Word: backgrounder
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...spinners' jobs became easier Thursday night when President Jacques Chirac, the final arbiter of French foreign policy, said he was committing another two French battalions - 1,600 troops - to the UN mission. Chirac, in a televised address against the lush background of the Elysee Palace, said he had upped the number after receiving clarifications from the UN that the force's chain of command would be " simple and direct" and assurances from Lebanon and Israel "that French troops would be able to fulfil their mission on the ground...
Bosses of pharmaceutical companies tend to have a background in science or medicine. Jeffrey Kindler, 51, took a different path to the top of Pfizer, a position he won in July when Pfizer's board chose him to replace Henry McKinnell. A Harvard-educated lawyer, Kindler represented corporate clients from General Electric to McDonald's before joining Pfizer in 2002. He also did a stint as CEO of McDonald's shaky Boston Market restaurant chain...
...scrub jays kill an estimated 100 million songbirds a year in California alone). And writing is still a struggle. He works in a darkened room, with earplugs, noise-canceling headphones and something called pink noise (it's like white noise but with more bass) playing in the background. "You think, my God, I've been writing for 20 or 25 years, I ought to recognize in half a day when I'm on the wrong track," he says ruefully. "You wonder how on earth you ever wrote anything that didn't suck...
...Great citizen journalism is like the imagined Northwest Passage - it has to exist in order to prove that citizens can learn about public life without the mediation of professionals." If the measure of a successful citizen journalist is popularity, then Trent Vanegas comes out on top. Without any media background whatsoever, Vanegas has created a celebrity gossip blog - Pink Is the New Blog - that has become a favorite among celebrities, their publicists and the average American, bringing the blog over 200,000 visitors a month. Writing with tact, Vanegas fills his posts with entertaining captions and star-studded images superimposed...
...travelers. "Boomers don't want to be told about faith, they want to experience it for themselves," says Cindi Brodhecker of MTS Travel in Ephrata, Pa., which focuses on the religious and nonprofit market. "They want to explore where their ancestors might have worshipped. Or better understand their religious background." And, like Fisher, they often want to take the family, making it a multigenerational experience. "Today faith-based travel is no longer targeted to a niche market--church groups who want to go on a mission or pilgrimage," says Brodhecker. "It's for the mainstream customer who wants an exciting...