Curiosity separates great journalism and lazy journalism

Journalism is a business where there's always something to do, stories to cover, deadlines to meet.

It's work that can be a grind, particularly when you wait for stories to land in your lap. But journalism can be magic when you dive into the unknown, led only by a single tip that may or may not pan out. 

Sadly, I regularly encounter journalists and other professionals who lack one key trait that separates the average from the great: curiosity. 

Tim Layden of Sports Illustrated is a great journalist. Case in point is "The Forgotten Hero," an extraordinary tale that started with a solid tip about a long-forgotten small-college athlete but grew into a much larger story about a dying man whose zest for life inspired everyone around him. 

"The Forgotten Hero" is Mike Reily, who played football at Williams College in the early 1960s. His life was cut short by Hodgkin's disease, and by all accounts the world lost a great one. 

But that's just a small piece of the story. 

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First reactions to the Kindle Fire

Updated on Saturday, November 19, 2011 at 11:50 PM by Logan Molen

I’ve been playing with the Kindle Fire tablet since it hit stores Tuesday and am generally impressed with a powerful tablet that acts bigger than its $199 price. 

Before we dive into the details, let’s get this out of the way quickly: the Kindle Fire is much more than an e-reader but it is not an “iPad killer.” But it’s a very good hand-held computer with lots of upside. 

Reading content is at the core of the Kindle brand, but the Fire does so much more. Because of it brings good bang for the buck for mainstream America, expect the Fire to be a big hit this holiday season, giving Amazon a strong foundation in its ongoing battle with Apple, Barnes & Noble, Netflix and who knows else in the battle for consumers’ time and money. 

Some quick observations after a few hours of playtime with the Fire: 

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My appearance on 'Californian Radio'

You can find a podcast of the show in iTunesI appeared on "Californian Radio" on Tuesday to talk about the changing newspaper business and some of the things The Bakersfield Californian is doing to serve its customers in new ways.

Regular Tuesday host Robert Price, The Californian's Opinion section editor, was short on ideas so decided to pull me into the studio for an hourlong talk on a wide variety of topics, including smartphones, tablet computers, our e-edition, people who wear pajamas in public, chain e-mails, and more. (You can listen to the complete episode in iTunes). 

Let me know what you think. 

Update on Monday, November 14, 2011 at 10:07 PM by Logan Molen

Sent out this tweet today:

@lmolen

Follow-up on CalRadio show on tech trends: Facial-recognition concerns (http://t.co/Jenq5HxD) + supersecret Google X (http://t.co/BrgDib3I)

Technology is both jaw-dropping and disconcerting, as both these stories suggest. I'll take the wild west any day of the week but more than ever it's critical to understand the ripple effects of our rapidly changing world.