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<h1>Post-Script </h1>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">The Baird’s Tale was driven and pushed by more than just the Editor and contributors’ varying levels of employment, and the access to publishing software - it came from a fundamental desire to produce high quality content. It came from a tiredness with the contrite and meaningless journalism most of us read regularly; a desire to implement the criticism I scream at newspapers daily. </span></p><p>
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">The Baird’s Tale is guided by the three rules of successful long form journalism as I see them:</span></p><ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Never be boring. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Moar Analysis </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Have a clear personality. </span></li></ol><p>
<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Never be boring</span></strong></p><p>
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">The internet has shown that the emperor has no cloths – that most mainstream, traditional media is really boring. Really really boring. Its dull. Its listless. It relies on old and easy tropes. Its lazy. <em>Time</em> and <em>Newsweek</em> failed because with the internet it suddenly became clear that they were just not very good. When you can get access to any columnist in the country, Andrew Cohen or Margaret Wente start to become a lot less impactful or important. </span></p><p>
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">The journalism that is has not just survived but thrived in the internet era is the interesting, insightful journalism that gifts the reader truly new information, ideas or metaphors. I don’t think it is for nothing that we leave in an era where both <em>The Economist</em> and<em> The Tyee</em> are more successful than mainstream media. For their differences both are rarely boring. </span></p><p>
<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Moar Analysis.</span></strong></p><p>
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> The way to never be boring is to provide more, better and deeper analysis. To have not just have the best facts but to look at them in the best light. The people who will win 21st century journalism are the people who answer the question ‘why is this important’ the best. </span></p><p>
<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Clear Personality</span></strong></p><p>
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> Personality is the other solution to boredom. Successful publications like <em>The New Yorker, The Onion </em>have clearly defined personalities and tones. So clear you could paint the picture of the persona, you could feel you’ve met them at a party. The New Yorker is that cosmopolitan woman fresh off a flight from Bogotá enjoying some small restaurant in some neighbourhood no one has ever has heard of talking with an old friend from college. The Onion is a classic white face clown, John Cleese-esque, a suit wearing youth, cuttingly and cleverly throwing out one liners. It is the personality of the publication that makes people become loyal, dedicated readers. It is personality that gets them through a bad piece or issue.</span></p><p>
<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia;"> The Tale</span></strong></p><p>
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><em>The Baird’s Tale </em>personality’s is that of who creates it. Stressed, under-employed recent graduates. If you met this publication on the street it would be a tall, young, shabby, just out of a lecture rushing to a seminar. Fresh with new ideas, they’d tell you all they’d learned, their new data points, their new ways of thinking but with a scepticism and an eye on over-generalization and dogmatic thinking. </span></p><p>
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">If this persona is a little breathless, a little too full of the pretensions of the lower rungs of academia that is a sign of our own foibles. Like all personas <em>The Baird's Tale</em> is a work in progress. Our next issue will be smoother, our jokes better, our wit sharper. </span></p><p>
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I hope you enjoyed this chance encounter and see you later,</span></p><p>
<em><span style="font-family: monospace;">James R. Baird Rimmer<br>
</span></em><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Editor-in-Chief.</span></strong></p><p>
<em style="font-size: 14px;">The Baird's Tale can be reached at: </em><em style="font-size: 14px;">
[email protected], or @bairdstale</em></p><p>
<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br>
</span></strong></p>
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