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What good are the arts?
Back in October 2008, I took part in a debate on just that topic at Cambridge University‘s Festival of Ideas. It was chaired by Peter Curran and featured Professor John Carey (author of What Good Are the Arts?), Claire Fox, director of the Institute of Ideas, and philosopher Julian Baggini. The audio is now available…
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Yet more thoughts on journalism and democracy
I‘ve been pondering the relationship between journalism and democracy of late, and so too have the academic commenters gathering at the blog of Social Science Research Council boss, Craig Calhoun. Calhoun asks the question Sam Zell has already answered – What is the future of newspapers? And when social scientists smell blood, they’re mostly rubbing…
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Newspaper cost structure
Being a TV person, I’m curious about the cost structure of print newspaper operations. Over at the Monday Note, Frédéric Filloux writes: In a typical operation, the biggest costs are industrial ones: around 25%-35% for paper and printing; another 30%-40% for distribution; around 18-25% for editorial; the remaining 10-15% are for administrative and marketing expenditures.
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The 21st century crisis
Does this sound familiar? Communities and even entire countries seem to have less and less control of their own destinies. Traditional power structures are baffled by below-replacement fertility rates, illegal immigration and massive currency flows.