Meetings are often routine if not downright boring. How many journalists have counted up the number of hours wasted in a career sitting at night week after week, month after month, with a bunch of dull politicians? As opposed to the worthwhile hours they might spend in a local tavern engaged in lofty conversation over a beer with truly interesting people? —Bob Wyss —A ”Waist” of Time? (Poynter Online)

Covering city council meetings and school board meetings was hardly the most exciting memory of the time I spent as a radio news intern, but learning how to tie your shoes isn’t necessarily “fun,” either.

Students who want to go right into the anchor desk have a very romantic notion of what journalism is all about.