You know, "drone" has two meanings...

A newspaper can look like a fortress to outsiders, and many readers struggle to understand the bunker mentality of so many editors and reporters. Bloggers wonder: Why aren't newsrooms more open to feedback from the public?

Here's a clue: While the vast majority of people who call newspaper editors are probably sane, in the legal sense, a high percentage seem to suffer from a distinct lack of context, and the objects of their obsession can be alarmingly (or entertainingly) random.

Which is why this podcast from The San Francisco Chronicle made me laugh out loud. I spent more than 12 years on the city desks of two newspapers, and I cannot count the number of phone calls I took from people who were just as ... shall we say myopically passionate ... as this guy. In the immortal words of "The Dude": "You're not wrong, Walter, you're just an asshole!"

Here's the direct link (Note: Quicktime player required).

Comments

[ben]

Dan, I don't think you have to be an editor to laugh out loud at that. Great link.

[Anna Haynes]

oh.

ouch.

it does give one a bit more sympathy for these guys...