Back To My Obit Roots

Journalism is rarely as glamorous as it seems to be on television or in the movies, and that is especially true in the newspaper world. Those who choose print journalism as their profession generally can expect low pay, lousy hours and lots of grunt work like writing obituaries.

That was the message my first journalism professor at West Virginia University delivered to every new crop of ambitious and altruistic wannabe scribes, and my own early experiences proved him prophetic. My first job at The Tampa Tribune in the late 1980s: copy clerk. I literally copied the page layouts of editors for each day's edition and delivered them to the print shop. My second job at the Tribune: full-time obit writer.

It wasn't exactly the stuff of Woodward and Bernstein (before Woodward became something of a villain), and I much prefer the work I do now for National Journal, especially Beltway Blogroll, which focuses on the political and policy impact of blogs. But let me tell ya, I loved my brief stint as an obit writer. It's probably the biggest reason that I am a journalist today.

It's also the reason I am starting this blog.

When former Sen. Eugene McCarthy and comedian Richard Pryor died this weekend and an abundance of tributes to them started appearing in the blogosphere, it struck me that the best obits these days are not necessarily written by the "professionals" of yesteryear but by the creative amateurs of citizen media. It also struck me that people who like to read such tributes need a good place to go online that pulls together the best tributes from the blogosphere.

I'm not the first person to think of showcasing obits online. The Blog of Death has been publishing great copy since 2003, and Legacy.com offers obits, guest books and tributes. Various bloggers also provide occasional roundups of tributes for specific people important to them. But I hope the Carnival of Tribute can add value to the work that sites like those have done.

I'll start today with roundups on McCarthy and Pryor. As for the future, I'll post entries as I see the need, and I welcome your suggestions. My e-mail is danny -at- comtekmail.com.