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John Leo Ends Column, Says Web Commentary is the Future (Dinosaur Media DeathWatchâ„¢)
Editor & Publisher ^ | August 14, 2006 | Staff

Posted on 08/14/2006 11:38:55 AM PDT by abb

NEW YORK John Leo is ending his newspaper opinion column after 18 years. In a Sunday farewell piece, he wrote that "it's time to work on other projects, including a book."

Leo began the column for U.S. News & World Report in Sept. 1988. He signed with Universal Press Syndicate three years later.

"Now that I'm leaving, I should acknowledge that writing a column has to be one of the best jobs in the world," Leo wrote. "At a cost of only 750 words per week (with an occasional surcharge of sweating a bullet or two on deadline), you get to join what my friend and fellow columnist Richard Reeves calls 'the conversation.' He means the national dialogue, or whatever part of it you can shoulder your way into by being pertinent, witty, original, or whatever other trait induces people to read you."

He added: "As I've written elsewhere, columnists have to decide how they want to sound. Various famous ones have chosen to come across as combative, debonair, erudite, or incredibly well-connected. I've tried to sound conversational, as if I were talking to a friend about a subject that interests us both. And if something funny occurs to me, I throw that in too, just as most of us do in ordinary conversation.

"The problem is that the tone may be conversational, but we are still talking about a one-way monologue. This is one reason why columnists seem to be losing out to Internet commentators. Comment on the Net isn't just quicker and cost-free. Immediate feedback, still mostly in the 'Gotcha!' phase, allows real conversation that anyone can join, as well as a sense that all speakers are equal. The whole model of anointed commentators talking down to mostly passive readers has crumbled. If column-writing were a stock, I would sell now."

Leo, who praised Universal in the final column, said he'll be setting up a Web site at JohnLeo.com.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: conservatives; dbm; johnleo; leo; magazines; theend; usnwr
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Here's one who knew when it was time to go...
1 posted on 08/14/2006 11:38:57 AM PDT by abb
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To: knews_hound; Grampa Dave; martin_fierro; Liz; norwaypinesavage; Mo1; onyx; SmithL; petercooper; ...

Ping


2 posted on 08/14/2006 11:39:25 AM PDT by abb (The Dinosaur Media: A One-Way Medium in a Two-Way World)
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To: abb

Well, there ends the last reason to read any of the three newsmags.


3 posted on 08/14/2006 11:40:45 AM PDT by AmishDude
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To: abb
The whole model of anointed commentators talking down to mostly passive readers has crumbled. If column-writing were a stock, I would sell now."

I can't wait for the day when Mo Dowd is just another poster on DU.

4 posted on 08/14/2006 11:42:06 AM PDT by dirtboy (This tagline has been photoshopped)
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To: dirtboy
I can't wait for the day when Mo Dowd is just another poster on DU.

The despicable Dowd is almost there now thanks to NYT policy. LOL

5 posted on 08/14/2006 11:44:30 AM PDT by ncountylee (Dead terrorists smell like victory)
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To: abb
The whole model of anointed commentators talking down to mostly passive readers has crumbled.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out, John.

What we're witnessing here is a complete elimination of all the lines that used to define people in the past. Politicians are no more competent than the people who elect them, law enforcement officials are no more law-abiding than the citizens they shake down on a daily basis, and people in the media are no more relevant to the public discussion about important issues than Ronald McDonald is.

6 posted on 08/14/2006 11:44:51 AM PDT by Alberta's Child (Can money pay for all the days I lived awake but half asleep?)
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To: dirtboy
I can't wait for the day when Mo Dowd is just another poster on DU.

... wait 24 business hours ...

7 posted on 08/14/2006 11:46:07 AM PDT by Mark was here (How can they be called "Homeless" if their home is a field?.)
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To: Alberta's Child

Is there nobody you can admire, respect, and yield to?


8 posted on 08/14/2006 11:47:07 AM PDT by cornelis
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To: cornelis
Is there nobody you can admire, respect, and yield to?

Sure. But things were never the same after Junior Johnson retired.

9 posted on 08/14/2006 11:48:49 AM PDT by Alberta's Child (Can money pay for all the days I lived awake but half asleep?)
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To: abb

I've been a subscriber to USNWR since the late 70's. John Leo was probably the best...


10 posted on 08/14/2006 11:52:11 AM PDT by Paisan
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To: Alberta's Child

I still miss Al Capp.


11 posted on 08/14/2006 11:52:36 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (BTUs are my Beat.)
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To: abb
John Leo

One of the good guys IMHO.

12 posted on 08/14/2006 11:57:38 AM PDT by dighton
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To: Paisan
I've been a subscriber to USNWR since the late 70's. John Leo was probably the best

The very first news magazine I subscribed to when I was 11 years old in 1961 was USNWR. They were talking about the "missle gap" then. I've been a news junkie ever since...

13 posted on 08/14/2006 11:58:18 AM PDT by abb (The Dinosaur Media: A One-Way Medium in a Two-Way World)
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To: abb

I must've been reading him when he was local or something. I could've sworn that I was reading him in college, which would've been prior to 86. Maybe I'm misremembering.


14 posted on 08/14/2006 12:00:43 PM PDT by Tanniker Smith (I didn't know she was a liberal when I married her.)
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To: Tanniker Smith

John Leo's columns run in many small newspapers including the local paper here at the Lake of the Ozarks. The editors run his piece across from the week's selected screeching harpie Liberal.


15 posted on 08/14/2006 12:03:36 PM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (BTUs are my Beat.)
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To: abb

Somehow I suspect there will always be a place for men like John Leo. His voice is not just that of a friend, it's of a trusted partner. He'll be missed.


16 posted on 08/14/2006 12:27:01 PM PDT by GOPJ (Al Gore - the original "Millions Could Die" kind of guy....)
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To: dirtboy
I can't wait for the day when Mo Dowd is just another poster on DU.

Who's Mo Dowd?

.

.

.

.

I know who Mo Dowd is. ;)

17 posted on 08/14/2006 12:50:12 PM PDT by D-Chivas
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To: D-Chivas
Or to be more specific, the one that Michael Douglas dropped in favor of this much nicer-looking person:


18 posted on 08/14/2006 1:01:04 PM PDT by RayChuang88
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To: Alberta's Child
Don't let the door hit you on the way out, John.

You've obviously never read his columns.

19 posted on 08/14/2006 1:13:39 PM PDT by Minn
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To: dirtboy
I can't wait for the day when Mo Dowd is just another poster on DU.

Sure, you talk tough. Probably just cover for the fact you can’t wait for the day when she bears your love child and whispers all her wisdom directly in your ear..

20 posted on 08/14/2006 1:18:57 PM PDT by Minn
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