For those who have the time and patience to get through a piece of several thousand words--the first of two parts, no less--Michael Massing's essay in the current New York Review of Books is worth the effort. Titled "The End of News?," Massey posits in Part 1 that, everywhere one ventures to look, conventional, mainstream news is no longer in vogue, at least not as we remember it from, oh, way back in the 1990s. Chapter by chapter, he takes us through the demise of old media, or what might be thought of as "responsible media." Particularly in the area …

All the recent speculation was on the mark: Knight Ridder Inc., the San Jose,Calif.-based newspaper company, has put itself on the market. Goldman Sachs will quarterback the company's exploration of its market value. But The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that "few analysts expect" the possible sale to "spark a bidding war." It's not even clear if an adequate buyer will step forward, although the Journal mentions Gannett Co., Blackstone Group, and Providence Equity Partners as companies that would surely take a look at KR's books. Kohlberg, Kravis Roberts & Co. is also expected to be involved in the …

It's about time. Lewis Lapham, 70, has announced he will step down as editor of Harper's magazine after 30 years at the helm. The magazine, once an influential book among the smart set, has fallen behind in recent years. Its major mission, it has seemed, has been self-survival. Lapham, a brilliant and prolific intellectual, appeared to have little interest in keeping pace with more modern magazines in his competitive set. At one time, Harper's and The Atlantic Monthly were neck-and-neck rivals, but no longer, at least not in the mindset of readers. The Atlantic, having received an infusion of cash …

The funniest quote in Mediaweek's reporting on the cancellation of Martha Stewart's "Apprentice" is this one: "A spokesman for NBC stressed... that the show always had been scheduled to run for only one cycle." In other words, NBC was prepared to let the show slip into the sunset, even if it had proved to be a ratings killer. Not likely. With yesterday's announcement that the heavily hyped program would not be back--an admission that it never attained the buzz of the Donald Trump series from which it was ripped--Trump gains a wealth of bragging rights; we expect he will not …

The newspaper business continues to struggle with its well-founded fear that, increasingly, it will be a 21st Century irrelevancy. Yesterday, therefore, the American Press Institute (API) announced a year-long study that, according to Editor & Publisher, is intended "to invent and test new business models to help newspapers thrive in the next decade." The initiative, called Newspapers Next: The Transformation Project, will be funded by API to the tune of $2 million. "At stake is no less than the viability of newsgathering and dissemination" in the future, said API's president, Andrew B. David, in announcing the project. The task force …

It's always fun to watch blog zealot Jeff Jarvis get mad, which he does nearly every day. His Buzz Machine, an excellent forum for his various complaints about old media vs. the brave new world of citizen-produced media, is among the most cited in a certain realm of the blogosphere, and for good reason. Jarvis, with whom I once worked at a print magazine, is by turns incensed, infuriated, intense, and nasty--pretty much daily. In sum, he's truly a blogger extraordinaire. Yesterday he took on David Carr, the New York Times reporter and columnist who, more than any other, addresses …

The British edition of PR Week carries a lively Q&A with Terence Smith, who since 1998 has been the media correspondent for PBS' "The NewsHour."The interview ranges far and wide. Here's a snippet: "I think there are really good and bad trends [in the newsgathering business], in the sense that people are doing some of the best work ever in newspapers, on TV, and in different mediums. We've seen some of the most serious examinations of the government, of our national policies, and of news organizations and their frailties. Of course, that's also the bad trend. There have been all …

Reuters reports that Time magazine's annual Person of the Year may be Mother Nature when the mag's much-anticipated special issue hits newsstands Dec. 19. Time has selected non-persons any number of times in the past (remember The Personal Computer?), so Mother Nature would not set any precedents. Reuters' report is based on the results of a panel discussion held Monday in which various nominees were discussed. Mother Nature seemed to have the upper hand for the 2005 "of the Year" honors, but others vigorously discussed at the meeting included first responders to emergencies, Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, who served …

In yet the latest sign that television programming is migrating to the computer screen--and that even a huge, formerly dysfunctional corporation can persuade its various divisions to cooperate in the interests of synergy--two Time Warner units are joining forces to bring vintage TV shows to AOL's subscribers. Warner Bros. and AOL will bring In2TV to the recently relaunched AOL.com in January. Six channels have been invented for the debut, including LOL TV for comedies (featuring "Welcome Back, Kotter," "Hangin' with Mr. Cooper," among other old sitcoms from Warner's) and Heroes and Horrors ("Wonder Woman," "Babylon 5," and others). According to …

Hollywood writers, historically perceived as the lowest level of talent in the industry's complex food chain, are fed up with the way products are forcibly inserted into their scripts. Actors aren't happy with the practice either. In a white paper set to be published today, each of these group's respective guilds say they want to negotiate a code of conduct that, according to the Wall Street Journal, would disclose "at the beginning of each movie and TV program... the advertising that has been woven into the script. They also want the studios to put limits on the use of such …