By Steve Rhodes
I’ll get to the school closings reportage, please be patient. For today, a 10-fer.
1. Nobel Peace Prize Winner’s Drone Attacks On Innocent Children And Civilians In Pakistan Visualized.
2. Rich Miller’s favorite Illinois politician is George Ryan and the journalist he admires most is/was the hideous Bob Novak.
Also, his advice to aspiring journalists:
Go to law school, but if you absolutely insist upon a career in journalism, then work sales for a while because nothing trains you to get what you want from sources better than that.
If you want to be a bullshit artist who bluffs his way through a career, that is. Otherwise, go to journalism school and learn about the history, ethics, law, economics, principles, values and craft of the profession.
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Note: I’m not calling Miller in particular a bullshit artist, just pushing back against the idea that experience in sales is recommended training for reporters. You can learn how to develop sources and beats from experience, editors, peers, teachers and tips from the pros (Seymour Hersh has said that he kept his eye on personnel rosters and every time someone left the Pentagon they got lunch on the New York Times, when he worked there) so much better than using sales techniques, in my view. That strikes me as kind of horrid and unquestionably insincere.
3. I just threw up in my mouth a little.
4. Legal Powerhouses Ed Genson, Terry Gillespie End Law Partnership.
Here’s my 2005 Chicago magazine profile of Genson, Devils’ Advocate.
5. Sun Country To Begin Service To Midway Airport.
Here’s my 1999 Newsweek article about Sun Country, Sun Country Shines.
6. You win some, you lose some.
“Location and timing are everything as entrepreneur Greg Stallkamp explains why he is moving his two-year-old air carrier – Lakeshore Express Aviation – from Chicago’s Midway to Oakland County International Airport as its home base.”
7. “The Bank of China (BOC) opened a new branch to business in downtown Chicago on Friday, the fourth in the United States,” People’s Daily reports.
8. Report: The Tribune has one of the slowest news sites on the Internet.
Frankly, I can’t say I’ve ever felt the Trib loaded too slowly. The Sun-Times, which apparently wasn’t tested, has always been a nightmare, though.
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“I reached out to several people at the Tribune for comment on this story, but did not hear back before publication.”
As typical for the Trib as it is for the Emanuel administration.
9. Ghost town.
“Yet another legal time bomb left behind by former Mayor Richard M. Daley exploded in Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s lap Monday – and it turns out to be a $6 million snow job for Chicago,” the Sun-Times reports.
“U.S. District Judge Charles Norgle ruled Monday that Chicago must reimburse the federal government for $6 million in snow-removal costs incurred at O’Hare and Midway airports during 1999 and 2000.”
But it’s really the airlines whom the city must now collect from, not taxpayers, who are merely (presumably) footing the legal bill.
10. World’s Largest Indoor Vertical Farm Opens In Chicago Suburb.
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The Beachwood Tip Line: Vertical.
Posted on March 26, 2013

