James Lileks is an enormously talented and prolific newspaper columnist, blogger, and author, whose day job has been as a columnist for the
Star-Tribune, the largest newspaper in Minnesota. The blogosphere is now in a justifiable uproar over the news he
announced on his blog today, that the
Strib has decided to re-assign him as a reporter, and is cancelling his column.
This decision is beyond idiotic. Don Surber, who combines
blogging (for his newspaper, on their site) with a column in the
Charleston Daily Mail, summarizes the
Strib's thinking thus:
Let's see, we have to move online and attract readers by presenting interesting copy - so let's kill Lileks.
Hugh Hewitt comes up with a
list of 10 employers that could snatch away Lileks if the paper foolishly persists in sending Lileks out to do straight news reporting, which he admits he is not good at doing.
