From a guest essay in the New York Times by Pamela Paul headlined “The Case for File Cabinets”:

Remember filing cabinets? Those lumbering, clattering towers of drawers stuffed full of Pendaflex folders? They were once vital to every workplace, as much a part of the landscape as desks and chairs. There was always a warren of them in a back room somewhere, and no matter what your eventual profession, if you ever served time as an intern, an executive assistant, a clerk or a catalog manager, you filed. You filed and filed until your thumbs wore down….

From a Wall Street Journal story by Derek B. Miller headlined “Five Best Stories of Friendship”:

A Prayer for Owen Meany
By John Irving (1989)

From a post on niemanlab.org by Nikki Usher headlined “Higher ed and public radio are enmeshed. So what happens when the culture wars come?”:

For many who are concerned about declines in local news, shoring up the existing journalism infrastructure for public media in communities seems like a no-duh solution.

But it is important to approach, eyes-wide-open, any solution for journalism that involves government, public money, or public institutions.

The political fight over public media is often framed in terms of government spending even though direct government subsidies are tiny — 2020 estimates put federal funding at just $1.40 per capita, compared to $100 or more in the UK, Norway, and Sweden.

From a column in the Los Angeles Times by Jackie Calmes headlined “Why journalists are failing the public with ‘both-siderism’ in political coverage”:

American politics has changed dramatically since my post-Watergate generation of journalists began covering the story. Political journalism hasn’t kept up.

For years it was easy to cover “both sides” — Republicans and Democrats — as equally worthy, and blameworthy, partners in democracy. While we reporters had come of age as witnesses to the unprecedented resignation of a Republican president who’d tried to corrupt the institutions of government to affect an election — imagine! — what remained was a Republican Party still capable of a creditable role in a healthy two-party system….

From a Wall Street Journal column by Tunku Varadarajan headlined “The Nobel Prize in Obscure Literature”:

Another year in which the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to a writer I’ve never read—and I’m beginning to despair. Is the Swedish Nobel committee setting out to show me up as a philistine?…

From an AP story by Gillian Flaccus headlined “Steven DuBois, beloved and eclectic AP raconteur, dead at 53”:

Steven DuBois, an Associated Press reporter who spent two decades sharing Oregon’s biggest news and quirkiest neuroticisms with readers worldwide, died Tuesday.

Quiet and self-effacing, DuBois avoided the spotlight during his more than 20 years in AP’s Portland bureau but was universally respected by his colleagues for his talent and sensitivity. He wrote and rewrote his own stories, worried they weren’t good enough, and frequently didn’t put his name on work he felt didn’t meet his standards.

From an Inside the Times interview with technology columnist Kevin Roose headlined “Filling In on the Microphone”:

How did you get into journalism?

I’ve had the reverse version of the typical 20th-century journalism career path, where you start off at a newspaper, eventually graduate to a magazine and finally work your way up to writing a book. Through a series of freakishly lucky events, I wrote a book when I was 19, before I’d published anything as a professional writer, and it ended up getting some national attention. That got me some magazine writing gigs, and eventually, my dream job at The Times.

From a Washington Post obit by Harrison Smith headlined “Gary Paulsen, who wrote the beloved young-adult novel ‘Hatchet,’ dies at 82”:

From a story in The Atlantic by McKay Coppins headlined “A Secretive Hedge Fund Is Gutting Newsrooms”:

The Tribune Tower rises above the streets of downtown Chicago in a majestic snarl of Gothic spires and flying buttresses that were designed to exude power and prestige. When plans for the building were announced in 1922, Colonel Robert R. McCormick, the longtime owner of the Chicago Tribune, said he wanted to erect “the world’s most beautiful office building” for his beloved newspaper. The best architects of the era were invited to submit designs; lofty quotes about the Fourth Estate were selected to adorn the lobby.

From a story on seattletimes.com  by Felicia Sonmez and Amy B. Wang of the Washington Post headlined “Columnist Nicholas Kristof resigns from New York Times as he weighs big for Oregon governor”:

Nicholas Kristof, a columnist at The New York Times, is leaving the newspaper after 37 years as he continues weighing a bid for Oregon governor.

Kristof, who had been an opinion columnist at The Times since 2001, had been on a leave of absence from the newspaper since June as he decided whether to run for political office. Though he has not announced a campaign, Kristof on Tuesday filed a statement to organize a candidate committee with the Oregon secretary of state, specifying the 2022 primary race for Oregon governor.