Flutterby™! : A J Leibling

One of the few advantages of being sick is that when I'm barely coherent I feel less guilty about catching up on reading. Working my way through A. J. Leibling's The Press right now. He's the guy who said "Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one" (in Do you belong in journalism? May 14, 1960). Don't know if I'll finish it, or I might just start skimming lightly, but the perspective of a newspaper lover watching the consolidation and trend towards single paper cities is interesting. As much as I think Drudge is a shoddy purveyor of half-truth and rumour, the forum he gives for journalists to make end-runs around their editors is extremely important as media consolidation continues.