And The Top Media Story of 2008 is...

No, you didn't miss the first nine installments of this series. I'm not one for Top 10 lists unless they're being read by Mr. Late Night. But in this the first year of This Media Moment, I'd be remiss if I didn't end 2008 with at least one retrospective post.

So what'll it be? We lost a dogged reporter/interviewer in Tim Russert. We saw Obama/Clinton press coverage mimicked on (and change because of?) SNL, the show that also brought us Tina Fey's dead-on impression of Sarah Palin.

But there's really no story in '08 that could overshadow the crisis facing traditional print media. It's been a dismal year of job cuts, product shrinking and investor unease. Newspaper business sections have become media obituaries, and 2009 likely promises much of the same.

There's much to say about the dreadful outlook for some longstanding print publications, but what can I add that hasn't been said already? My wish for the New Year is that one -- just one -- struggling newspaper or magazine tries to bolster its staff, increase its reporting reach and see what happens in a competitive marketplace when the tough-times-mean-downsizing orthodoxy faces off against the adversity-means-put-out-a-better-product model. Pipe dream? Probably. But someone's gotta be ready to take a stand.

Many in the media alredy have. This was a banner year for start-up publications, many of which are online, nonprofit and emphasizing public interest journalism. Thorough work continues to attract readers -- see Nate Silver's political site that was a must-read throughout the summer and fall.

Editors are finding ways to interact more effectively with their audience, and individual readers are opening their pocketbooks to support good journalism. There's plenty of reason for optimism in 2009 because of great media minds who are adapting and innovating.

I raise my glass to them.

Deep Gratitude

It goes without saying that Mark Felt, the former FBI associate director and most famous anonymous source of all time, changed the course of American journalism. His tips to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward about the 1972 break-in of the Democratic National Committee's Watergate headquarters, which led to the scoop of the century, put investigative journalism on a pedestal.

Felt died Friday at the age of 95, just three years after he finally revealed his identity as "Deep Throat" in a Vanity Fair magazine article. We'll remember him for his courage and adherence to civic duty.

And for being the inspiration behind the most badass scene in "All the President's Men."

Magapaper: The New J-School Track?

Back in college, the default pickup line was "what's your major?" Snoozer. But within the journalism school, it was the slightly more interersting "what's your track?" As in, newspaper, magazine or the slightly mysterious new media.

If I'd had any foresight I would have chosen new media over magazine. But, hey, it was 1999 and the glossy covers won me over. New media has obviously become the hot track, so much so that I'm guessing the "new" is no longer part of the name.

But what about the newspaper and magazine tracks? Someone's gotta want them. Here's an idea: Why not merge them into a track called "magapaper." Some of my favorite online news sites today -- take Slate and Salon -- are what I could classify as a part newspaper, part magazine. In other words, they're updated daily or often more with newsy stories. They are also written in a breezy style that magazine readers recognize.

It's worth noting that Salon calls itself an "online arts and culture magazine," and Slate an"online magazine of news, politics and culture." But you find me a Slate or Salon reporter and I'll show you someone who knows how to turn in a story on deadline, newspaper style. My point being that college journalists need to be taught to be hyrid writers -- able to handle long-form magazine pieces and quick-hitting news stories.

What would a magapaper track teach? Well, certainly a mix of what we traditonaly called newspaper and magazine writing -- that is, before the styles basically fused online. You can't teach personal style, but you can teach stylistic writing, and that would be a foundation of the education.

And, of course, there'd be a lecture devoted to dressing for your cable news cameo debut.

ShoeTube

What the Blagojevich scandal was to bloggers, the Iraqi journalist shoe-throwing incident is to vloggers. That is, an early holiday gift. Watching the clip of this newly annointed folk hero chucking his kicks at our president is such a surreal experience that I've yet to turn my eyes away when it plays again and again and again on cable news. I'm even finding myself amused as anchors fight to find the cutest play on words -- "The lame-duck president had to DUCK out of the way this weekend." (ba da bing)

Is it possible that this is viral video nirvana?

Drumroll Please... A Newspaper That's Added Content

Ok, so I realize this doesn't come as a surprise to anyone who's paid attention thus far to the Wall Street Journal's new weekend magazine, WSJ. But, hey, in this media and economic environment until the thing shows up on your doorstep more than once nothing can be taken for granted.

What to make of this new offering? Well, a lot of people are talking about gifts in the latest edition -- the editor, a 13-year-old violinist -- and I suppose the whole mag is a present from Rupert to you, the soft-feature-story-loving reader.

Speaking of Mr. Murdoch, remember when he said pretty plainly that he, um, wanted to displace the Times as the paper of record. Maybe he meant in the regular print edition? Cause while colorful (speed walking across the Sahara, cool), the mag doesn't look like it's going to bring home any Pulitzers. To be fair, it was billed as a luxury lifestyle magazine and the "authority on modern wealth."

And so clearly Rupe's going after the Times in another way. Take a look at the ad on the magazine's home page: Cartier.

Bling's in your court, Sulzberger.