Andrew Phelps is a journalist in Boston → more

andrewphelps.com

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I work for the Nieman Journalism Lab now

@andrewphelps: I work for the Nieman Journalism Lab now

Starting today, I am a staff writer for the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University.

My job is to try to figure out the future of news. Along with my colleagues — Joshua Benton, Megan Garber, and Justin Ellis — I’ll be writing about how news producers and news consumers are changing in the digital age.

Nieman Journalism Lab logo

Will the New York Times paywall succeed? Will NPR’s funding model survive? Will Google become a media company? Will the Kindle save publishing? Will the iPad save newspapers? Will investigative reporting thrive or die?

Technorati names us one of the top 100 50 blogs on the Web today. TIME says @NiemanLab is one of the 140 most important Twitter feeds to follow.

I happen to believe in the future of news, no matter how grim it might look sometimes. I chose to write for the Nieman Lab because it’s a group of people who feel the same way. We cover ideas and success stories. Whereas so much coverage of the industry is gloomy and defeatist, the Nieman Lab wants to have a more productive conversation.

Wish me luck. (Wish us all luck!)

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As I struggle mightily with the Canadian winds to recover my Sunday paper, flailing about helplessly, I realize: The newspaper is dead.

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This job posting is real, and it is amazing.

We want to add some talent to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune investigative team. Every serious candidate should have a proven track record of conceiving, reporting and writing stellar investigative pieces that provoke change. However, our ideal candidate has also cursed out an editor, had spokespeople hang up on them in anger and threatened to resign at least once because some fool wanted to screw around with their perfect lede.

We do a mix of quick hit investigative work when events call for it and mini-projects that might run for a few days. But every year we like to put together a project way too ambitious for a paper our size because we dream that one day Walt Bogdanich will have to say: “I can’t believe the Sarasota Whatever-Tribune cost me my 20th Pulitzer.” As many of you already know, those kinds of projects can be hellish, soul-sucking, doubt-inducing affairs. But if you’re the type of sicko who likes holing up in a tiny, closed  office with reporters of questionable hygiene to build databases from scratch by hand-entering thousands of pages of documents to take on powerful people and institutions that wish you were dead, all for the glorious reward of having readers pick up the paper and glance at your potential prize-winning epic as they flip their way to the Jumble… well, if that sounds like journalism Heaven, then you’re our kind of sicko.

For those unaware of Florida’s reputation, it’s arguably the best news state in the country and not just because of the great public records laws. We have all kinds of corruption, violence and scumbaggery. The 9/11 terrorists trained here. Bush read My Pet Goat here. Our elections are colossal clusterfucks. Our new governor once ran a health care company that got hit with a record fine because of rampant Medicare fraud. We have hurricanes, wildfires, tar balls, bedbugs, diseased citrus trees and an entire town overrun by giant roaches (only one of those things is made up). And we have Disney World and beaches, so bring the whole family.

Send questions, or a resume/cover letter/links to clips to my email address below. If you already have your dream job, please pass this along to someone whose skills you covet. Thanks.

Matthew Doig

Sarasota Herald-Tribune
1741 Main St.
Sarasota FL, 34236
(941) 361-4903
matthew.doig@heraldtribune.com

Update: I e-mailed Matthew Doig to ask if this is real. He replied: “It is.” The position is still open.

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