what constitutes 'news', and the range of voices heard, mostly thanks to the Internet, but also with the development of cable news and the revival of AM talk radio. No one news outlet can be a comprehesive source of information about the world. It is no longer possible for a rather small community of writers and editors in Manhattan and DC to decide what 'news' is. The interested consumer has more resources than ever with which to back-check reports among competing sources and outlooks. The volume of information guarantees that 'bad' information will get out there, but it doesn't stay out there without refutation as long as it used to.
#3 Posted by Mark Richard, CJR on Tue 23 Nov 2010 at 12:21 PM
I am thankful to live in a place where I have fast & easy access to an uncensored and net-neutral World Wide Web.
#4 Posted by Lauren Kirchner, CJR on Tue 23 Nov 2010 at 12:42 PM
Thanks, God, for natural laws which mercifully punish the untruth tellers of state approved news-media, thus making way for the growing minority of honest humans who actually expose state evil for what it is. Amen.
#5 Posted by Dan A., CJR on Tue 23 Nov 2010 at 10:42 PM
I am thankful to live in a place where the law protects unfiltered information. I am also grateful for the safety and security that the First Amendment grants American journalists while other countries arrest dissenters who try to expand the truth.
#6 Posted by Chris R., CJR on Wed 24 Nov 2010 at 03:30 PM
I'm thankful that British taxpayers continue to provide the world with one of the best and farthest-reaching news organizations on the planet: the BBC. The world owes you debts of gratitude...in many languages.
#7 Posted by Justin Martin, CJR on Thu 25 Nov 2010 at 02:35 AM
I am thankful for the many newspaper journalists who still consider our work a craft and an important contribution to sustaining a vigorous public debate in the name of democracy. I am thankful for readers who still value an aggressive, timely and helpful newspaper that can help them understand what is changing around them, why it is changing, and what it means to them.
#8 Posted by Gary Graham, CJR on Fri 26 Nov 2010 at 07:26 PM
I'm thankful for the hilarious things I can read on the blog side of the Washington Post.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/politics/blog-network/2010/11/washington_post_columnists_sco.html
#9 Posted by Thimbles, CJR on Sat 27 Nov 2010 at 12:41 AM