Cloud Containment
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Journalism
The Media versus Marginal Cost
If you have two companies producing the same product then, over time, the price to the consumer will eventually start to hover just above the incremental price of each additional product. Not the price it costs to produce products — but the price it takes to produce one more product. Say, for example, you have …
Will China own the next Internet?
According to most predictions — including mine — the next generation of the Internet will be three-dimensional, fully immersive, a multi-media smorgasbord for the senses.
Description vs. prescription
I love the fact that there are always two kids of everything in the world… the binary system is so neat and orderly. There are two kinds of grammarians: the prescriptivists and the descriptivists. The prescriptivists lay down the rules, then want other people to follow them. When someone splits an infinitive, for example, or …
More on WordPress — it’s starting to look pretty … pretty
I checked out SquareSpace — nice web interface, but seems a little lacking in functionality. Then Ottawa-based web guy Gesman pointed me to a WordPress design site specifically for magazines and news organizations. This is EXACTLY what I was looking for – thanks, Gesman! The designs are gorgeous and don’t look like blogs at all. …
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How to kill your journalism career: The story of J.
We cover a lot of countries here at Trombly Ltd. Some of these countries speak other languages. So we’re always looking for reporters with go od language skills. J. was perfect. Young, ambitious, had the languages we needed — plus, with journalism experience. She wrote ten articles for us. Sure, her work needed work. She …
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Journalism vs. PR
Just came back from a nice lunch at KABB, in Shanghai’s people-watching mecca Xintiandi. Hose Mitamura (author of China s Environment 2008, available from Amazon) and I discussed the differences between journalism and PR. As my staff constantly reminds me, I tend to believe passionately in whatever I heard most recently. In my case, this …
Journalists and bad job-hunting skills
Note: This blog post also ran in the Society of Professional Journalism’s “Journalism and the World” blog. Click here to see the original post (and comments). I don’t know if this is the case just in China or everywhere, but a great number of journalists I interview lately have remarkably poor job hunting skills. It …
How to avoid paying bribes
Note: This blog post also ran in the Society of Professional Journalism’s “Journalism and the World” blog. Click here to see the original post. At lunch today I had a nice chat with a lawyer friend about paying bribes. Now, I’m not about to comment on this issue in China (except to say that, for …
How (not) to write a China article
Note: This blog post also ran in the Society of Professional Journalism’s “Journalism and the World” blog. Click here to see the original post (and comments). Sinocidal (a.k.a. “Five guys hanging around in China”) has a great post today by blogger ChouChou about how to write a China article. Quick summary: * Title: China/The Dragon/The …
You don’t need to fly around the world to edit for a China pub, or, Reverse outsourcing
Note: This blog post also ran in the Society of Professional Journalism’s “Journalism and the World” blog. Click here to see the original post There is a shortage of English-language writers and copyeditors in China. Especially experienced ones. The reason is that expats typically don’t stay in China for a long time – it’s stressful. …
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Email interviews a boon for overseas and foreign reporters
Note: This blog post also ran in the Society of Professional Journalism’s “Journalism and the World” blog. Click here to see the original post. I’ve long thought that email interviews were the lazy man’s way of researching a story. You put together a list of questions, copy and email them to everyone who might potentially …
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Looking back on the biggest mistakes of my career: Bad record-keeping
Note: This blog post also ran in the Society of Professional Journalism’s “Journalism and the World” blog. Click here to see the original post. Since I’m in the process of easing out of being a journalist, and easing into being a business owner, and this is a blog about international journalism, not about entrepreneurship, I’m …
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Shanghai Foreign Correspondents Club holds elections
Note: This blog post also ran in the Society of Professional Journalism’s “Journalism and the World” blog. Click here to see the original post. Here is our new slate of leaders at the Shanghai Foreign Correspondents Club: President: Duncan Hewitt (Newsweek)Vice-President, Events: Ola Wong (Sydsvenska Dagbladet)Vice-President, Membership: Astrid Freyeisen (ARD German Radio)Media Representative: Rebecca Catching …
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Both high-end and low-end reporting jobs can be outsourced
Note: This blog post also ran in the Society of Professional Journalism’s “Journalism and the World” blog. Click here to see the original post. Low end reporting work: Get press release. Rewrite to AP style. Call the company involved for a follow-up quote. File. High end reporting work: Research a difficult technical, financial, regulatory, medical …
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