Friday, February 26, 2010
Note to Readers
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Slicing 'The Onion'
Two of the writers for The Onion, the satirical web and print paper, sat down with a Masschusetts newspaper reporter to discuss their mix of satire, parody and outright funny stuff.The Republican of Springfield, Mass., chatted with Sam West and Jack Kukoda when the pair appeared at nearby Westfield State College.
"Its voice is consistent," West said in the story. "It's expanded, but the core sensibility is still there." -- Joe Strupp
It's Summit Day
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Other Shoe Drops
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Afternoon Links
4 journos working on Chauncey Bailey Project win McGill award.
It's official: AP Stylebook now officially calls our current massive downturn The Great Recession.
That recently fired Calif publisher now charged with fondling women.
Toyotathon...of Death
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This Is His Country?
He penned a column on CNN.com that seeks to prove the case that Mellencamp, left, could be the man to replace retiring Indiana senator Evan Bayh. -- Joe Strupp
Wednesday Linkage
Wash Post profit jumps--even the newspaper makes money.Politico with possible scoop on Obama team's plan to launch re-election bid--just a little more than a year away.
Where's Joe Heller or George Orwell when we really need him? NYT headline: "Gates Calls Europe Anti-War Mood Danger to Peace"
NAA: Local newspapers (and their ads) continue to be most credible with readers.
NYT's Bill Keller on shakeup at his paper -- and journos with "A.D.D."
A chat with Sharon Waxman, the ex-NYTer now running the popular The Wrap entertainment site.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Mr. Brown, You've Got Some Lovely Daughters
As it's done a lot lately, NYT Mag posted very early an upcoming feature: This one on new Mass. Sen. Scott Brown (who just went against conservatives in helping to advance jobs bill). Bonus: He's pictured in leather shorts. Also check out multimedia time line and video. Excerpt from Frank Bruni piece:Brown’s exposure owes at least as much to, well, his exposure. Back in 1982, when he was 22, he posed nude for Cosmopolitan magazine, which named him the sexiest man in America. The layout of the photograph skimped on some key information, but the accompanying interview made space for his fantasies, which he said turned to women who were “tall, athletic and have longish hair and beautiful legs . . . hmmm, I’m getting excited!”
Nearly three decades later, as he campaigned for the Senate, that article drew widespread notice, as did the fact that Brown, at 50, seemed as plausible a centerfold as ever. An obsessive exerciser, he competed in more than six triathlons, both abbreviated and full length, in the first half of 2009 alone. The trim, muscular results of all that swimming and sweating explained an atypical addition to the Washington press corps that shadowed him during a visit to the nation’s capital just after his victory. A reporter for the gossip site TMZ was on hand to ask him if he was “bringing sexy back to the Republican Party.”
He’s certainly bringing it a résumé and panache that aren’t the norm. And he’s transporting them — in the unlikely event that you haven’t yet heard — in a green GMC Canyon pickup truck. Seldom has a politician got more mileage out of a vehicle, and I don’t mean Brown’s crisscrossing of Massachusetts during the campaign.
Glenn Beck: A Commie?
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Fueling Newspaper Sales
"University of Central Florida professor Henry Daniell has developed a groundbreaking way to produce ethanol from waste products such as orange peels and newspapers," the report states. "His approach is greener and less expensive than the current methods available to run vehicles on cleaner fuel -- and his goal is to relegate gasoline to a secondary fuel."
So one slogan could be "All the News that's Fit to Fuel Your Car." Maybe not. -- Joe Strupp
Tuesday Linkage
Famed Mississipi reporter Jerry Mitchell, who got "genius grant," continues civil rights murder probes here.Love this NYT headline as millions more go off unemp benefit roll this month: "Daring to Think Private Jet Again."
@DalaiLama verified on Twitter on Monday. Naturally, he is not following anyone.
A bit more on mysterious NYT op-ed writer on Afghanistan assaults - and NYT explains why employer not mentioned.
Seattle Times pension plan way, way in debt.
A harsh critique of NYT plan to charge fairly high feed for iPad edition.
Traffic at Editor & Publisher this month site lowest in 8 years.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Afternoon on the Links
Newspapers have lost 105,000 jobs since 2001.
A rather tortured explanation in Politico why it let a reporter return to the fold.
The Krugman Blues
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Monday Linkage
Howard Kurtz: Scientologists hire 3 top journos, including Pulitzer and Emmy winners, to probe...St. Pete Times.David Carr for Monday's NYT probes Tigermania.
Tip jar disappears at Miami Herald site.
After a 10-month lag, Jay Rosen resumes his influential PressThink blog with a look at political journalism.
Ross Douthat in column joins ranks of those saying National Enquirer should be taken seriously as Pulitzer winner. No mention of parent company killing scoop on Tiger Woods in the tabloid in exchange for a cover shoot.
Leonard Pitts: Problem for journalists today is people do not believe in "objective facts," only "facts" that fit their 0pinions.
NYT political book bestseller list includes disgraced Last Train from Hiroshima book at #13.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Sunday Linkage
NYT public ed repeats call for Ethan Bronner to be reassigned from Jerusalem bureau due to son's service in Israeli Army.Worker at Newark Star-Ledger busted by FBI for sending suspicious powder to his boss.
Wash Post still refuses to call torture...torture.
Nick Kristof writes amusing column imagining news media run like health system--no single payer!
'NYT' With Book Bombshell
There's a stunning piece just posted at NYT site from tomorrow's paper on a book I wrote about last month--Charles Pellegrino's Last Train from Hiroshima. I wrote about it in the context of it being bought by James Cameron for a movie (I have written dozens of stories on the subject and co-authored the book with Robert Jay Lifton Hiroshima in America). Pellegrino is an old friend of Cameron and worked with him on Titanic and other projects. Now William J. Broad in the Times reveals that a key revelation in the book is based on a hoax. Pellegrino fell for a story from a guy who claimed he was a last minute substitution on an A-bomb bomb and told the story of a partial "dud" -- made up out of whole cloth. The author now says he will revise the book ASAP. Here's an excerpt below. -- Greg Mitchell
That section of the book and other technical details of the mission are based on the recollections of Joseph Fuoco, who is described as a last-minute substitute on one of the two observation planes that escorted the Enola Gay.
But Mr. Fuoco, who died in 2008 at age 84 and lived in Westbury, N.Y., never flew on the bombing run, and he never substituted for James R. Corliss, the plane’s regular flight engineer, Mr. Corliss’s family says. They, along with angry ranks of scientists, historians and veterans, are denouncing the book and calling Mr. Fuoco an imposter.
Facing a national outcry and the Corliss family’s evidence, the author, Charles Pellegrino, now concedes that he was probably duped. In an interview on Friday, he said he would rewrite the book for paperback and foreign editions.
“I’m stunned,” Mr. Pellegrino said. “I liked and admired the guy. He had loads and loads of papers, and photographs of everything.”
The public record has to be repaired, he added. “You can’t have wrong history going out,” he said. “It’s got to be corrected.”
Friday, February 19, 2010
On the Tweeting Press Secy and More
I did a radio thing today (summary and link) on the White House's new infatuation with Twitter and also its relations with bloggers and who will lead the "pack" in 2010 campaign coverage. -- Greg Mitchell
Not So Mighty Quinn
Health Survey
In Transition
Friday Linkage
NiemanLab: AP's nonprofit distribution pilot-- It's been 6 months, ProPublica, CPI say few stories picked up.NPR ombud weighs in on NYT reporting Olympics results as they happen.
Post-Katrina shooting by the New Orleans police previously reported on by ProPublica gets attention of the FBI,
National Enquirer declared eligible for Pulitzer after earlier getting ruled out.
NYT reports on Obama's "compromise" health plan to arrive before next week's "summit."
New ongoing photo/video "mashup" from ASNE, check out sample here.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Up Against the Wall
Tiger, Tiger, Spinning Bright?
After months in seclusion, and seeing his personal life played out in tabloids, on tabloid shows and the Internet, Tiger Woods will face the press Friday (no questions though) in what is being billed as an apology and, hopefully, explanation of what happened.This is key to his ability to return to golf as the larger-than-life figure he was. He also needs some major mea culpa to remain Mr. Endorsement with his slew of ad deals, most of which have remained since his Thanksgiving Day accident.
I am curious to see how Tiger does. He has long been a difficult person for reporters to get close to, not to mention his fellow golfers. Will he open up enough to get some forgiveness for a real act of contrition, or will he stay stubborn? A guess is his people know that a full explanation and true remorse will win the day and the future endorsements and money.
Even more interesting will be: how much will the media overplay whatever he says? Also, if it is shown live, look for ratings to match O.J.s murder acquittal announcement. -- Joe Strupp
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Thursday Linkage
Toyota places more ads in U.S. newspapers on Thursday, with open letter from president of U.S. operations on quality concerns.HBO debuts doc film on NYT's Nick Kristof tonight, will be repeated several times, of course.
NYT gives Mark McGwire another chance to admit steroids helped him hit HRs --and once again, he blows it.
Politico looks at new twitter feed for President's press secretary Gibbs.
Will Bunch: New "conspiracy" woes for rightwing Texas governor candidate. Two others sweep newspapers endorsements in contest.
Was NYT frontpager on Tea Party this week something of a whitewash?
'NYT': Tape Delay Be Damned
Clark Hoyt, the NYT public editor, out with an entertaining blog piece on how and why the paper is reporting Olympics results as they happen even if some readers may be wanting to look away and wait for Bob Costas in prime time. He also takes up questions of spoiler alerts or hiding winners a click away from home page. Excerpt:The Times has no intention of changing its approach: report results as soon as it can, as prominently as they deserve. “Our job is to report the news,” said Tom Jolly, the sports editor. He said NBC “has made a business decision to show the highlights on a taped basis. We’re not beholden to presenting the news the way NBC does.”
That means that when Lindsey Vonn goes for gold in the women’s downhill this afternoon, The Times will report what happens immediately, no spoiler alert, no tape delay.
I was leaning toward recommending putting Olympics results a click away from the home page, so that readers like Waters and Gooch wouldn’t have their fun spoiled when they came to the paper’s site for other news. But after I talked more with Jolly and read some comments from other readers on the Web site, I changed my mind.
ASNE Awards Out
Not Exactly a Shock
Nielsen reports survey showing 85% of Web users want it to remain free. Some people claiming this dooms pay. Huh? Why wouldn't 100% of users want it to free? Question is not desire but how many will pay up if no good options.
No Stopping Toyota
James Lentz, COO of Toyota Motor Sales USA, wrote an Op-Ed for USA Today Wednesday that seeks to tell readers the company is committed to safety as it steers through this difficult period. This comes a week after a similar piece ran in The Washington Post Feb. 9.
"All of us at Toyota - including our 172,000 North American employees and dealership personnel - are firmly focused on maintaining the safety and reliability of the vehicles our customers drive and ensuring we emerge a stronger company," the piece notes. -- Joe Strupp
Wednesday Linkage
Publisher of Manteca Bulletin in California fired after unspecified complaints by employees.Did NYT and others falsely report that James O'Keefe was dressed in his pimp costume inside ACORN offices?
Vatican newspaper reveals some material from World War II archives to be put online amid controversy over Pope's actions re: The Holocaust.
Dangers of journo transparency: That TV newsman in UK who confessed on camera to mercy killing has now been arrested.
Traffic at full Editor & Publisher site remains less than half what it was before death and rebirth, and stalled.
Major AP probe on rising tide of homelessness in suburbs across U.S. "truly reaching a stage of being alarming."
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
'NYT' Plagiarist Resigns
Pulitzers Coming, Ready or Not
Again this year, submissions from Web-only news outlets will be eligible in all 14 journalism categories.
The first Pulitzer Board member from a predominantly Web-oriented newsroom, Jim VandeHei of Politico, will serve on the Pulitzer Board, which determines the final winners. -- Joe Strupp
Newspaper: French Exposed Soldiers to Radiation
AP reporting on this guinea pig shocker from French paper on 1961 bomb test. Excerpt:France's military purposely exposed soldiers to a 1961 nuclear test in the Sahara Desert to study how the atomic bomb would affect their bodies and minds, a French news report said Tuesday, citing a classified defense document.Reacting to the report in Le Parisien newspaper, the government pledged full transparency. Defense Minister Herve Morin denied that soldiers in the April 25, 1961 operation were used as human guinea pigs, but said ''it is obvious that today nobody would carry out tests in such conditions.''
In total, France conducted 210 nuclear tests, both in the atmosphere and underground, in the Sahara Desert and the South Pacific from 1960-1996. After decades of pressure from victims, the government finally agreed last year to compensate them.
Le Parisien newspaper said it had obtained a 260-page confidential document summarizing France's nuclear tests in the Sahara, including the April 25, 1961 aboveground test, which was code-named ''Gerboise verte'' or green gerboa.
'NYT' Suspends Reporter
How harshly should a newspaper deal with a reporter who makes a string of serious but possibly honest mistakes? Editors at The New York Times (NYT) will answer that question today when they determine the fate of Zachery Kouwe, a business reporter who copied passages from competing news outlets in numerous articles.
Kouwe, who covers mergers and acquisitions, has been suspended pending the verdict from his bosses, expected to be delivered at a meeting on Tuesday afternoon. The first public disclosure of his transgressions came Sunday in the form of an editor's note stating that Kouwe had "improperly appropriated wording and passages" and "reused language from The Wall Street Journal, Reuters and other sources without attribution or acknowledgment." The editor's note did not use the word "plagiarism," suggesting that Kouwe's superiors were taking a nuanced view of his transgressions.
Rohde, Once Captured, Captures Polk
Other winners include Bloomberg News, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Stars and Stripes. -- Joe Strupp
Tuesday Linkage
The world's oldest paper boy vows to keep going until 100. Wash Post reports Obamas spent Valentine's Day in Chicago. One problem: story was a year old.
White House now using Twitter to monitor reporters tweets, new stories, and correct ones they find fault with.
One of the winners of Polk Award announced today: the anonymous videographer of the death of Iranian martyr Neda, shot in the street.
Great Esquire profile of Roger Ebert.
World's best-designed newspapers awards announced by SND.
RealClimate probes recent poor coverage of climate change.
NYT knew about capture of top Taliban guy last Thursday, only published today when news spread locally over there.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Monday Links Updated
Wash Post reports Obamas spent Valentine's Day in Chicago. One problem: story was a year old.Beat the Press business columnist Dean Baker that AP ran editorial disguised as news piece on deficit.
Dave Eggers discusses his Panorama newspaper and more.
AP involved in 40 records request lawsuits last year -- and news orgs in general have gotten more aggresive under "transparent" Obama admin.
NAA: Newspaper inserts under siege.
White House revamps communications strategy (and Robert Gibbs has gone on Twitter).
NYT editorial hits Obama admin on not going after Bush/Cheney lawbreaking.
For the week of Feb. 8-14, this blog once again easily topped the E&P blog in page views by better than 2-1, latest numbers show. Thanks again for your support, even though we are doing this very part-time.
Spy vs. Spy Updated
Reporter Flies with Dove
New York Daily News reporter is featured in new ad for Dove soap. Perhaps a Senate camnpaign is in his future. He writes about it here.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Holy Kouwe: A Serious Correction
In a number of business articles in The Times over the past year, and in posts on the DealBook blog on NYTimes.com, a Times reporter appears to have improperly appropriated wording and passages published by other news organizations.
The reporter, Zachery Kouwe, reused language from The Wall Street Journal, Reuters and other sources without attribution or acknowledgment.
The Times was alerted to the problem by editors at The Wall Street Journal. They pointed out extensive similarities between a Journal article, first published on The Journal’s Web site around 12:30 p.m. on Feb. 5, and a DealBook post published two hours later, as well as a related article published in The Times on Feb. 6.
Those articles described an agreement on an asset freeze for members of Bernard L. Madoff’s family, in a lawsuit filed by a court-appointed trustee. In the Times article and the DealBook post, several passages are repeated almost exactly from the Journal article.
A subsequent search by The Times found other cases of extensive overlap between passages in Mr. Kouwe’s articles and other news organizations’. (The search did not turn up any indications that the articles were inaccurate.)
Copying language directly from other news organizations without providing attribution — even if the facts are independently verified — is a serious violation of Times policy and basic journalistic standards. It should not have occurred. The matter remains under investigation by The Times, which will take appropriate action consistent with our standards to protect the integrity of our journalism.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
'NYT' Public Editor Backs Paper on Patterson
I think The Times and Paterson were caught in a terrible spot, but I think the paper is right to maintain its silence until ready to speak with an article on its own pages. It could have denied the Paterson rumors. But what if the next time it really was looking into a scandal involving a public figure? Silence then would speak volumes. The demands for comment on work in progress could be limitless.
Keller is right when he says, “The only honorable thing I know to do in such a situation is to finish our reporting as expeditiously as possible and tell readers what we’ve learned.”
Friday, February 12, 2010
The Limits of Transparency
Lobdell and Minkow formed the new website to bring more attention to those kinds of investigations and to lend the credibility the journalist built working for years in the mainstream.
But the newfangled business model flies in the face of traditional journalism's conflict-of-interest codes. At most major news outlets, including this one, reporters can't own stock in industries they cover. Rules often forbid speculation and short-selling stocks under the theory that those practices would give journalists incentive to accentuate a company's negatives.
But Lobdell said that readers will know, from the get-go, if his outlet has a business interest in a stock crashing. And they will be able to judge his work with Minkow accordingly.
My former colleague argues that investigative journalism has withered so badly as mainstream news outlets contract that it's worth trying unorthodox business models.
Shooting Star Dimmed
When the horrific Virginia Tech shooting occurred in 2007, leaving 33 dead including the gunman, it was The Collegiate Times, the campus newspaper, that went above and beyond the call with coverage, inside stories, and details of the horrible rampage. Now the student government wants to cut funding to the newspaper and other media outlets, according to The Roanoke Times. It notes that the paper is accused of violating policy by allowing anonymous comments.
I suggested three years ago that the paper be considered for a Pulitzer Prize for its work,which was honored when its editor was invited to the White House Correspondents Dinner that year. This cutback in funding would be the ultimate irony and the ultimate shame. -- Joe Strupp
Friday Links
A major Wash Post exit: Bart Gellman leaves for TIME.Now they tell us: computer and e-reader screens do not cause eyestrain, actually.
Walter Shapiro at Politics Daily hits NYT on Patterson coverage--and more.
The usual good weekly wrapup from NiemanLab including the buzz about Buzz.
Jeff Light formerly of OC Register named editor of San Diego Union-Tribune.
We've been busy with other things this week but still this blog has easily topped the E&P blog in traffic every day for the past month.
The idea was mocked at the time but analyst Alan Mutter claims the the L.A. Times' new early print deadlines are working out well.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
NYT/CBS Poll: Obama Still Tops GOP
Result of new survey finds Obama not doing great but public finds Bush, the GOP, and Wall Street more responsible for flagging economy. Some other good signs for him, relatively speaking. Excerpt from NYT recap:While the president is showing signs of vulnerability on his handling of the economy — a majority of respondents say he has yet to offer a clear plan for creating jobs — Americans blame former President George W. Bush, Wall Street and Congress much more than they do Mr. Obama for the nation’s economic problems and the budget deficit, the poll found.
They credit Mr. Obama more than Republicans with making an effort at bipartisanship, and they back the White House’s policies on a variety of disputed issues, including allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military and repealing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.
The poll suggests that both parties face a toxic environment as they prepare for the elections in November. Public disapproval of Congress is at a historic high, and huge numbers of Americans think Congress is beholden to special interests. Fewer than 1 in 10 Americans say members of Congress deserve re-election.
Berkeley Rebels Again
Thursday Linkage
Newspaper's front-page error leaves Palin fans literally out in the cold!Despite new profits, Gannett says wage freeze stays and announces new furloughs.
Kansas reporter fails to show in court, faces contempt charge.
Where is evidence for that wacky NYT story we highlighted a few days ago on Filipinos getting murdered for singing "My Way" in karaoke, asks Eric Alterman.
MediaNews says it will put more content behind pay wall--and yet still grow traffic.
It's Snowing, So No Global Warming, Right?
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'Wash Post' Down With Obama, Dylan, Smokey
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
New 9/11 Photos Surface
ABC fought to get them and AP is distributing them. They come from policehelicopter circling the burning towers and despite the thousands we've seen still feel unique.
Robin the Rich?
NYT Co. Reports Revenue Decline--But Could Be Worse
The Times released numbers on 4Q and all of 2009. The 4Q decline was bad but not as bad as earlier. Online ads up 11%. Release:Total revenues were down 11.5 percent in the quarter, a significant improvement from the third quarter decline of 16.9 percent.
“We were pleased to see advertisers increase their rate of spending across our newspapers, Web sites and other platforms as advertising trends improved during the fourth quarter,” said Janet Robinson, president and CEO. “Our results also reflect our ability to restructure our cost base, introduce new products and innovations, leverage our brand strength and extend our reach to new audiences.
U.S. Finally Releases Reuters Photog--With No Charges
Full story of another horrific incident here. Reuters story opens:BAGHDAD - The U.S. military freed a Reuters photographer in Iraq on Wednesday, almost a year and a half after snatching him from his home in the middle of the night and holding him without charge.
The U.S. military never has said exactly why its forces detained Ibrahim Jassam Mohammed -- who worked for Reuters as a freelance TV cameraman and photographer -- and locked him away for so long, saying the evidence against him was classified.
"How can I describe my feelings? This is like being born again," Jassam told Reuters by telephone as he was greeted emotionally by his family.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Governor Seeks Inquiry of 'NYT'
Schwartz says the newspaper could have issued a public statement to end the unsubstantiated rumors that Paterson partied with women and drugs as governor.
Times spokeswoman Diane McNulty says the newspaper isn't responsible for what other news outlets and blogs reported. Hoyt did not immediately respond to Schwartz's request for an inquiry.
Say, Hey -- Read All About It
Giving Her a Hand
At briefing today WH Press Secretary Robert Gibbs mocked Sarah Palin by writing shopping list on hand: "eggs, milk, bread, hope and change." His boss also met with reporters today in brief press conference, first in months.
"Let My Colleagues Go"
You have also been called the “No. 1 enemy of journalists in the world” because your government has arrested dozens of them since the presidential elections in June 2009. More than 60 are still in your prisons.
I was unfortunate enough to know firsthand how your agents treat journalists. I was kept in your jail for 118 days simply for being a reporter. For much of that time I was tortured.
But I do not hold any grudges. I am writing out of concern for my colleagues and the future of our country.
“Our future society will be a free society and all the elements of oppression, cruelty, and force will be destroyed.” It is not I who am saying this. It was your predecessor, Ayatollah Khomeini, who said those words to a reporter from Der Spiegel on Nov. 7, 1978.
Saints Coverage Ain't Done
Today's the big parade in NOLA guaranteeing more editions and sales of local papers. Here's Gov. Bobby Jindal with yesterday's Times-Picayune.
Tuesday Linkage
AP looks at newspaper sites editing or deleting blog items without telling readers. Daily Beast writer suspended for allegedly plagiarizing from newspaper stories and other pieces.
NY Gov. Paterson lashes back at all those rumors in the press. Or as Dylan sang, "Whoever it is better cut it our quick, but when they will I can only guess."
Michael Kinsley joins debate over Wash Post op-ed accusing liberals of "condescension."
Former top editor Tim McGuire: Twitter isn't killing journalism, some journalists are.
Monday numbers: E&P in Exile traffic tops E&P's blog by 5-1.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Bill O vs. Politico on Tea Time
Why We Email Articles
Turns out researchers at Univ of Penn have actually studied this, using the list of most email at the NYT site as a starting point. Did most of them have to do with sex, or marriage or pets or food as many might think? Well, they found people to be a little more "exaclted" than that. Excerpt:People preferred e-mailing articles with positive rather than negative themes, and they liked to send long articles on intellectually challenging topics.Perhaps most of all, readers wanted to share articles that inspired awe, an emotion that the researchers investigated after noticing how many science articles made the list. In general, they found, 20 percent of articles that appeared on the Times home page made the list, but the rate rose to 30 percent for science articles, including ones with headlines like “The Promise and Power of RNA.” (I swear, the science staff did nothing to instigate this study, but we definitely don’t mind publicizing the results.)
“Science kept doing better than we expected,” said Dr. Berger, a social psychologist and a professor of marketing at Penn’s Wharton School. “We anticipated that people would share articles with practical information about health or gadgets, and they did, but they also sent articles about paleontology and cosmology. You’d see articles shooting up the list that were about the optics of deer vision.”
Smith Back, Politics Gone
Fascinating case. The well-known sports writer and commentator Stephen A. Smith halted his columns for Philly Inquirer a couple of years ago after paper demanded that he drop his political opining from his web site and other venues. He returned today after agreeing to that --but an arbitrator is studying whether this fits ethics of guild contract. Excerpt from Richard Prince:Smith's agreement to the Inquirer's ethics policy — which he contends has not been applied to other news employees — applies "until the dispute is resolved by an arbitrator," Bill Ross, executive director of the Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers Association of America Local 38010, told Journal-isms.While the capitulation, however temporary, silences Smith's views on politics, it also removes the Inquirer's rationale for not running his column.
"I'm glad the employer has done the right thing and published SAS column," Ross said via e-mail. Smith "continues to scan the sports landscape, and will continue to produce top notch columns for the Philadelphia Inquirer, that no doubt will attract readers back, who have stopped reading due to SAS long absence."
A Harry Future
From Leaking Pentagon Papers to Going to the Oscars
Rarity: Well-known Columnist Reveals Prez Picks
Dana Milbank of the Wash Post wrote a column about John McCain, then followed up with an online chat today in which he took the rare step of revealing his recent presidential preferences. Excerpt:My policy in each presidential race is to vote for the best candidate who is not on the ballot. I think this is superior to the Len Downie approach of not voting at all; I don't have to commit to one candidate or the other in the race, but I can still go through the exercise of who would be a good president. So I voted for McCain in 2000, when Bush and Gore were on the ballot. I voted for Chuck Hagel in 2004, when Bush and Kerry were on the ballot. And I voted for Mike Bloomberg in 2008.Followup:
I should also add that I live in DC so it doesn't make the slightest difference how I vote.
TM, Zeeland: During your nearly decade-long illicit affair with John McCain, did the two of you ever discuss moving in together and adopting Joe Lieberman?
Dana Milbank: I would have done it but Lindsey Graham was jealous.
What, Dat? Monday Links
Two days ago we reported on the controversy over NYT's chief of Jerusalem bureau Ethan Bronner having a son in Israel's military and the paper's public editor calling for his reassignment. Here's a view from Israel press.Howie Kurtz on the White House press corps feeling "bypassed" by an Obama who uses other avenues, such as YouTube.
Global Post's founder on key decision to not count on ads.
Last week's traffic numbers in: E&P in Exile again swamps E&P's blog by more than 3-1.
NYT Co. expected to report its ad revenue decline easing.
AP reviews new bio of pioneer owner/publisher Joseph Pulitzer: He supposeldy craved power, not money.
The Morning After
We'll be posting more NOLA/Saints links but for now you might follow the Twitter feed of Times-Pic columnist, Jeff Duncan. One thing he reports: Paper printing a whopping 193,000 extra issues today (could go higher). And here's their collection of how other newspaper front pages are covering the Who Dat win/party.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
'Times-Picayune' Marches Saints In
Just go to their site for everything Saints. Such as this Bourbon Street live cam! And my own musical tribute. -- Greg Mitchell
AP Exposes Palin "Cheat Sheet"
Blogs and tweets lit up with commentary and evidence of Sarah Palin at the tea party confab late Saturday checking out her left hand for notes during interview session after he speech-- and after rapping Obama for using a teleprompter. Now a closeup of her hand has emerged with words like "energy" and "tax" and "lift spirits" on it. It comes from an AP photo taken during her speech and before the interview.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
'NYT' Controversy Breaks
Clark Hoyt, the Times' public editor, in his Sunday column calls on the paper to re-assign its Jerusalem bureau chief, Ethan Bronner, after word emerged that his son is serving in the Israeli military.NYT executive editor has already responded, uh, no. His statement here, with link to Hoyt.
Hoyt:
Keller:Alex Jones, director of Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy and a former Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The Times, took a different view. “The appearance of a conflict of interest is often as important or more important than a real conflict of interest,” he said. “I would reassign him.” Jones said such a step would be an injustice to Bronner, “but the newspaper has to come first.”
There are so many considerations swirling around this case: Bronner is a superb reporter. Nobody at The Times wants to give in to what they see as relentlessly unfair criticism of the paper’s Middle East coverage by people hostile to objective reporting. It doesn’t seem fair to hold a father accountable for the decision of an adult son.
But, stepping back, this is what I see: The Times sent a reporter overseas to provide disinterested coverage of one of the world’s most intense and potentially explosive conflicts, and now his son has taken up arms for one side. Even the most sympathetic reader could reasonably wonder how that would affect the father, especially if shooting broke out.
I have enormous respect for Bronner and his work, and he has done nothing wrong. But this is not about punishment; it is simply a difficult reality. I would find a plum assignment for him somewhere else, at least for the duration of his son’s service in the I.D.F.
You and everyone you interviewed for your column concurs that Ethan Bronner is fully capable of continuing to cover his beat fairly. Your concern is that readers will not be capable of seeing it that way. That is probably true for some readers. The question is whether those readers should be allowed to deny the rest of our audience the highest quality of reporting.
Readers, like reporters, bring their own lives to the newspaper. Sometimes, when these readers are unshakeably convinced of something, they bring blinding prejudice and a tendency to see what they want to see....My point is not that Ethan’s family connections to Israel are irrelevant. They are significant, and both he and his editors should be alert for the possibility that they would compromise his work.
Saturday Linkage
Asst. police chief in Connecticut resigns after threatening reporter. Story too bizarre to summarize, read it here.Former editor of Santa Barbara daily, in long dispute after getting fired, awarded $900,000 in legal fees in rejecting owner's claim.
Another bizarre story, from NYT tonight: wave of murders (rumors) in Philippines over people singing Sinatra's "My Way" at karaoke.
Wash Post asks readers to assign its snow disaster reporters.
NYT's A.O. Scott Are directors of recent war movies such as "Hurt Locker" apolitical, ambivalent--or just afraid to challenge audience?
Friday, February 5, 2010
Retraction Leads to Reporter Exit
Her article said that President Obama’s budget amounted to a backdoor tax increase for middle-income and even lower-income people, based largely on the scheduled expiration of income tax cuts passed in 2001. But the president had actually proposed keeping those cuts in place for all but high-income families..
After a complaint from the White House, Reuters withdrew the article, stating that it was inaccurate. But by then, some prominent conservatives had seized on the article, and a few - notably Rush Limbaugh - insisted that the retraction meant simply that the media were protecting the president