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Since our plans to hide away forever at a remote Minnesotan lake house were dashed – on account of James not having one for us – we decided instead to jump on into the mucky swamp that’s swallowed up our institutions. At least we have Eli Lake (who, as you’ll hear, knows everybody) to tour us through the law enforcement agencies who’ve undermined their standing with the public in order to get the guy who they blame for undermining the public’s trust in them…
Also, the hosts chat some about the former rep from Wyoming; a Florida judge who hopes to stop Gov. DeSantis from stopping the woke; Lileks is seeing a resurgence of masking; plus, Rob had lunch with Viktor Orbán!
(And check out Eli’s podcast.)
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Where I work people are in the field locally, and come back to the office to write. Foreign correspondents would seem to be atypical examples for most newspapers.
It sounds like you had a lousy workplace full of lousy people. I’ve worked five newsrooms, and while the experiences varied, I look back on each fondly. Even the most boring one. Even the one that had the most managerial meddling or political monoculture. I’ve never had a workplace that was just to my liking, because they’re full of other people, and other people are, well, people.
Fair enough. I was responding to your phrasing of my position, probably incorrectly. Metrics and productivity matter above all. That said, newspapers are a bit different than tech customers; the customers are not served when the writers are living in distant cities typing up press releases.
Again, I don’t know where and when you were in the industry, or how your paper reacted to the rise of the internet. I know my org screwed the pooch, like most of them, but that had nothing to do with newsroom “culture and camaraderie.” OTOH, “culture and camaraderie” made the lean times better. A lot of us had a sense of institutional mission – and you can debate how delusional that is – but it made a newsroom in an old, old paper different from a suburban office for an accountancy firm.
Never said anyone was, and I do, but there’s not many people around anymore.
Glad you like it! A day at home looking at screens and typing is perfectly fine; it’s what the laptop class does. I’d go nuts, though. I just like getting out in the world every day, and seeing what happens.
My commute is at off-peak hours, and I live close to the freeway. It’s a short jaunt. The best part is leaving downtown, because the ramp to the freeway has a series of sinuous curves, and it’s empty: I can floor it, and do some driving.
Don’t tell Biden. He’ll find one and make him into a Deputy Secretary of Health or something.
“Foreign correspondents would seem to be atypical examples for most newspapers.”
Well since you kept saying “you must recall …” I was thinking maybe you weren’t aware that some papers covered events where returning to the roost wasn’t practical. FWIW, a lot of sports guys never came into the office either.
And where I was in the industry included everything from a 10k-circulation small-town Ohio paper all the way up to a multiple-Pulitzer winning newspaper. I’ve had my share of champagne in the newsroom.
Were there good times, sure. Enough to warrant giving up two hours of the day riding public transit? Or paying to keep a car running on $10,000 a year? Having to live in an apartment I either can’t afford or having a very long commute? Nope. But you perhaps you didn’t realize not everyone shares your lifestyle.
And, you know what? Being able to work remote meant that I was able to help my Dad as he struggled with my Mom who slowly slid into the grip of Alzheimer’s and died. Don’t ever tell me your idea of “camaraderie” is more important than that.
As for your reference to the “Laptop class” … again, try “people who keep your lights on.“ There are jobs that I have had that if I don’t go, the city doesn’t work. And in those times when things go a bit haywire, it’s better for you that those of us — yes, with laptops, in our pajamas — do our work as soon as we are rousted from our beds, than it is for us getting up, shaving, showering, getting dressed, riding a train, walking to the office before we start to fix the problem, no matter how much nicer it may make it for you to have people around you as you walk the streets of your city.
[That’s not to belittle the people who have to go into work. I rely on them and I respect them. I shouldn’t have to say it, but to just so it’s really clear to you, I will.]
Not everyone shares your lifestyle. We aren’t all blessed with an off-peak commute living close to the freeway with a “short jaunt” to work.
And: Work is not the only way one gets out in the world every day and sees what happens. And I’ve made friends — who I see in person — through Zoom work. That happens too. And there’s still my church, my running clubs, various volunteer opportunities where I can “get out in the world.” That doesn’t seem like the case for you and I’m sorry for that fact.
I usually try to stay on top of all the Ricochet meetup announcements, but I do not recall seeing a post written about this. Or the one in the UK, hosted by @michaelcollins. It is possible they have been mentioned in the Ricochet Meetup group — which is good — but people should really write a Member Feed post if they are having a meetup, so a link to it can be shared.
I can provide links to the upcoming meetups in Huntsville and New Orleans.
Since I moved to Tennessee, I live on a gloriously curvy and hilly road . Providing that there aren’t other cars in the way, it is downright fun to drive to work, even in my 160 hp Ford Focus. Having a manual transmission makes even an economy car fun, on the right roads.
No one knows one way or the other that the 2020 election was or wasn’t “stolen.” No court ruled on the merits. No investigation was undertaken, unlike immediately after 2016, and, despite the Mueller report, Hillary Clinton still claims—as do her media accolades—that she was robbed of the presidency. She’s even been hawking red baseball caps emblazoned with BUT HER EMAILS, as if she’s been exonerated. That people, especially those on the “most honest election in history” bandwagon are so sure of something they do not actually know—I say, “I don’t know, but it seems likely that Biden actually won”—belies a cultural bias that has escaped high society and infiltrated politics.