This might help clear up your writing

In searching across cyberspace for good advice on bringing clarity to writing, I found this excellent site. Does a great job of analyzing writing samples to show what brings the fog into some sentences and what keeps it out of others.

I highly recommend it to your attention.

Many scenarios seen for journalism's future

Jeff Jarvis rolls out some possible scenarios for the future of journalism in his Buzz Machine blog. Be sure to read the comments as well.

Wonder what's in the picture at the top of his blog? That's a printing press.

Looking for great stories? Check out Esquire

I've had an on-again, off again love affair with Esquire magazines since the 1960s, captured first by the magazine's famous cover of Sonny Liston in a Santa's hat, enthralled by the writings of Jay Bruce Friedman, John Sacks, Terry Southern, Michael Herr and on and on. I was still a fan when the cover of Muhammed Ali pierced by arrows came out, but lost interest soon after that. I came around again some time in the early 1980s and subscribed for a short time, but gave up again. I still buy it off the newsstands once in awhile and have considered re-uppng the subscription.

But I may just download what the magazine picks as its seven best articles in its 75 years of existence and read those before shelling out the money for a subscription (Vanity Fair is the competitor for my subscription dollars as its stories right now seem top of the line to me). Take a look at those seven stories. They are all worth reading and learning from.

Three articles worth reading

I saw three articles on Romenesko this morning that I thought worth pointing out to people headed into the field of journalism.

Set aside plenty of time to read this article in the Columbia Journalism Review that argues, "To win the war for our attention, news organizations must make themselves indispensable by producing journalism that helps make sense of the flood of information that inundates us all."

Next up is from the Daily Skiff, The Texas Christian University newspaper, quoting Craig Flournoy, an assistant professor at Southern Methodist University, on how the turmoil in journalism today "benefits young people because it allows them to move up the ladder faster."

And finally, check out this article from the Knight Digital Media Center that quotes Jonathan Weber of New West right here in Missoula on the increasing interest in community news sites.