The NSNC president’s newsletter column
A prospective member asked, “What do I get for my $50 if I join NSNC?” NSNC President Ben Pollock tackled the question and his spontaneous, off-the-cuff answer was so sensible that we decided to share it for the benefit of others who might wonder. President Pollock said: This is an old, hard-to-explain deal, and we consider…
The Room in the Elephant By Ben S. Pollock President National Society of Newspaper Columnists The board of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists has been cleaning up after the party in Detroit. While washing glasses and emptying the trash, we share the usual mix of gleeful recollection of anecdotes and recriminations about disasters that…
President’s Message By Ben S. Pollock President, National Society of Newspaper Columnists Instead of polishing this column, I should have been sewing nametags into my clothes and shaking out my sleeping bag for WordCamp. If I showed up with that stuff, even the geeks there would laugh. We’re all geeks at WordCamp, www.wordcamp.org. The…
Paneling for the Benchley Den By Ben S. Pollock NSNC President Once again, an NSNC columnist conference astounded its audience with information and fun. The June 23-26 session in Detroit catered to would-be and published book writers, gave fresh tips to free-lancers (and in “custom content” not just columns), took on humor and twisted…
Roger Ebert, recipient of the 2011 Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists DETROIT, Saturday, June 25, 2011 — Following is the acceptance speech of Roger Ebert for the Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award. Ebert’s physical condition prevented him from accepting in person, but he “spoke” live via Skype from…
A Columnist’s Scrapbook By Ben S. Pollock NSNC President The NSNC Conference, three days out of 365, is a highlight of my year. Apparently, I mustn’t have a life. Actually, I do have a grand life, and NSNC has been a huge part of it. So there. The conventions are a blast. I have a…
By Ben S. Pollock NSNC President Had a bizarre dream the other night, that World War III had started. I saw Dianne Feinstein, she having moved up from senator to secretary of state or vice president, holding a news conference. She announced the U.S. ambassador to Turkey had died in a suspicious plane crash. A…
By Ben S. Pollock NSNC President A huge columnist controversy — looking to be the worst in years — began in mid-March, only it turned out to be so puny it ran its course in days. It seemed a microcosm to our desperate economic times and the end of newspapers as we know them: A…
By Ben S. Pollock NSNC President An NSNC friend e-mailed links to farewell pieces that a couple of just-downsized columnists were allowed to publish. That opportunity isn’t always granted. Atypically, he didn’t add his opinion, which made my impression of this pair a surprise — mainly to me: So what, I thought? How dare they?…
Ben S. Pollock NSNC President Columnists get labeled as opinionated. This was brought home again after the Tucson shooting. Americans saw on the air and online — come on, paper? — as many pundits as politicians (and rarely people with facts, like FBI spokesmen). The funny thing is, few NSNC members are op-eddies. The society…
By Ben Pollock, NSNC President 1. Quit grasping onto obvious topics like “Columnist Lists New Year’s Resolutions.” 2. When writing, quit the posed, “I don’t know about you, but as for me …” or a similar phrase. Reflective columns are just that, writing about oneself and hoping they strike a chord in readers. Writing in…
President’s Message By Ben S. Pollock NSNC President One morning I woke up presuming I could start this month’s column with, “Hello, I have a story to tell,” and wing it. I didn’t have a clue where to go from there, though. It’s OK not to have a story. I figured out a principle…
President’s Message First published in the November 2010 issue of the e-Columnist By Ben S. Pollock NSNC President “Politics make strange bedfellows” goes the quote by 19th-century newspaperman Charles Dudley Warner, and this fall it’s been columnists getting renown for jumping on the mattress. Columnists, commentators, news analysts, bloggers, interest-group hacks, cable yaks — aren’t…
President’s Message By Ben S. Pollock NSNC President “Defining and analyzing humor is a pastime of humorless people.” — Robert Benchley To avoid betraying my idol, Mr. Benchley, I’ll rationalize. This is not analysis but a lesson on creating humor. Books I’ve been reading have given me a clue on crafting…
President’s Message By Ben S. Pollock NSNC President September 2010 Ben Pollock Last year I asked my Facebook friends on my “Wall,” where conversations are texted (Is this English?), “Why are people so upbeat on Facebook?” I’d been on Facebook a few months, having been sold on it by NSNC veteran Dave Lieber (who pushed…
By Ben S. Pollock NSNC President Thank you for electing me president of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Didn’t you hear? I have not published a running column since Sept. 16, 2001. Instead I’ve written at benpollock.com/brick for nearly seven years. After the first year, the water warms up. Blogging is how I’ve coped…
President’s Message By Samantha Bennett NSNC President Just a quick update this month, and an opportunity to connect and make a difference. Future of NSNC Task Force member Russ Lemmon represented NSNC at the CNJO (Conference of National Journalism Organizations) winter meeting in Florida, and he has come back to the board with a…
