> This and your previous post illustrate, it looks like to me, an attitude I
> almost remarked on earlier, but I decided not to be inflammatory. There's
> this sort of sense that any left publication that looks professional is
> precisely already a sell-out. A waste of resources. And so, any such
> publication claiming to be "left" is always already not. It seems to me
> analogous to arguing that music with some production value is, well,
> sold-out.
>
> I am not sure, but I think this is mistaken. First, because part of the
> point is that there is credibility--outside purist circles--in having taken
> care in the presentation of your material. It demonstrates seriousness. But
> perhaps I overestimate this? Second, because--and I think this was evident
> in the thread you referenced--so much of what's valuable about the Economist
> and FT is precisely *not* "fine-grained economic analysis," but general news
> coverage.
>
> Not to be inflammatory, but I'm having a hard time here not getting my back
> up about demanding quality and attention to detail out of left publications
> (cf. bitch's comments on design), and good paper would be nice, too.
I really appreciated Carrol's comments, especially the bit about the news selection being a cafeteria, not a gourmet restaurant. This is very apt when looking at Counterpunch's daily selection of stories.
I agree with you about the importance of presentation and why it's important for left publications to look "tight", if not professional. We've talked here in the past about Z Magazine as an example of a left publication which doesn't give a damn about presentation.
But at the same time, people have a different expectation when it comes to web content. People see web content with a more casual eye. They are more forgiving of typos where typos are more glaring in print. I don't run across that many typos in Counterpunch stories, but then I don't read most of the stories.
I agree with you that we should demand quality and attention to detail in left publications. People know that I'm a stickler for editing over at Infoshop News, but I simply can't find the time to edit stories like I want to. One thing that has helped immensely recently is the spellchecker that comes built into Firefox.
Now that you mention it, Counterpunch's website design is starting to look like Z Magazine's anti-design. I'm a web designer who can help and I offer low rates. ;-)
Chuck