February 02, 2006
BLOGGER SPOTLIGHT: A Teachoutable Moment
Today the Blogometer talks to conservative arts critic Terry Teachout, who writes About Last Night.
What is your full name?
"Terry Teachout" is the name I go by.
What is your age?
I turn fifty next Monday.
Where did you grow up?
Sikeston, a small town in southeast Missouri, down where the tornadoes blow and the cotton and watermelon grow.
Where do you live now?
The Upper West Side of Manhattan, not far from the Central Park carousel.
What is your occupation? Have you ever worked on a political campaign or for the mainstream media?
I'm the drama critic of The Wall Street Journal and the music critic of Commentary, and I also write "Sightings," a biweekly column about the arts in America for the Saturday Journal's "Pursuits" section.
I was a senior editor of Harper's from 1985 to 1987 and an editorial writer for the New York Daily News from 1987 to 1993. Since then I've written primarily about the arts, and God in His infinite mercy has spared me the experience of working on a political campaign.
When did you start blogging and why?
Three and a half years ago. I'd come to the conclusion that serious arts criticism was in the process of migrating to the Web, so I figured it'd be smart if I got there first and scoped out the territory before the crowds showed up. In fact, I was faster than I knew -- I was the first mainstream-media arts journalist with a national reputation to start a blog.
What has been your favorite post, or favorite story to write about, in that time?
This is my smartest post. This is my most personal post.
Describe your typical blogging schedule. And what is your average output?
I blog each weekday in the interstices of other activities. It's not unusual for me to post 1,500 words a day, but I don't have a fixed quota, and there are certain days when I don't post at all. (It helps greatly that I have a trusted co-blogger, Laura Demanski, who signs her postings "Our Girl in Chicago" or "OGIC.")
Who is your favorite political blogger? Favorite non-political blogger?
Political: Ross Douthat (The American Scene). Non-political: Heather Heise (In the Wings).
Who is your favorite mainstream media columnist?
Charles Krauthammer or Anne Applebaum, I suppose, though I no longer spend much time reading op-ed columns -- I think traditional op-ed pages have been rendered obsolete by the blogosphere and will soon start to disappear from major newspapers.
What is your favorite television news program, either network or cable?
In the absence of hurricanes, terrorist attacks, or lawyer-led coups, I don't watch any TV news programs, and haven't for years. The last TV-news personalities I really liked were Harry Reasoner and Charles Kuralt.
What MSM-produced websites (i.e. newspapers, magazines) do you visit on a daily basis?
The Wall Street Journal's Online Journal and National Review Online. I also take a quick flip through the New York Times' drama coverage -- nothing else, though. Otherwise, I cherry-pick the MSM through Web-based new-media portals. If it's not on the Web, I usually don't bother with it.
What non-MSM websites (i.e. blogs) do you visit on a daily basis?
Political: Ann Althouse, Glenn Reynolds, Mickey Kaus, Michael Barone, Megan McArdle, Ross Douthat, and RealClear Politics (though it isn't really a blog). Non-political: James Lileks, Maud Newton, Sarah Weinman (Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind), Jaime J. Weinman (Something Old, Nothing New), Heather Heise, Tyler Green (Modern Art Notes), George Hunka ("Superfluities"), Jeremy Denk (Think Denk), Alex Ross (The Rest Is Noise). Somewhere in between these two categories fall Erin O'Connor (Critical Mass), who blogs about academic politics, and Amy Welborn (Open Book) and Eve Tushnet, who blog about religion. I also have a depraved taste for Roy Edroso (Alicublog), the funniest hard-left blogger in the 'sphere.
How often, or do you ever, read a newspaper in its dead-tree (i.e. print) form?
Never, except on the rare occasions when I'm out of town and haven't brought my iBook, in which case I pick up a copy of the Journal each morning.
How do you see the new media and old media affecting and influencing each other in the next five years?
(1) The smart old media will start to interact with the new media on the new media's own terms (i.e., Time Inc.'s agreement to "take over" andrewsullivan.com while giving Sullivan editorial independence -- look for more such arrangements in the next few months). They will start to peel off functions that are done better by the new media (i.e. op-ed pages, classified ads, arts criticism). Their goal will be to stop publishing on paper as fast as possible and to sell most -- but not all -- of what they publish electronically, though not always in a tightly bundled way. My guess is that The Wall Street Journal will be the first major newspaper to successfully make the transition to post-paper journalism.
(2) The dumb old media will fight as long as they can for their existing privileges, then implode, farming out their superannuated editors to think tanks and institutes of journalism where they will issue statements about the duty of the media that no one will read.
(3) The most far-reaching, culture-changing structural innovations in journalism will come from small regional papers--and from blogs.
(4) At some point in the next two years, someone will launch the first paperless newspaper in a major city (it should have been the New York Sun). If I were younger and rich, I'd try doing it in Los Angeles.
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