Category: The Baking Journalist

The Baking Journalist project and book offer bite-sized thoughts on issues of journalism and society through videos and essays. It combines my vocation as a journalist and my amateur bread-baking, while hopefully contributing something positive to the commons.

Whether you come along for the discussion, or just a recipe: welcome to The Baking Journalist.

Kneading Journalism: Essays on baking bread and breaking down the news is available at many retailers now! Please pick up a copy, review, and spread the word!

Posted on

The scourge of ‘anonymous sources’

What used to be an exception in journalism seems to have become a norm: affording anonymity to sources offering some unattainable insight, intentionally-hidden fact, or, it seems, juicy gossip.

If-and-when to grant anonymity is one of the more controversial discussions in the journalism realm, and it should be.

A written, broadcast, Tweeted, Instagrammed, or whatever, record of a story or claim needs to carry credibility and provability, lest one be attacked for ‘fake news.’

Continue reading “The scourge of ‘anonymous sources’”
Posted on

Baking and breaking bread in the ‘War on Media’

It’s a silly mash-up, but one driven by serious impulses.

As a journalist by profession and vocation, I listen with dismay to how some demonize the monolithic ‘media’ with a carelessness that does a disservice to valid perspectives and gripes.

I’ve written before that journalists are servants of the people at our core, and listening, responding to, and engaging with the community is vital even if it sometimes takes great effort.

As an amateur bread baker, I like creating and providing food for others to enjoy. It can be a social act, both the baking process and the eating that follows. After college, I worked in a food co-op bakery to pay for gas in between reporting gigs — you could say the two things were entwined from the start.

[Read more of my thoughts in my book Kneading Journalism]

Continue reading “Baking and breaking bread in the ‘War on Media’”
Posted on

Baking Vlog: Salted French

The first episode in a web series of bread baking and talk about the craft of journalism, this time with Salted French.I hope you like it, and please check out my book Kneading Journalism, subscribe on YouTube, and to my e-mail list.

***This is another video in a series of vlogs meant to help me work on video editing, and my amateur bread baking. It’s not perfect, but I hope I show some improvement over time. Thanks for being with me as I try to improve myself, and hopefully add some interesting content to the world***

Salted French Bread Recipe

You need:
6 cups flour (unbleached is better, bread flour is best, but use what you have!)
.75 oz (2.5 packets) active dry yeast
1.5 tsp salt
1.5 tsp sugar
2 cups warm water
1 Tbsp cornmeal

Continue reading “Baking Vlog: Salted French”
Posted on

A K-pop ‘ARMY’ might show us a way forward in the ‘War on Media’ (no, really)

Journalists, at their core, are supposed to be representatives for their fellow citizens. They’re afforded a Willy Wonka-style ‘golden ticket’ to enter board rooms, factory floors, and the streets of our communities to show and help explain what the heck is going on.

The public expects journalists to use that access and special status to get the public information they need to understand our world better, and know where they might want to advocate, or protest, or investigate more.

This may seem obvious to say, so why say it? The on-going ‘War on Media’ is adding to the already crippling deficit of trust between journalists and some segments of society, and it doesn’t need to be that way.

Continue reading “A K-pop ‘ARMY’ might show us a way forward in the ‘War on Media’ (no, really)”

No thanks

AnthonyGanzer.com