It seems a bit ludicrous now, given the carnage in print journalism, how important “beating” the local opposition was for us. When I wrote a long blog entry, in 2008, I declared an end to what was nearly a 100 Years War between two suburban newspapers in the Inland Empire of Southern California. I worked […]

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When considering the industries and local businesses that mostly disappeared, ahead of the 21st century, I tend to focus on newspapers. That’s what I did for a living: Newspapering. Papers were important to readers, back in an era when not everyone was online, and they made a lot of money for their owners. Also, journalists […]

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Readers of a certain age — say, 30 years or more — will remember when major newspapers were big, colorful, information-packed marvels of news gathering. Before the Age of Great Newspapers ended, around the turn of the century, it had been observed by many subscribers that Sunday editions, in particular, with all their special sections […]

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This goes back to the 1980s. Maybe a vacation in 1982. Certainly no later than 1985, when I know I was in London for two-plus weeks — because I covered the first Wimbledon championship that Boris Becker won. And, in short, it was this: Too much good stuff to read. And this was just the […]

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I never played soccer as a child. Never saw a match. Didn’t own a soccer ball. Never knew anyone who followed the game. The extent of my pre-adult exposure to soccer probably was occasional videotape on ABC’s Wide World of Sports; presumably World Cup highlights; lots of Pele. By the early 1980s, I was the […]

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This blog commenced on March 10, 2008. Ten years ago today. It was four days after I had been fired by the Los Angeles News Group, and I wanted to let co-workers and other journalists know what had happened, with as many specifics as I could recall pertaining to the (then mostly novel) concept of […]

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The best opening sentences in literary history. Always a fun exercise. This has been going on pretty much forever. An early leader for “best opening line” has to be Genesis chapter 1, verse 1. “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.” There’s a book you want to check out, just from the […]

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In conversations with journalists, over the years, I have found a common denominator: A significant percentage of them were thinking about journalism — and even practicing it — at a young age. This comes to mind after seeing a call from officials of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship, later this month in Abu Dhabi, for […]

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Pretty much everyone who has worked in print journalism nurses a grudge toward people who crumple a newspaper while paging through it. Today’s paper, especially.

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  The wind blows sometimes, here in the south of France. In the summer, that can pose problems with slamming doors, because we like to keep the windows open throughout the season, when it can be a bit warm. And gusty. Thus, we prop open the doors with compact and heavy things lying about. An […]

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