After all the stinky linkies and divaliciousness

Here's a nice breather after the Malu Fernandez issue.

I really need you to read this article, OK?
By Joel Achenbach
The Wahington Post
Source: The Salt Lake Tribune

Am I worried about the future of the newspaper industry? No, because as an artist, I find that literature is its own reward. I care only for the pitch, roll and yaw, the warp and the woof - the yipping and the twittering - of our beautiful language.

But corporate realities are getting harsh around here, and thus I've decided to blog a lot more about sexual deviancy, inebriated starlets, "American Idol" rejects, unlikely but theoretically possible natural catastrophes, and pets in distress. In the future all my blog entries will have headlines such as "Britney Menaced by Sharks." No, wait: "Britney's Dog Menaced by Sharks."

Untrue, but think of the eyeballs!

Newspaper journalism is different these days: Suddenly everyone is obsessed with eyeballs, page views, "stickiness," "click-through rates," and so on. No one shouts "Stop the presses!" anymore, but they do whimper "Why aren't I on the home page?" The noble product that we manufacture and distribute throughout the metropolis - the physical thing so carefully designed, folded and bagged - is now generally referred to in our business as the "dead-tree edition." It gets little respect.

Read more here.