When looking back on the career of Alan Abelson, the longtime Barron’s columnist who died last week at age 87, one gets the sense that he could have written about any subject if he had wanted to.
Mr. Abelson was known as much for his elegant prose as he was for his keen insight into the financial Read More
Roger Ebert, the prolific film critic who, for better or worse, pioneered the “thumbs up, thumbs down” rating system, died today after a long battle with cancer, the Chicago Sun-Times–where he became a film critic in 1967–reports. He was 70.
“It’s a very sad day for anyone who cares about newspapers,” said Robert Kurson, an author Read More
Walking east along Church Avenue from Nostrand last Thursday afternoon, The Observer counted two police officers on every corner. At New York Avenue, there were five cops and two squad cars. From a row house just past East 35th Street, three men in bulletproof vests and black topcoats emerged. And once we reached Albany Avenue Read More
“Dear Abby” columnist Pauline Phillips died today in Minneapolis, her syndicate Universal Uclick, announced this afternoon. Ms. Phillips was 94 and had Alzheimer’s disease for over ten years.
“I have lost my mother, my mentor and my best friend,” her daughter, Jeanne Phillips, said in the release. “My mother leaves very big high heels to fill with a legacy of compassion, commitment and positive social change. I will honor her memory every day by continuing this legacy.” Read More
We knew it was coming and here it is. The last attempt at a buzz-generating Newsweek cover hit newsstands today. And it is generating a slight amount of buzz. The nostalgic, black-and-white image of the old Newsweek HQ is juxtaposed with the headline “#LastPrintIssue.” Because the magazine will now be Internet-only and print is dying and hashtags and Read More
The Daily, Rupert Murdoch’s foray into iPad-only journalism, officially shut its virtual newsstand last Saturday. But The Daily‘s Twitter feed is still going strong, despite a lack of original content. @Daily (not to be confused with the handle @TheDaily, which belongs to the University of Washington’s student newspaper) continues to provide “news distilled,” as the Twitter bio says. In this case, the distillation of the news is in the form of links to interesting stories by other publications. Read More
The Associated Press is reporting that Oscar-winning actor Ernest Borgnine has died. Mr. Borgnine reportedly passed away at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Sunday. Mr. Borgnine, who won an Academy Award in 1955 for his portrayal of the title character in Marty, was surrounded by family when he died. Read More
Bee Gees co-founder Robin Gibb lost his battle with cancer Sunday. Mr. Gibb had been struggling against the disease for years, appearing to fight off liver and colon cancer in 2010 before a recurrence this year. In the end he succumbed to complications following intestinal surgery. Read More
Online publisher and conservative media activist Andrew Breitbart died shortly after midnight at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times has confirmed. He passed “unexpectedly from natural causes,” according to one of his websites, BigJournalism.com. He was 43. Read More
Over the weekend, The New York Times paid tribute in print to Anthony Shadid, the gifted foreign correspondent who died last week while on a reporting trip to Syria.
Mr. Shadid’s final article, about Islamic intellectual Said Ferjani and democracy’s footold in Tunisia, ran on the front page on Saturday.
Its lede is Read More
