Brad Rourke’s Blog
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Journalist As Craftsman
Here’s an interesting story about the news and journalism. It has a few intertwining threads. It needs a bit of set up, too, so bear with me. Thank you to my friend Adam Pagnucco for doing the heavy lifting here. Here’s how Adam puts a recent situation with DC’s Metro system in his indispensable Maryland…
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The Case For Nonprofit Journalism?
Visiting from Twitter? Thanks so much! You might enjoy this post, too: Why Social Media Is Like The Telephone Circa 1915. I was having a conversation with my good friend (and former boss) Rush Kidder just the other day, and the subject turned to journalism — specifically, the idea that as newspapers tank that foundations…
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Don't Hold That Town Hall
Across the nation, so-called “town hall meetings” have been held in our church basements, libraries, and other community spaces. Typically convened by lawmakers, their purposes is to “talk” about health care reform. They’ve become a key battleground for the issue, as conservative groups have organized to disrupt them by shouting down speakers, and liberal groups…
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Putting Our Organization First
At the drive through I saw this sign that struck me as amusing and I just had to snap a picture. It said: If you fail to receive a receipt with your order please notify manager before leaving window for a refund of price paid. After I finished chuckling, I felt compassionate. This is the…
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Video Interview: New Challenges When Public Leaders Engage The Public
My friend John Creighton and I have been discussing and writing about a shift that has taken place from an “institution-centric” world to a “citizen-centric” world. The question for public leaders is how to respond to this new ecosystem. We are creating videos about a number of different aspects to this question, and also working…
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Four Tips For New Bloggers: Feed The Beast
I’ve been blogging since before we had the word “blog” — with varying degrees of success. By “success” I don’t mean number of readers. I mean success in actually getting my blog posts completed and posted. There have been long dry stretches, where I could barely get anything written. I didn’t know what to write,…
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Handling Distractions In The Distracted Workplace
A recent article by essayist and venture capitalist Paul Graham has gained a lot of notice, and not just because Graham is a partner in startup boot-camp Y-Combinator. Graham’s piece describes what looks to be a fundamental difference in the work rhythms of two different sorts of people: managers and makers. Here’s how he puts…
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Three Friends Teach Self Reliance
I am not the kind of person who posts motivational quotes and aphorisms to my Facebook status or to my Twitter account. And when my friends do, I usually just skip over it, as those sorts of things are not why I hang out in online social spaces. But earlier this week, in very short…
