Chris Jones talks about his Esquire feature on Roger Ebert

Chris Jones has a long profile of film critic Roger Ebert in this month's Esquire. It's about how Ebert is dealing with cancer that has resulted in, among other things, the loss of his jaw and his ability to speak.

Jones says in an interview with journalism.about.com that he was self-conscious about writing about Ebert -- "You're writing about a great writer" -- and was nervous about what the famous critic might say about the piece.

Interesting that Jones was worried about how his subject would react. I would have liked to have seen him address how/whether that influenced anything he wrote.

He didn't address that in the interview, but he did deliver this advice to reporters:

"Come up with a great story idea. Do the reporting. Lots of it. Then, when it's time to write, get out of the way and let the story tell itself.

"Students tend to think of just the writing part of things, but because of my newspaper background I take reporting more seriously. If you have solid reporting then everything else is simple."

Breakdown of a suicide note

Poynter's Roy Peter Clark took the long suicide note of the guy who flew his plane into the IRS building in Texas and did a full-blown analysis of the language.

I've never seen this done, and, although it's a critique done at arm's length -- Clark obviously didn't know the pilot, etc. -- it does show that the choices people make when they write can tell significant things about them.

One of the most intriguing, perhaps chilling, things in Clark's analysis is his note that a lot of the writer's phrases are heard every day from politicians and commentators from both sides of the political spectrum. It makes me wonder: Are those people reflecting current thinking in America, and are we living with hundreds of thousands of people who really believe what the pilot believed? Or did the pilot, having listened to that language again and again and again, use it to polish his disenchantment with his perceived enemies?

And lastly: Be sure to read the comments. There is a really interesting discussion going on, reactions to Clark's piece, some people saying Clark never should have written it, and Clark has responded a couple times.

(AP photo)

'Desert of Death'

Pretty good stuff here (from Minneapolis Star-Tribune, via link from Romenesko via link from www.minnpost.com, an online-only news site):

A Star-Tribune reporter and photographer went with a National Guard supply unit on a trip across a notoriously dangerous desert. (Link will show you part 3 as the main story; links for parts 1 & 2 are at the right).

I'm most of the way through part 1, and the setup, character description and pace is making for a good read.

Take a chance

Like a lot of people, I love Calvin & Hobbes and have often wondered about how its creator, Bill Watterson, not only could walk away from such a hugely successful endeavor, but could so completely keep to himself -- no merchandising (those little Calvins seen pissing on Dale Earnhardt's No. 3 are bootlegs, of course), no interviews, no public life. (Much to be admired, when you think about it).

Anyway, I figured we'd never hear from the guy until one day you'd read his obituary. But on the 15th anniversary of the retirement of the strip, a reporter at the Cleveland Plain Dealer -- Watterson lives near Cleveland; would you have guessed? -- took a shot and simply e-mailed Watterson some questions.

And Watterson responded.

"I wasn't very hopeful I'd get a response, that's for sure," reporter John Campanelli said. "But you still gotta try."

Photo courtesy www.cargal.org.

'A holy profession'

Feeling a little blue? Read this transcript.

It's an interview with Ben Bradlee on NewsHour. I haven't listened to them all, but the audio links on the left look pretty clutch, too.

Here's a sample:

JIM LEHRER: Ben Bradlee is one of America's most famous newspaper editors and he believes the practice of journalism is more than a job.

BEN BRADLEE: I don't mean to sound arrogant, but we're in a holy profession.

JIM LEHRER: A holy profession?

BEN BRADLEE: Yeah and the pursuit of truth is a holy pursuit.

Echoes of Katrina

What's happening in Haiti evokes what happened in New Orleans in 2005. This is a powerful video storytelling project, called "An Unnatural Disaster," about what's happened since '05 and what's happening now in New Orleans.

The main video includes some then-and-later photos that really bring it home. For example, in 2005, Katrina left a blasted Days Inn sign at a 45-degree angle over a small pool. Two years later it looked like the sign hadn't been touched.

An airplane rises from the waters

Time-lapse photography storytelling of the plane that landed in the Hudson, sank, an re-emerged:

Exclusive unseen video footage of the Miracle on the Hudson, flight 1549 New York City from David Martin on Vimeo.

Writing so sharp it hurts

Every now and then I read an essay or opinion piece that tells me more about who we can be a society than I think I want to know. Philip Kennicott, the culture critic at The Washington Post, has such a piece about the National Enquirer's (apparent) photos of Tiger Woods outside a Mississippi sexual rehab clinic.

Obviously, feel free to disagree, with me or with the piece. But as Kennicott dissects and analyzes the images -- and pretty much puts the Enquirer in his crosshairs -- I think he nails the cultural significance of those photos, the people who took them, the public's curiosity that drives that kind of news coverage, and of Tiger Woods' future.

Without My Leg, I Am A Freak

Sad but compelling, important. A story, not a news bulletin or breaking news, about what is happening in Haiti:

Without My Leg, I Am A Freak: "Meg Laughlin: JIMANI, Dominican Republic At the public hospital in this border town, no one
can say how many amputations have been done since the earthquake. One surgeon says he did 32
yesterday. Another says 22 in the two days before. Mostly legs. ..."

'We in journalism have lost a guiding star'

Jacqui Banaszynski's amazing, inspiring tribute to Deborah Howell, her friend and onetime editor, who died recently.

A few words from the piece:

"Deborah said yes, without fail, to all that life asked. She said yes to love, yes to stepchildren, yes to adventure, yes to irreverence and yes to God. She said yes to the highest journalistic standards and the toughest journalistic trials, even when it cost her corporate favor or popularity with her staff."