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USA Edition | Today Is Sunday, March 21, 2010 |
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USA Edition | Today Is Sunday, March 21, 2010 |
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We offer no comfort or support to Iran’s dictators, or those who run any other country.
Robert Butche
Newsroom Magazine Publisher
Q I for one am offended by Newsroom Magazine’s pandering to that idiot Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran. Stick with being an American and stay out of other nation’s business.
A We offer no comfort or support to Iran’s dictators, or oppressive regimes ruling any other country.
One of Newsroom Magazine’s prime missions is to speak about the cost of freedom . To do this requires that we also speak to the unwillingness of certain Americans and institutions who appear unwilling to put forth effort or make meaningful commitment to our collective freedoms. Being critical of our ongoing failings to be responsible citizens, and defenders of our freedom here at home, is only one side of the coin.
When others put their lives on the line, protest the actions or legitimacy of dictators, and demand freedom for themselves and their countrymen their risks and actions deserve support and acknowledgment for such is price of freedom.
For these reasons, Newsroom Magazine supports all oppressed peoples seeking to achieve their own freedoms and rights as human beings.
Today it’s the people of Iran, mostly young and well educated, who are demanding freedom for themselves and generations to follow. Should others, in China, Venezuela, or Saudi Arabia raise their voices in protest we will support them as well.
So you’re wrong — Newsroom magazine offers no support whatsoever for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or any other dictator.
But we do support the people of Iran in their struggle for the very freedoms we take so much for granted in the United States.
Q Don’t you think you’re pushing it a bit to cover so many diverse areas? Why not go back to speaking only on journalistic matters? That’s what we really need today.
A Your point is well taken, but rest assured that we’ve not abandoned journalism or broadcast news coverage.
We were criticized, and properly so, for writing about the failures of journalism, but doing nothing to demonstrate how critical thinking, relevancy and being probative differ from sloppy writing, inappropriate framing, biased reporting, unclear thinking and speculation as if news.
To make our content more relevant, we changed to a wider content model in January 2009.
While we’re considering how to sharpen our content for the 2010 calendar year, the broad content nature of Newsroom Magazine will continue.
Q The first time I came across Newsroom Magazine I assumed, like nearly all other online publications, it was more or less against everything. When I found that your reports, essays and commentaries examine issues logically and cite your sources, I became a fan. But I still can’t say I know what you’re all about. What is it? Or do you even know?
A One of our favorite admonitions was stated eloquently by New York Times writer David Carr when he wrote, “Politics has a way of reminding us that the conventional wisdom, while widely held, is not always wise.”
While we don’t take a political view of anything, it being that we prefer clear definitions and logical foundation, means that Newsroom Magazine content is intended to be independent wisdom based on critical thinking and rational analysis.
Q We’ve used several of your story-telling articles for class room discussion in high school English. Were there any published in prior years?
A All of Newsroom’s Human Condition section articles were published during 2009. Human Condition section content is being considered for discontinuance due to narrative and story content being more difficult to produce and most unlike the great bulk of Newsroom Magazine content.
Our original plan was to feature a broader collection of materials, but obtaining suitable materials for publication in a non-commercial publication has thus far not been successful. We’re still open to submissions — at least through the end of 2009.
Q I love it when you write about our beeb. When I watch it every night it seems to fall short of your complimentary remarks, but when I read what you say, it still feels good.
A We think the BBC to be the world’s best broadcast news operation. It may not be as good as it used to be, but compared to what’s happened here, and on the commercial satellite news services available in Britain and Europe, the BBC is head and shoulders above all the others.
In many ways, our terrific National Public Radio system here in the United States, has the same level of quality and depth. But, compared to the world-wide reach enjoyed by the BBC, NPR is a very small voice in a very large and increasingly raucous crowd.
So when we tell our readers that Question Time, NewsNight, and David Dimbleby are perhaps the best there are in broadcast public affairs programming, be assured that your tax monies are being well spent for the benefit of Britons everywhere.
Newsroom Magazine is very proud to have Tony Koorlander, former BBC TV news, as an ongoing contributor.
Q There are so many things that we cannot find in our language, or sometimes even get to see at all due to local restrictions. So when you publish things about America we can translate into Chinese, it’s immensely helpful.
A It’s also intentional. Thanks for letting us know our efforts are not going to waste.
We plan to expand the publication of official documents, transcripts and other materials in the coming months to better serve our international readers with usable, if imperfect, local language translations.
Q It’s hard enough to get a job today without people like you constantly bashing anyone with an MBA degree. If you can’t say something good why don’t you shut the —- up?
A You’re right about MBA bashing by Newsroom Magazine, and many other publications. On our part, we view critical coverage of MBA thinking as warranted, and long overdue. But not against degree holders — only against those who foster and teach irresponsibility, criminality and self-enriching behavior that damages ordinary Americans as appropriate managerial conduct.
Our purpose is not to indict any single individual, but a systematized and highly destructive subculture that has done immense damage to millions of ordinary Americans. MBA values, which favor short term managerial benefits over long term commitment to shareholder and employee interests, have done immense damage by fostering an aberrant corporate culture, destroying employee loyalty, and abdicating traditional responsibilities to communities, retirees and other non-transitory stakeholders.
Q I see that your readership numbers continue to increase. Where are all these readers? And what does their increasing numbers mean down the road?
A Compared to major print publications, and the immensely popular blog world, Newsroom Magazine remains a pipsqueak. Our cumulative readership this year should exceed six million, which while tiny compared to a major newspaper website, like the New York Times, is far more than we had projected just last December.
Writing about ethics, journalism, fidelity-to-fact, economics, governance, media and jurisprudence is not very sexy, or emotionally provocative. People who come to read Newsroom Magazine content are looking for something that’s credible, reasonable, enlightening and probative. This remains a very small segment of the online audience — but one that is not widely served in today’s dismissive, declarative and increasingly strident internet publishing environment.
That said, our daily traffic in October was double what it was only last January — so we know that there is an audience for serious issues, probative analysis, critical thinking and even movie reviews that speak of subject matter, the human condition, and story construct, not box office.
About 40% of our readership is outside the United States. European readers comprise about 12% of our audience. Beijing is the largest single source of overseas readers while Washington has become our largest domestic audience.
Newsroom Magazine is now read by K-12 students in all 50 states, almost every major college — especially among students studying in journalism and law schools.
A growing segment of our domestic readership in recent months has been government — both state and federal.
Best of all, we’re now serving regular readers at military bases and even ships at sea.
Q Why is there so little content from that British chap, Tony Koorlander?
A The answer is economics.
We’re a volunteer driven publication and really good people, like Tony Koorlander, have to earn a living from their day job. We too share your enthusiasm for more of Tony’s insightful and sometimes edgy discussions about his homeland and it’s many problems.
