!["My claim to fame... I actually haven't seen [Matt Drudge] in a while. At one time, I would say he was my friend. And I'm kind of a booster of Matt to a point. I've actually defended him three times in my column. The journalistic establishment gives him the back of their hands unfairly a lot. But I've also chastised him."](http://blogs.salon.com/0001118/images/2003/06/17/scottshuger.jpg) Over a year ago (June 15, 2002, to be exact), Slate lost one of its most valued colaborators: Scott Shuger, who was, as editor Mike Kinsley memorialized him, "a pioneer of Internet journalism." (Curious aside: it seems Mr. Shuger also sought to become a pioneer of "embedded journalism:" he "spent much of late 2001 and early 2002 trying to persuade the Pentagon to embed him with a special forces unit in Afghanistan.") Slate still remembers and mourns him; a year later, I still remember the news, too, since I submitted to Plastic a writeup the day after I learned of Mr. Shuger's death.
| The Last Edition: Internet Journalism Pioneer Scott Shuger Dies on Diving Accident |
 |
An early Matt Drudge booster and the first writer of Slate's "Today's Papers" feature, journalist Scott Shuger died on a scuba diving accident last Saturday. Labeled by former boss Michael Kinsley as "a pioneer of Internet journalism," Shuger read the headlines from five major newspaper's Internet editions as they were posted on the wee hours, summarized them and provided his take on these news for about 4 years before passing the torch. With a long career as a reporter and a writer, both on-line and off, Shuger also brought a crisp style and a self-editing ethic that made of "Today's Papers" the most popular feature on Slate and a standard of metajournalism. It may be this and, of course, the Drudge connection, what may reveal Mr. Shuger as an invisible hand that helped shape the Web medium. May he rest in peace. |
Sadly, that writeup was turned down as "appreciated, but [declined due to] lack of user interest." Fair? Unfair? Consider the user feedback the writeup got:
- Damn, I knew him, kind of ... knew his wife well. this is really sad.
- I loved Today's Paper's and the way it pointed out how the media covered the same story differently, the questions they did ask and the questions they didnt' ask
- Maybe plastic needs on "obits" section - but is this a compelling "media" story?
- I second the creation of an obits section
- OBITS!!!!!
- No offense to Shuger or anyone else, but I generally think the Obit threads don't lead to much discussion.
Ah, well, too bad...
The day after Mr. Shuger's death, Slate prepared a "Recycled" article with a selection of his best work. I wasn't familiar with any of the selections, except this one which I had read on its original publication date and which had really piqued my interest.
Hookers.com
How e-commerce is transforming the oldest profession.
If any of you are thinking "Typical..." Oh, yes! You're so right...
{Edited on June 26, 2003. Added a missing "piqued" to the sentence "which had really my interest".}
|
