the world at large

On tossing out the baby with the bathwater: Jill Abramson fired from the NYTimes

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I'm old enough to have had the NYTimes delivered daily to my door and to especially savor Sundays when the paper arrived with all of its bulk and I knew that a good part of my day would be devoted to the Book Review and the Magazine and one of Will Shortz' crosswords, all while sipping many cups of coffee. And then the digital age happened...I get the NYTimes, as I do most everything I read, online. Digitized. And we all know the order of the day is different, as is the order of everything we read. No more beginning to end. We jump around. Like bees on flowers. There's another flower. And another. 

How does a newspaper respond to this? That's the question the New York Times set out to explore and here is a link to their findings, as reported on Buzzfeed:

Exclusive: New York Times Internal Report Painted Dire Digital Picture

It's a tough business, no doubt. Amidst all of this turmoil, the NYTimes quite unceremoniously showed Jill Abramson the door. Mere readers will never know any, or all, of the machinations that went into the decision of tossing out the first female executive editor in NYTime's history, but I can say, most definitely, that the way it was done stinks to high heaven. They do want to assure everyone that her firing had nothing to do with gender discrimination or equal pay issues:

Times Seeks to Reassure its Staff After Abramson's Ouster - NYTimes

For the first time ever, I'm thinking of cancelling my subscription to the NYTimes. 


For sheer genius, there is nothing better than this instagram photo of Jill Abramson posted by her daughter the day after the NYTimes tossed out the baby with the bathwater:

http://instagram.com/p/oBhfS8jcGQ/



Boston Strong

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One Fund Boston - This is the general fund that was set up by Governor Deval Patrick and Mayor Tom Menino to help those most affected by the bombings.

Jeff Bauman is the young man who was waiting to see his girlfriend complete the Boston Marathon. He was near the finish line ​when one of the bombers dropped a bag at Bauman's feet. Two minutes later the bomb went off and Bauman lost both of his legs. I looked at the photo taken of Jeff being wheeled to the ambulance, after having had tourniquets applied by Carlos Arredondo, who saved Jeff's life. That photo is horrific, and iconic. Here is a modified photo, along with the story. The full photo is available at The Atlantic. I will provide a link, but you must know that it is graphic and difficult to view. 

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