Odds and Ends
September 20th, 2022 • Featured, Quill Blog, Odds and Ends
UPDATED: 180 journalism movies, ranked
Note: The popularity of this story prompted us to treat it as a dynamic document, adding more reviews as appropriate movies are released or discovered. So what started as “110 Journalism Movies, Ranked” has morphed into “180 Journalism Movies Ranked.” And we have no intention of stopping.
May 1st, 2020 • Featured, Quill Blog, Quill Archives, Journalist on Call, Odds and Ends
Beyond the hard news: 23 tips for when feature ideas run out
While COVID19 has necessitated hard news writing (under very challenging circumstances), consumers also need and want more to engage them, help them and even make them smile during these challenging times. Need some ideas to supplement the leading news stories? At Quill, we brainstormed and came up with a list of story areas that might fill your editorial gaps.
April 15th, 2020 • Featured, Quill Blog, Quill Archives, Bookshelf, Diversity, Odds and Ends
Bookshelf: “Ebony Magazine and Lerone Bennett Jr.: Popular Black History in Postwar America”
For decades, Ebony magazine provided something unique: a high-gloss, high-profile magazine focused solely on black America. While other magazines offered occasional glimpses into their lives, their heroes and their challenges, Ebony put African Americans and their stories on the cover and on every page that followed.
February 13th, 2020 • Odds and Ends
Bookshelf: “Author in Chief: The Untold Story of our Presidents and the Books They Wrote”
About 10 years ago, journalist and historian Craig Fehrman got an idea for a book. It would be a book about the books that presidents write. Pretty simple, right? Just make a list of all of those books, read them and then tell people about what you’ve read.
February 3rd, 2020 • Featured, Freelance Toolbox, Odds and Ends
Studies show…or maybe they don’t
Misinterpreted data and unsubstantiated conclusions plague press and social media. What can journalists do to stop them? Quill asked Rob Pyatt, who has presented workshops focused on teaching critical thinking skills, to chime in on the subject. Pyatt, an assistant professor in the New Jersey Center for Science, Technology and Mathematics at Kean University, is certified in Clinical Molecular Genetics and serves as a director of the Oxy-Gen Laboratory in Norcross, Georgia.
August 15th, 2019 • Featured, Quill Blog, Quill Archives, Odds and Ends
Review: It’s the press against the Pres in new Watergate board game
Connecting two sources directly to President Nixon was proving challenging, in spite of the efforts of reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Just when a connection looked solid, a potential source clammed up. Evidence couldn’t be secured. And Nixon was building momentum heading toward the end of his term.
April 1st, 2005 • Odds and Ends
Odds and Ends
Missouri newspaper turns the page The University of Missouri daily newspaper, The Missourian, is attempting to combine the best facets of online and print newspapers with a 10-week experiment, Peter Johnson reported in USA Today on March 1. The Missourian’s online version, called an EmPrint, will feature pages that are entirely contained on the computer screen and that are taller than they are wide.
March 17th, 2004 • Odds and Ends
Odds & Ends
NRA uses media to bypass election rules The National Rifle Association’s decision to attempt the purchase of a television or radio station in December drew criticism from Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, who wrote in a letter to Federal Elections Commission chairman Ellen Weintraub that the organization should not get a media exemption to campaign finance rules.
February 9th, 2004 • Odds and Ends
Odds & Ends
Musical tour protests media consolidation Wisconsin’s Historical Society Auditorium found itself hosting an eclectic collaboration in Madison on Nov. 7: the state’s lieutenant governor, a Federal Communications Commission member and a guitarist from Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, to name just a few attendees.
December 9th, 2003 • Odds and Ends
Odds & Ends
Journalists discuss benefits of embedding U.S. military brass and many journalists found the process of embedding reporters in combat situations positive enough to use it again in the next big American conflict. This was largely the sentiment of those involved in a Military Reporters and Editors conference that met in October in Crystal City, Va.,
November 11th, 2003 • Odds and Ends
Odds & Ends
FCC approves Hispanic broadcast merger The Federal Communications Commission approved the merger of Hispanic TV’s UnivisiÛn Communications and the nation’s top Spanish language radio corporation, Hispanic Broadcasting, on Sept. 22. The action, approved 3-2 along party lines by the FCC, creates a new media superstar.
May 21st, 2003 • Odds and Ends
Odds & Ends
Legal ads could appear on Web only Legislatures in the Midwest, in an attempt to balance budget deficits, are discussing allowing state, county and local governments to place their legal notices on Web sites. Currently, the law requires that they be published in newspapers.
April 29th, 2003 • Odds and Ends
Odds & Ends
Pot columnist charged with growing it Ed Rosenthal, who has authored how-to books and columns on growing marijuana and not getting caught, has gotten caught. He went on trial Jan. 21 on federal charges of cultivating pot illegally. The case is another clash between state and local authorities and the federal government about using marijuana for medical purposes.
February 18th, 2003 • Odds and Ends
Odds & Ends
Chicago Defender sale finalized The Cook County, Ill., probate court has approved a $10.9-million deal to buy Sengstacke Enterprises Inc., which includes the daily Chicago Defender and three black weeklies. Since the death of John Sengstacke in 1997, the court has overseen the company, which was left with a $3-million estate-tax bill and a family divided over its future.
November 20th, 2002 • Odds and Ends
Odds & Inns
Newspapers run nine of top 20 news sites Audience statistics from Nielsen/ NetRatings have found that nine of the top 20 news Web sites in the U.S. for the month of July were newspaper sites. Topping the list in terms of audience members were CNN.com,
July 23rd, 2002 • Odds and Ends
Odds & Ends
CBS refuses to run Schwab ad Now that their sales practices have come under fire, Wall Street stock brokerages seem to have found an ally in CBS-TV, according to The Associated Press. The network has refused to run a Charles Schwab commercial making fun of an industry sore spot – allegations that commission-driven brokers sometimes recommend stocks known to be poor investments.
June 19th, 2002 • Odds and Ends
Odds & Ends
New York Times wins record 7 Pulitzers Many of the 2002 Pulitzer Prizes, which were announced by Columbia University April 9, focused on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and their aftermath. The New York Times won a record seven prizes, including one in the public service category for “A Nation Challenged,” a special section that ran in the months following the Sept.
May 1st, 2002 • Odds and Ends
Odds & Ends
NBC REVERSES DECISION TO RUN LIQUOR ADS Just three months after NBC broke a decades-old ban on televised liquor advertisements, the network reversed its decision in March after a barrage of criticism from lawmakers and advocacy groups. NBC said leaders of both parties in Congress asked the network to reconsider its decision to broadcast the first liquor ads since 1948, when the networks began a self-imposed ban, Reuters reported.
April 3rd, 2002 • Odds and Ends
Odds & Ends
VOA REPORTER IS PULLED OFF AIR A Voice of America journalist who landed an exclusive and controversial September interview with the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, has been taken off the air and reassigned to what she and the agency’s news director call a “useless job.”
March 5th, 2002 • Odds and Ends
Odds & Ends
MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO MAKES CUTS Minnesota Public Radio, one of the largest public radio networks, will cut its budget and jobs this year. MPR President Bill Kling said the network’s budget would grow by 6 percent in the 2002 fiscal year, which began last July, instead of 15 percent as expected.
February 6th, 2002 • Odds and Ends
Odds & Ends
PENTAGON PROMISES GREATER WAR ACCESS Victoria Clarke, the Pentagon’s top spokesperson, acknowledged “severe shortcomings” that sharply limited reporting of U.S. casualties in Afghanistan in the fall and has pledged greater efforts to ease constraints on reporters in the field. Clarke, assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, issued a memo Dec.
October 4th, 2001 • Odds and Ends
Odds & Ends
Reporter pulled off story after complaint When Karen Lee Ziner, a police reporter for The Providence Journal, was assigned a story in May about a domestic violence case, she tracked down a police report and summarized what it said: that a woman had been hit repeatedly with a hammer and found naked on the floor of her apartment.
July 31st, 2001 • Odds and Ends
Odds & Ends
Jerusalem Post launches home delivery in America There is now yet another newspaper for readers in the New York metropolitan area to choose from, at least on Fridays. Unlike The New York Times, New York Daily News or the New York Post, this one hails from far, far away.
