Comments on: Is Criticism Dying?

By: Micah Mattix

Micah Mattix — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 13:16:15 +0000

Good point, Michael.

By: Michael P. Walsh, MM

Michael P. Walsh, MM — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 13:05:07 +0000

And, by the way, Hari cites a) Pauline Kael, b) a 7,000-word movie review, c) of Bonnie and Clyde –and then complains about the banality of star-ratings? One argument in favor of the word-limits of comboxes and the other restraints of e-publications is the discipline they can impose upon self-important windbags.

By: Michael P. Walsh, MM

Michael P. Walsh, MM — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 11:03:26 +0000

I think a far more important issue is the decline of editing. Especially in the world of e-publishing, talented editors who take time over a book are becoming scarce. And, for what it’s worth, the comboxes yield not only consumer advice, but sometimes lively discussions –something you just don’t get with print publications, and long reviews.

By: Micah Mattix

Micah Mattix — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 22:38:55 +0000

David–
Good thoughts. My hope is that the move away from print will not necessarily lead to only short pieces. Cost limitations on word count would be gone, and as Jacobs’s notes in his book, certain technologies like the Kindle encourage longer rather than shorter engagement in works. We’ll see.

By: anthony

anthony — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 20:39:15 +0000

Not only a plagiarist but also someone who, under a nom de plume, went to weird lengths maliciously to change wikepedia information on upright fellow journalists like Nick Cohen and Christina Odone here in England. A totally unpleasant conniving individual.

By: David Strunk

David Strunk — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 20:29:26 +0000

I still subscribe to enough print versions of things to prefer them in hard copy to e-readers or online reading. While you do note a few physical copies of expanded coverage above, the dominant form of criticism is moving to the web and other electronic versions of things.

That said, with the ubiquity of the link on the web, I do think shorter articles and less criticism is somewhat inevitable, simply because most people’s attention spans will have decreased.

To the several publications to which I subscribe to physical copies (First Things included), every summer I get the pleas for more money so that the periodical can continue. The irony of the plea for money is that the implicit message is that print is a dying medium, and with it, probably 1500 word articles. I lament it, and don’t welcome it. And I’m not saying it’s inevitable; just more likely than the alternative.

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 17:41:35 +0000

Isn’t Johann Hari a plagiarist? His career makes me wonder if professional journalism is coming to an end.