If you’re interested in playing along, there’s a new guessing game taking place this week in media circles: Who’s the unnamed billionaire mentioned in the first sentence of Michael Wolff’s Vanity Fair piece about very rich men trying to buy into the newspaper biz. Or I guess you could play…
Earlier this week we had Dallas Morning News editor Bob Mong telling Unfair Park that the paper was Rapturing the Religion section into the rest of the paper. Now, per the paper’s Religion blog, comes the adios announcement that will appear in tomorrow’s edition. The farewell, found after the jump,…
We just can’t stop staring at this new photo of DMN editor Bob Mong. Something about it makes us want to launch a haiku contest. Any takers? We have heard many stories coming from 508 Young Street about impending changes at Dallas’ Only Daily. So we did what we always…
John Criswell may not be on TV anymore, but he’s still lookin’ good. The other day, BlogMaverick hisself Mark Cuban was bemoaning the lack of actual user-generated content on YouTube. Seems all you’re getting on the site these days are repeated postings of “Dick in a Box” and and movie…
Belo Corp.’s stock has suffered significant declines in the last two years. Seems the public doesn’t wanna hold that stock. Yesterday, newspaperman-turned-Interweb entrepreneur Alan Mutter posted to his blog Reflections of a Newsosaur this item about the beatings publicly held publishing companies are taking on the stock markets. In short,…
A Friend of Unfair Park writes: Not sure if you’ve followed this “story” on Slate, but apparently Mickey Kaus, Virginia Postrel, and Andrew Sullivan have been engaging in debate (loosely centered around the success of Brokeback Mountain in Plano) regarding whether Plano is a prime example, if not ground zero,…
This is Chrissy Haley with her kids. She talked to us before Channel 11. Just don’t tell Channel 11 that. They’ve got the “exclusive.” Yeah, right. Fine. OK. Whatever. Call me The Grinch if you must, but after watching the news last night I’m compelled to spread some Christmas jeer…
Did you happen to notice that The Dallas Morning News got a shout-out on the Late Show with David Letterman last night? Not the good kind, either; nothing like when a big-city daily winds up in the “Small Town News” segment. Seems Dallas’ Only Daily recently reprinted a quote from…
It’s not the best of vibes inside the Startlegram offices: The editors like a redesign that the writers can’t stand. But you know writers — bunch of know-it-all whiners, ain’t we? In about four months, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram will go through yet another redesign. Already there’s a prototype floating…
In the Kansas City Star on Sunday, columnist E. Thomas McClanahan wrote that when it came to predicting how the war in Iraq was gonna turn out, he was pretty much wrong, wrong and wrong. (As in, from April 2003: “Iraq has been destroyed as a haven for terrorists.” See?…
Uncle Barky’s reporting that Andrea Burnett, who joined KXAS-Channel 5 as a weekday morning reporter at the beginning of the year, is “the latest casualty of corporate-mandated downsizing.” In other words: Last one in, first one out. Or damned near. She came here from Wichita Falls, Ed says, and now…
This morning, we stumbled across some vintage video recently posted to YouTube featuring Dallas newscasts from the early and mid-1980s. So, yeah, there’s Iola Johnson, John Criswell, a boyishly rugged Dale Hansen and John “Dorian Gray” McCaa (seriously, wow) on WFAA-Channel 8…..
Jennifer Hudson’s probably going to get an Oscar nomination for her performance in Dreamgirls. But not before the first-timer and former American Idol favorite has to deal with something she told the Dallas Voice last week, during her trip here to promote the big-screen version of the hit musical. Seems…
This morning, there appeared in The Dallas Morning News a story about how the some folks at City Hall — including several council members — are working on an ordinance that would “ban distribution boxes not conforming to rigid standards for size, color and material.” Also included in that ordinance:…
We’re accepting nominations for Bob Mong nicknames. Anything with “Bong” would be cool, man. Real cool. This morning at Time.com, a few newspaper execs were asked to comment on the sorry state of the biz. Among those queried were Scott Bosley, executive director of the American Society of Newspaper Editors;…
Dunno how we missed this…oh, wait, yeah, I do. I never watch Jimmy Kimmel Live. Nothing against the former host of The Man Show, except for the fact he’s the former host of The Man Show. He seems like a solid dude, and Sarah Silverman probably has good taste (and…
About an hour ago, cops on horses and motorcycles and in vans and squad cars showed up near the corner of Maple and Wyclif, which is just north of the Observer office. More than a dozen officers are now on the street, stopping drivers to check for license and registration,…
During an online chat today, Washington Post media writer (and CNN’s Reliable Source) Howard Kurtz was asked to name the Top 10 newspaper in the country. You might recognize the name of one of ’em. (OK, all of them, but, c’mon, play along.) Washington, D.C.: Mr. Kurtz, in your column…
Last night wasn’t an easy one for Tony Romo. He has to endure KTVT-Channel 11 sports anchor Babe Laufenberg’s cheap-ass come-ons during “The Score”: graphic gags involving Romo’s head being Photoshopped onto Mount Rushmore and a Hall of Fame bust. (Only days earlier, during a 10 p.m. newscast, anchor Tracy…
Before the day ends, I did want to give you faithful Friends of Unfair Park a heads-up: In tomorrow’s Dallas Morning News, Steve Blow (all right, quiet down) will at long last run his column about our old pal Zac Crain and whether he ought to be considered a serious…
Yeah, well–The Dallas Morning News and, like, 149 other daily newspapers. It’s part of “a strategic partnership with more than 150 daily U.S. newspapers to deliver search, graphical and classified advertising to consumers in the communities where they live and work,” says the press release Belo issued today. Sounds like…
Emily Ramshaw’s leaving Dallas, but not The Dallas Morning News. She’s merely moving to the Austin bureau. Emily Ramshaw, who, for the last two years, has done a superior job covering city of Dallas business for The Dallas Morning News (even if Jim has the occasional issue with her work),…
