June 19: World's Fair, Judge on Display and Journalism Advice

*The Chicago Tribune has an article today by Charles Storch called “Whatever Happened to the World’s Fair,”noting that the last time the United States hosted one was in 1984, in Knoxville, Tenn. The article says that one lost money. Meanwhile, U.S. cities keep bidding for the Olympics.
As far as the United States is concerned, the World’sFair lacks the components that would have cities lining up to bid on it: Television coverage and financial profit (the Olympics feature the first, and if things are done right, the second). With tight budgets, municipalities aren’t going to bid on something without those two components built in somehow. It’s unfortunate, because I’ve heard family members talk about attending the 1964 New York World’sFair, and it was at these fairs that the public got their first looks at television, video conferencing and other marvels of technology.

*Broward Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin, who made a mockery of the process with his behavior during the Anna Nicole Smith case, is resigning…probably to contaminate daytime television with yet another court show (or possibly primetime television with yet another pseudo-reality show)….Just another one of the disgraces recently on Broward's bench, and one reason Chief Judge Dale Ross had to step down. Here's hoping both Ross and Seidlin's replacements will be true professionals.

*Nice column about Nelson Poynter, and how his philosophy might relate to the Bancroft family, who owns the Wall Street Journal and is trying to figure out whether to sell it to Rupert Murdoch:

http://niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=background.view&backgroundid=00188