If Americans have spent any time at all listening to news reports from Washington, one topic that’s been near the top of the story list has been the looming “fiscal cliff.” So what, exactly, does that mean?
Thanks to everyone who participated in the Gateway Journalism Review survey of the top stories for 2012. We have divided the survey results into two parts. The first part takes a look at the survey results for the most important international, national and regional/Midwest stories for 2012, in addition to the most important international media and U.S. media stories. The second part of the survey results – which will include the categories of what media coverage totally missed the mark, what international and national stories of 2012 deserved more/better coverage, and what was the most frivolous/overcovered story of 2012 – will be revealed next week.
Were this to have happened across the pond, British pundits would have called it “dumb arse stupid”: Jim Romenesko reports on his website that “the Kansas City Star has told reporters Karen Dillon and Dawn Bormann that one of them has to leave the paper, and they — not management — have to decide who goes.”
A pair of incidents involving television personalities – a news anchor in La Crosse, Wis., and a meteorologist in Shreveport, La. – has resulted in two different outcomes involving the use of social media to address critics.
The end of December is the season for newspapers to unveil big projects aimed at changing public policy – and, not incidentally, winning prizes. (I know. I’ve done it.) This year, the Kansas City Star printed an unappetizing but provocative series on meat production showing that modern industry methods may be harmful for people’s health. Across the state, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran a series on pedestrians killed on railroad tracks and what it saw at the weak industry response. The reader reaction was quite different.