William M. Hartnett

>Pulitzers Just One Week Away: Here Is Latest ‘Finalist’ List (E&P) Newspaper editors, let’s rap. I realize this is a gross oversimplification, probably even a bit silly, but I’m still dying to know: What would you rather have, two or three Pulitzer finalists, or the 10,000 subscribers you seem to lose every circulation reporting period? [...]

>Readers’ Plea: Get to the Point (Wash Post) (Via Romenesko) Washington Post reader John Schappi on the scourge of anecdotal leads: “I’ve dubbed these stories ‘Look, Ma! I’m writing!’ because they seem designed to show off the author’s storytelling capabilities rather than his/her reporting skills.” Yup. Which reminds me of a great story in The [...]

>Real Estate Roller Coaster (speculativebubble.com) (Via The Real Deal) Talk about innovative data visualization. Take the nationwide home price index that Robert J. Shiller created for the second edition of his book Irrational Exuberance, dump it in Roller Coaster Tycoon 3, and you have the Real Estate Roller Coaster. Check out the view of the [...]

Hartnett’s Unsolicited Product Endorsements. It’s a new feature, one that, in typical fashion, I’m already considering abandoning. After having a go at Volkswagen because they installed incredibly crap handles and latches (designed by cocks, lest we forget) in my 2001 Jetta, it occurred to me that I should temper such negativity with tales of my [...]