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February 28, 2005
Can We Get CJR Campaign Desk to Use Google?
Peter Gosselin Gets Some Much-Deserved Press
You don't often hear of reporters wanting to get press, but they do, they do...
CJR Campaign Desk writes, apropos of Peter Gosselin's LA Times series on income inequality and risk:
CJR Campaign Desk: Archives: By Gosselin's own account, despite the Los Angeles Times' daily circulation of over one million, the stories generated almost no response for months. That is, until he recently sent out a link to them to a handful of liberal bloggers, including Kevin Drum, who writes the widely read 'Political Animal' blog on WashingtonMonthly.com. Drum's post, in turn, generated several other blog mentions, including one from J. Bradford DeLong.
Coincidentally, today's Wall Street Journal carries a story (subscription required) by Jackie Calmes exploring the same topic:
Critics say Mr. Bush's vision is blind to economic risks facing Americans, especially lower-income workers. William Gale, a Brookings Institution economist, dismisses the president's agenda as 'the Dismantling-the-Safety-Net Society.' Some applaud his rhetoric, but say the president's policies -- heavy on tax breaks -- don't broaden ownership, but favor the well-off. The poorest workers, exempt from income taxes, can't take advantage of any tax breaks for savings. Eugene Steuerle, a Reagan-era Treasury official now at the Urban Institute, titled a recent analysis, 'An Ownership Society, Or A Society For Those Who Already Own?'
Drum wants Gosselin's stories nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, but it's a little late for that. (Pulitzer nominations for 2004 have long since been submitted, and in fact Pulitzer jurors are busy this week poring over entries.) For his part, Gosselin is caught off-guard by the fact that his series has caught fire so long after it appeared in print to little effect.
'[T]he idea seems to be racing from cutting edge to conventional wisdom with no intervening steps,' says the bewildered author. Also from largely ignored to hot item of the day.
Hey! I've been trying to beat the drum for Peter Gosselin's series on income risk for quite a while now! Google reports that I have done so on November 16, 2004... December 12, 2004... December 31, 2004... January 5, 2005... as well as this morning!
But the fact is that I am only a flappy bird compared to the superhuman web presence that is Kevin Drum:
Google Search: gosselin site:www.j-bradford-delong.net:
Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal: A Weblog: Peter Gosselin on ... ... December 12, 2004. Peter Gosselin on Economic Insecurity. Peter Gosselin continues his excellent series about rising economic risks in America today: ... [http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/ movabletype/2005archives/000068.html] - 14k - Cached - Similar pages
Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal: A Weblog: I Have Messed Up ... ... January 05, 2005. I Have Messed Up: Peter Gosselin of the LA Times and Income Risk. I failed to notice when the galleys came through ... [http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/ movabletype/2005-3archives/000113.html] - 18k - Cached - Similar pages
Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal: A Weblog: Income Instability ... ... December 31, 2004. Income Instability (Peter Gosselin Does Very Good Department). ... Peter Gosselin: By last Christmas, the Saab and Volvo were long gone. ... [http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/ movabletype/2005-3archives/000077.html] - 56k - Cached - Similar pages
Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal: A Weblog: Thinking About ... ... We are treading in the footsteps of Peter Gosselin of the LA Times and Jacob Hacker: Middle-Class-Hood and Its Discontents. Stephen ... [http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/ movabletype/2004-2archives/000545.html] - 22k - Cached - Similar pages"
Posted by DeLong at February 28, 2005 04:40 PM
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Comments
You are my favorite flappy bird and I'm not being a noser. How can I? I'm a flea on the wing of the flappy bird. No! I'm a nit on the flea...
...and so on.
Posted by: dennisS at February 28, 2005 05:51 PM
Brad, it is a rarified air here and for that you should be proud. Everything comes with a price.
Posted by: Dubblblind at February 28, 2005 05:59 PM
And yes, dennisS, it's "turtles all the way down" for that flea's nit.
Posted by: Dubblblind at February 28, 2005 06:05 PM
My eye was caught by the notion (WSJ article) that Bush is "blind to economic risks..." No ma'am. Not blind. Willfully ignorant.
We have a local Texas radio-nut (now national), a Christian Libertarian and alleged paranoiac who asserted, when Bush was about to ascend to the presidency in 2000, that the man was going to destroy the US economy and would do so purposefully. And that Bush would find a way to take us to war. Should we have respect for the radio-nut's perspicacity?
Posted by: PW at February 28, 2005 07:42 PM
Hey, bird, you just keep right on flapping. It's a righteous breeze.
Posted by: Ken D. at February 28, 2005 07:56 PM
Hi Brad,
It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, if newspapers want to continue to maximize their influence, to do the following things:
a) Make their internet presence simply and primarily an online version of their dead-tree selves. I'm sure this aspect should be *part* of their presence but it is evidently a low-visibility aspect if the LA Times can't get first rate stories noticed without a kind word from Kevin.
b) Firewall their best material behind a subscription barrier, thus deterring most of the casual " drop-in" visitor from points unknown returning. I've reluctantly registered with the NYT, the Chicago Tribune and the Economist online. That's it. My email box gets enough garbage.
Posted by: mark safranski at February 28, 2005 08:44 PM
Well, here's the shortcut. Call the wire services. Develop a relationship. Recommend news stories. Follow up with emails and links.
I've had great success with AP picking up worthwhile news stories that offered better content or slate on a given issue.
Reporters like the wire services, particularly when one of their stories makes the loop.
Posted by: Movie Guy at February 28, 2005 09:17 PM
Is Peter Gosselin's series available anywhere on the net aside from the latimes site? I only caught the middle article in the dead tree version. Or links to the stories on the latime site at least?
Posted by: Fodey McBobo at March 1, 2005 01:16 AM
I remember, I saw it here first!
Posted by: Anup at March 1, 2005 05:37 AM
Fodey -
Here's the link to the top-level story, which allows you to access the three parts (as well as more detail about the stats utilized and CEO pay as an example of "how you can eliminate income risk if you're high enough on the tree."
http://www.latimes.com/business/specials/la-newdeal-cover.special
You know, the WSJ ran a story about a year ago (which I photocopied and gave to my class) about the increasing level of income risk faced by middle-class American families. It got very little notice, either. I doubt that the explanation is "liberal bloggers" - maybe we're all drifting along in the hope that this stuff won't happen to us.
Posted by: Uncle Jeffy at March 1, 2005 07:12 AM
Alan Greenspan is known for talking up how much our labor flexibility benefits the economy. This is the flip side of the high variability. Wouldn't it make sense to spend some of the surplus generated to support this labor flexibility?
One of the thoughts I took away from the article is that the rules of engagement changed faster than the worker's habits. Many of the workers started out with an expectation of stability, and found that there wasn't any? What happens when the workers realize the risks that they are carrying and align their behavior to it?
I speculate that they will spend less money and perhaps save more, which is bad for consumer business, but something Brad will like. And they will jump to another job at the first sign of weakness in a company.
We need to figure out how to build some long-term investment into peoples lives, and align some financial interests with them.
Posted by: Jay at March 1, 2005 08:47 AM
The whole notion of an ownership society is a tricky one since it appeals to everyone emotionally but the policies behind it support those who already own. I found it interesting that the 2006 playbook for Republcans put together by Frank Luntz stressed that it's "opportunity to own" that's unlimited and that ownership itself is inherently limited. We're not hearing that when ownership is waved at us like a red flag meant to get us charging towards policies that don't benefit us.
Posted by: Kathy at March 1, 2005 08:22 PM