Very inspiring!
I’ve blogged since 2007, don’t get me wrong. There’s just barely a business model there
It is what we make it as we navigate these brave new times
The Lost Collar is still online! 👸🏻 https://mrbellersneighborhood.com/2006/03/the-lost-collar #amwriting
Content name-calling used to make me so angry. Having the hard work of journalism being denigrated to being referred to as a content creator killed me. Citizen journalism was even worse. There’s no stopping it, though. Tech enables anyone and everyone to release whatever they can, and without a filter. Working unnecessarily long hours at a SF-based social media company mired in middle management and ruled by corporate cardboard cutout people was not an option for someone with several side gigs. I didn’t see a way forward. So I started a startup. MORE SOON
The field has completely been taken over by pirates. To be a truly good journalist, it’s imperative to be unbiased and impartial. To tell both sides and gather information on both sides of an issue, without an agenda.
Working in magazine journalism, at women’s publications was a joy. We shared a common mission—to empower women—and at least at the publications where I worked in editorial (NOT fashion—that is another essay called The Lost Collar on Mr Beller’s Neighborhood) we lifted each other up. I worked on domestic and international news pieces covering topics like Kosovian refugees, the Burkha, 9/11, VDay, FGM, war criminals, vaccines, anesthesia, breast cancer (NMA nominated), and of course the plastic surgery wives and the reality show precursor articles. Staffers were competitive in a way that challenged us all to do the best work we could, and I’m friends with many of these editors and writers to this day. NONE of THEM are still in journalism
Fair and balanced journalism takes all sides of an issue into account, reporting from various points of view and sources, and gives the reader the opportunity to make up their minds for themselves. This is freedom journalism.
Here’s more of my work in progress, an article on:
The future of journalism (while reflecting on the past).
All these threads will tie together in a piece that won’t even resemble this, but I’m organizing my thoughts xo
NorCal Tunestr: I left my heart in https://youtu.be/-1WHVPMDweg?si=Qrfb_i2ka6tYWonE NorCal vs SoCal Music
SoCal Tunestr: The rest is still Unwritten https://youtu.be/b7k0a5hYnSI?si=tu75XjCw7M23TsXH NorCal vs SoCal Music cc: @sydney_sweeney
In Zaffino, Veritas
Anyway, the rough draft of a new article is what I worked on while watching whatever that was. Plus wine.
Trump is a Hooker
During college I wrote many literary journalism pieces and was training in long form NYer-style reporting. Even though people read on their phones all day long, today formats have changed. During grad school for Information Science, my journalism turned into video book reviews and interviewing authors on video livestreams. I continued to learn to code (and IS is a very technical field). We’ve created a data-driven AI vertical to provide better recommendations. AI for good. Back to journalism. Citizen Journalism.
More soon.
In SF, I always regretted not sticking around to help transform the field of journalism (but now may have a chance with Nostr)? Ironically, in SF my work was with eComm, writing website copy, SEO and learning easy web dev.
Journalism was not adapting or adopting tech, and when it did install new models they were so unethical, it went against what we wanted to create. (The new models were almost as bad as hacking to get information. Almost. More on being a Robin Hood of information later). Advertiser-driven editorial (especially in fashion spreads) seems desperate, but eyeballs and other body parts motivate sales.
Notes for an upcoming essay on Journalism
(In 2012 I started using XTwitter to take notes for the book I was writing and am now doing the same on Nostr).
After a 9+ year career in journalism in NY, I saw the future technological carnage on the wall and moved to SF to write novels. In NY, I had worked at Hearst as a reporter and head of fact-checking/research, legal liaison, and also wrote articles.
Is it over yet 😭