A year-long series of forums on the future of the news business rolls into Portland next week, courtesy of the National Press Club. The Washington D.C. professional journalist organization will host a forum on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at the University of Oregon’s newly opened Turnbull Center in downtown Portland. The stop comes in the middle […]
Arianna Huffington, blogger mogul
The first time I ever heard of Arianna Huffington was in 1994 when her then husband Michael was the Republican challenger for incumbent Democrat Dianne Feinstein’s U.S. Senate seat in California. My workspace in the Orange County Register’s newsroom was right next to the cubicle of the political reporter covering the election. During the race, […]
Tina Brown launches The Daily Beast
Tina Brown says she picked The Daily Beast as the name of her just launched news aggregator Website because it was the name of the newspaper in her all-time favorite novel, a Fleet Street satire called Scoop, by Evelyn Waugh. But there’s another reason too. As any reporter who’s worked on daily deadlines knows, the […]
City debates whether bloggers are reporters
There’s a debate brewing in the small Portland, Oregon, suburb of Lake Oswego that could have implications for any freelance writer who uses a blog to report the news. At the heart of the controversy is a simple question: are bloggers reporters? The city of Lake Oswego doesn’t think so, and is taking steps to […]
HARO rescues writers stuck for sources
Do you know HARO? If you don’t, it might be time to get acquainted. HARO stands for “If I Can Help A Reporter Out.” It was started by a PR guy and networking maven named Peter Shankman as a place reporters can turn to when they’re stuck for sources. Shankman started it as an alternative […]
Why freelancers should add interactive material to story pitches
I love looking at real estate listings. I started five years ago when I was moving and looking for houses. Now I browse the local multiple listing service Website for fun. OK, secretly I want to buy a house in the mountains, but who knows if that will ever happen. So I was online looking […]