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Monthly Archive

February 2012

Audit Notes: Paywalls Paying Off, Digital Privacy, Murdoch

As Warren Buffett knows, when you give away your product online, it undermines the one you charge good money for... More

Exit James Murdoch

Cracks in the News Corp. castle walls?

James Murdoch’s evacuation from the mess of News International’s UK newspaper business has been in the cards for a long... More

Exit Interview

Whither the wizard of HuffPo?

Paul Berry became the chief technology officer of the Huffington Post in 2007. He developed technical strategies that exploited... More

Bloomberg’s Abelson on How Wall Street Is Coping

Bloomberg's Max Abelson has the story of the day, another entry in his list of stories on out-of-touch Wall Streeters.... More

Revisiting Henry Luce’s “American Century”

Andrew Bacevich and others examine the influential essay

The Short American Century: A Postmortem | Edited by Andrew J. Bacevich | Harvard University Press | 296 pages, $25.95... More

More Dot-Connection Needed on ER Story

What we’re learning about hospitals, part two

Kaiser Health News has become very good at reporting on the marketing secrets of the nation’s hospitals. I was intrigued... More

What’s in My…

David Carr’s powerful backpack

David Carr, veteran newspaperman and indie-film star (Page One), can’t quite remember the year he started his career at... More

Former Huffington Post CTO Paul Berry: A CJR Podcast

Paul Berry was the CTO of Huffington Post from April 2007 through December 2011. He is currently the founder and... More

Lost & Found

The AP Stylebook turns 99!?!

The Associated Press has long acknowledged what one historian called the “maddeningly imprecise” information about its origins. In 2005,... More

Countering Misinformation: Tips for Journalists

Avoid negations, use graphics, and get the story right the first time!

This article was written by Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler. It is adapted from Misinformation and Fact-checking: Research Findings from... More

Lost & Found

The AP Stylebook turns 99!?!

The Associated Press has always maintained that its first Stylebook - the essential reference bible for professional journalists -... More

Only Connect

Connie Schultz learned that reaching readers means showing them who she is

Connie Schultz came late to her first newspaper job. After years of freelancing, she went to work for The... More

Audit Notes: $25,000 an Hour, Foreclosures, Corporate Taxes

The New York Times has done a lot of tough reporting over the years on outlandish executive compensation. It's time... More

Warren Buffett and Paywalls

The newspaper paywall now has a champion in some guy in Nebraska named Warren Buffett. Buffett, who just forked over... More

Who Opposed the Auto Bailouts?

Romney was hardly alone, despite what you read

MICHIGAN — Leading into today’s primary, Michigan journalists have focused on the bailouts for General Motors and Chrysler more than... More

How to Chill the Independent Journalist

Facing arrest without institutional backup

After her arrest last November, Alisen Redmond quit covering Occupy Atlanta. She felt that she had to. At the time,... More

Stories I’d Like to See

Super PAC cash, immigration rules, and Businessweek’s revival

In his weekly “Stories I’d Like to See” column, journalist and entrepreneur Steven Brill spotlights topics that, in his opinion,... More

A Medicare Memo to Campaign Reporters

Tailing Mitt on Medicare and Social Security, too

Dear Colleagues: I have just returned from a reporting trip to Southeast Arkansas, where the folks I visited have very... More

Why Journalists Need to Link

Jonathan Stray has a great essay up at Nieman Lab entitled “Why link out? Four journalistic purposes of the noble... More

Media Rare

Revisiting singular versus plural

Last week, a post at the Poynter Institute took a strong stand: “It’s time for copy editors to loosen the... More

In Michigan, Coverage of Romney’s Speech Goes Beyond That Empty Stadium

But focus on local storylines obscures some important national angles

MICHIGAN — On Twitter and the Web Friday afternoon, it was clear what about Mitt Romney’s address to the Detroit... More

Audit Notes: Daisey vs. Pogue, American Banker, LAT Paywall

Mike Daisey, of The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, and the recent This American Life exposé of Apple's outsourced... More

A New App for Citizen Journalists

Rawporter joins an increasingly crowded field

Rob Gaige and Kevin Davis were having a drink at Dandelion Market in Charlotte, North Carolina, when a car crashed... More

As Primary Nears, It’s Time to Dig Deep in Ohio

Blade’s strong story on housing crisis offers a good model

OHIO — As Republican frontrunners Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum parachute into the Buckeye State and clog the airwaves with... More

Syria: Too Much Information?

How journalists wade through a social-media flood

For foreign journalists, the Arab Spring uprisings and their aftermaths have ranged from exhilaratingly accessible (Egypt), to mortally dangerous (Libya),... More

The Keystone Kops of Koverups

A Telegraph scoop raises the heat yet again on News Corp. and the Murdochs

The Telegraph has a big scoop on the hacking scandal, reporting new details of how News Corporation deleted emails and... More

Audit Notes: Lobbying Both Ways, SEC Scrutiny, Steve Jobs,

The banks have been carping about the complexity of the Volcker Rule, which aims to prevent them from making risky... More

Matter’s Vision for Long-form Journalism

Yesterday morning, a very exciting new journalism project was launched on Kickstarter. It’s called Matter, and it’s going to be... More

Pat Buchanan and His Enablers

Why did MSNBC hire him in the first place?

Last week, MSNBC fired Pat Buchanan following a four-month suspension. The proximate cause of his dismissal was the publishing of... More

Mitt Romney and Marriott’s Taxes

Mitt Romney's taxes were all over the news last month when it turned out he paid just 13.9 percent of... More

Audit Notes: Tax Break, No Wage Pressure, Clowning Schneiderman

Reuters's David Cay Johnston has a good column today on why tax rates are lower than we generally think: We... More

What Santorum Didn’t Say

On “phony ideology,” some coverage misses a distinction

As he tries to cement his newfound position as a leader in the Republican presidential primary campaign, Rick Santorum has... More

The IRS and the Chicago News Cooperative (UPDATED)

I wrote back in November that the tax man was making it harder for the nonprofit-news movement to flourish or... More

What We’re Learning About Hospitals, Part One

A laurel to National Journal

Beware the Affordable Care Act! That was the message of a fine National Journal piece that thoroughly investigated the current... More

Audit Notes: Fed Transparency, Carp Invasion, Chinese Imports

The Wall Street Journal is good to bird-dog the Federal Reserve on transparency, and it gets results even before publishing... More

The “Can’t Find Workers” Meme

The Post’s business-friendly frame

In a time when millions of American workers can't find work, it's only natural to be intrigued by counterintuitive stories... More

Dear John King

Some thoughts on debate questions

A day before the CNN Arizona Republican debate, moderator John King sits down to take your questions live. Send your... More

Cardinal Sins

First or middle name?

In ceremonies filled with pomp, twenty-two men were named cardinals in the Roman Catholic Church, including two from the United... More

Stories I’d Like to See

Scoring healthcare insurers and getting campaign spending right

In his weekly “Stories I’d Like to See” column, journalist and entrepreneur Steven Brill spotlights topics that, in his opinion,... More

Words of Warning on the Payroll Tax

The media ponders the wisdom behind the tax holiday’s extension

Last week, Congress voted to extend the payroll tax holiday through the end of 2012. Social Security supporters have argued... More

Audit Notes: Limited Liability, Apple’s “Tons of Issues,” Foreclosure Scandal

The London Review of Books has a fascinating piece by the Bank of England's Andrew Haldane on excessive financial-industry risk.... More

Why We Love The Political Gabfest

Slate’s jocular, incisive podcast builds and engages an audience

It was a little before five last Wednesday evening when the “tall Mormon” walked into Antarctica, a bar in lower... More

Anthony Shadid: ‘A Gatherer, An Observer, A Listener’

One of his former editors remembers the greatest foreign correspondent of his generation

For many readers and listeners of the news, the work of foreign correspondents is surrounded by legend and yet strangely... More

The WSJ Exposes Google’s Tracking Hack

The Wall Street Journal has a big scoop this morning on how Google and other companies overrode Apple privacy settings... More

Anthony Shadid: What He Knew

The foreign correspondent Anthony Shadid of The New York Times, has died of an apparent asthma attack while covering the... More

Audit Notes: WSJ and FCPA, Apple Access, The Times Paywall

The Wall Street Journal editorial page comes out swinging against the Justice Department's "latest prosecutorial attack on business" via the... More

PaulBerry

URL for exit interview

URL More

Blodget Asks a Taboo Question on Wages and Profits

I like this Henry Blodget thought experiment on how much more major companies could afford to compensate their ill-paid employees.... More

Survey Question: Do You Trust This Poll?

Local news sites informally collect community opinions

Every week, Phoenix-area hyperlocal news site InMaricopa asks its readers to participate in a brand-new poll; each usually gets at... More

The Case of the Missing Premium

Transparency for health insurance?

The Department of Health and Human Services recently announced that health insurers and employers must provide more information to consumers... More

Q&A: Eric Roston, Bloomberg’s sustainability editor

A new section tracks businesses’ response to the global “resource crunch”

At the end of November, Bloomberg News launched a Sustainability section “to uncover what businesses are doing, or what... More

The Elusive Hunt for the ‘Real Romney’

How the search for a politician’s true identity leads to pathological media coverage

Though he launched his first run for president more than five years ago, Mitt Romney is still widely seen as... More

Audit Notes: TP Bubble, No More “Fat Cats,” Big Long Now

The Wall Street Journal takes a look at one growing American industry the Internet and the Chinese can't wipe out:... More

At WFLA, Good Questions for Obama…

…but Tampa’s viewers deserved a more balanced report

FLORIDA — As I listened to the question being asked I started to groan a bit: “Yesterday you released your... More

For The Sun, Karma Is No Fun

Rupert Murdoch's Sun is in big trouble. Reuters reports today that Scotland Yard is investigating "serious suspected criminality over a... More

Cartooning for a Sustainable Future

Will editorial cartoonists find their (paid) place on the web?

Dan Perkins, better known as Tom Tomorrow, has been creating the popular This Modern World comic strip for over two... More

The Right-Wing Media’s Discipline Machine

Talk radio and Fox News bully the GOP candidates into line—and, in the process, offer a narrow vision of conservatism

When Mitt Romney was asked at a New Hampshire town hall in June 2011 about climate change, he probably did... More

Story on Tiny Country A Giant Failure

60 Minutes whiffs on recent story about Qatar

A recent 60 Minutes segment on the nation of Qatar was the most imprecise piece of journalism I can remember... More

KLAS-TV’s Eight Minutes With the President (and His Message)

On the housing crisis and souvenir M&Ms

NEVADA — All day long Tuesday, Las Vegas’s CBS affiliate, KLAS-TV, touted its exclusive, one-on-one interview with President Obama. In... More

Audit Notes: Government Spending, News Corp., The Machines Rise

The New Yorker's George Packer deftly riffs off both Charles Murray's new book on turmoil in the white lower and... More

Cops in the Newsroom

The News Corp. fiasco imperils press protections in the UK

I noted this yesterday about News Corporation's Management Standards Committee, set up over the summer to handle the company’s internal... More

Q&A: Robert Higgs, editor of PolitiFact Ohio

On the site’s mission and impact, and on “truth vigilantes”

OHIO — “Just the facts, ma’am.” At the risk of exposing my, er, maturity, I thought that phrase, famously attributed... More

A National Paywall That Works

Lessons from Slovakia

While nobody was looking, a small company in Slovakia may have shed some light on one of the biggest challenges... More

Stories I’d Like to See

Romney’s ads, the Komen firestorm, and a Foxconn book

In his weekly “Stories I’d Like to See” column, journalist and entrepreneur Steven Brill spotlights topics that, in his opinion,... More

Don Berwick, Press Critic

Observations from Medicare’s former top guy

Don Berwick, something of a folk hero to journos covering health care, had a heart-to-heart with the Association of Health... More

Audit Notes: Murdoch’s Hacking Scandal, Chipotle Not Apple

Murdoch's hacking scandal deepened this weekend with the arrests of several senior journalists at another News Corporation paper—The Sun— in... More

Silent Knight

What a difference a letter makes

For The Electric Company, Tom Lehrer wrote a song to which all writers should listen: Who can turn a can... More

Q&A: Michael Morisy, Co-Founder of MuckRock

On helping journalists with their public records requests

MuckRock is an online startup that helps journalists streamline, track, and fulfill their public records requests. Since May 2010, when... More

Kudos to The New York Times

At last, a good man-on-the-street story

Reporters Binyamin Appelbaum and Robert Gebeloff deserve praise for their piece in Sunday’s Times showing how some of the good... More

Quality vs. Quantity Online

At about the same time that Michael Kinsley’s hilarious response to a blog post of mine hit the web,... More

“Economy Class Syndrome” Debunked

Personal blood-clot narrative makes for bad science writing in Washington Post

Telling a first-person story about a health problem is a popular frame in medical writing, and it can be effective... More

Pogue Misses on Cheap Gadgets and Foreign Labor

The cost difference between China and the U.S. is less than he imagines

David Pogue of The New York Times looks at the "Dilemma of Cheap Electronics" raised by the paper's recent, outstanding... More

Mitt Romney’s Soul: The Search is On

But not much luck so far

Mitt Romney is: A phony An Eagle Scout The Dad who’s never home The man you want to marry but... More

Audit Notes: Energy Economy, Insider Trading, Mortgage Settlement

Here's a good Wall Street Journal page-one story on how the energy boom is driving economic activity across the U.S.... More

BusinessWeek Goes Inside a Critical Hacking Scandal Meeting

Murdoch, at a fork in the road, chose the coverup

Bloomberg BusinessWeek has a fantastic story reporting on a critical meeting Rupert Murdoch held last May to plot how to... More

Audit Notes: Off the Hamster Wheel, The Dumb Money, iPad Newspapers

I like this Nieman Journalism Lab piece on how Salon hopped off the hamster wheel and saw site traffic increase... More

Remembering the Golden Age of Book Publishing

A review of Richard Seaver’s The Tender Hour of Twilight

The Tender Hour of Twilight | By Richard Seaver | Farrar, Straus, and Giroux | 480 pages, $35.00 An engaging... More

Some Mistakes at MoneyWatch

A little more homework needed on Social Security, please

A recent CBS MoneyWatch piece titled “Social Insecurity” was one of those breezy, glib stories that seemed to telegraph important... More

Park Slope Pundits Get the Story Wrong

Why lifestyle pieces need context

I grew up in Park Slope, Brooklyn, so a headline on The New Yorker's homepage Monday, declaring "Park Slope is... More

What Drives Public Opinion About Climate Change?

Politicians, economy more influential than media coverage, study says

The media influence public opinion about climate change, but not as much as national politicians and the state of the... More

Stories I’d Like to See

A trove of stories from the Facebook IPO

In his weekly “Stories I’d Like to See” column, journalist and entrepreneur Steven Brill spotlights topics that, in his opinion,... More

Mostly Skimpy Coverage of JPMorgan’s Overdraft Settlement

Press favorite Jamie Dimon's JPMorgan Chase is paying $110 million to settle a class-action suit against it for gouging its... More

Audit Notes: Payment Protection, Greek Austerity, Inflation Bugaboo

American Banker's Victoria Finkle and Jeff Horwitz report on the credit card industry's payment-protection racket and note that the Consumer... More

It’s Caucus Day in Colorado: Where’s the Content?

Campaign presented as theater in the Denver Post

COLORADO — It’s caucus day here in Colorado, and recent campaign coverage from the state’s largest paper has been disappointingly... More

Drawing the News Ain’t Easy

Editorial cartoonists struggle for funds, but not eyeballs

When The New York Times sent an e-mail to editorial cartoonists on Monday announcing that “The Sunday Review section is... More

Harlan Ellison says: ‘Pay the damn writer!’

Next time someone asks you to write or broadcast something for free, send them this. More

Nevada GOP Shows How Not to Conduct a Caucus

Confusion, “clueless media policies,” day-late results

NEVADA — Political reporters here—after clearing some hurdles placed in their paths—have seized on two essential elements following Mitt Romney’s... More

Pew on Gingrich’s Receding Storyline

Last week, I wrote about the trend in political reporters confessing their bias for an exciting, close primary race; a... More

NYT: Criminal Charges in the Foreclosure Scandal

Gretchen Morgenson of The New York Times reports this morning on new criminal charges against robosigning company DocX and its... More

Audit Notes: Regressive Taxes, Another Task Force, Keller on Copyright

Kevin Drum looks at how regressive taxes are at the state and local level, an issue that doesn't get nearly... More

Bad Math From the WSJ Opinion Pages

Brad DeLong catches The Wall Street Journal editorial page in some hilariously bad math. Here's Stephen Moore: Federal workers on... More

Addressee Unknown

Another comma goes AWOL

The Super Bowl is over, thank heavens, so all those incorrectly punctuated signs rooting for one team or another can... More

USA Today Touts the Government’s Good News on Medicare

But was it the full story?

A few days ago USA Today trumpeted some health policy news: enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans is up and premiums... More

Elizabeth Spiers and the Reinvented New York Observer

There are three main reasons that I like entering into bets with people. The first is, simply, that it’s fun.... More

What Do Ohioans Want from Their Media?

Follow the money. Check the facts. And grow a pair.

OHIO — As the GOP presidential primary extravaganza continues to roll along, disenchantment has infected some observers—a.k.a., the voters. With... More

The Accidental Correspondent

When war came to his home, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad found his calling

Few Western correspondents have a background as unique as Ghaith Abdul-Ahad’s. A native of Iraq at the time of... More

Audit Notes: Minimum Wage and the Recession, Facebook’s Numbers, Most Powerless

The Wall Street Journal runs an editorial today criticizing Mitt Romney for his support for increasing the minimum wage and... More

NYT With More on the SEC’s Soft Touch With Big Banks

The New York Times has an excellent investigation today that shows in a new light how the SEC lets Wall... More

Ralston Grills the GOP Gang

In advance of Nevada caucus, tough questions for the candidates

NEVADA — It’s always refreshing to see a journalist who’s not afraid to ask the tough questions—especially the tough follow-up... More

NYT Paywall Datapoints of the Day

Ken Doctor has a very smart and interesting take on the news that the NYT now has 390,000 paying digital... More

The American Newsroom

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Audit Notes: CDO Charges, Facebook’s Board, Deficits

Sure enough, the Justice Department charged former Credit Suisse CDO executive Kareem Serageldin with fraud for allegedly artificially inflating CDO... More

The WSJ’s Sony Story Is a Page-One Dud

News that Sony's board has picked a new CEO gets page-one play in The Wall Street Journal, apparently because Kazuo... More

The Literary Roots of the Gay Revolution

Reviewing Christopher Bram’s Eminent Outlaws: The Gay Writers Who Changed America

Eminent Outlaws: The Gay Writers Who Changed America | By Christopher Bram | Twelve Books | 371 pages, $27.99 In... More

Dana Milbank Was Right

Earlier today, I posted this story about the number of political journalists who have recently admitted to having a... More

What Mitt Really Believes About Entitlements

Protecting Social Security and Medicare

It’s hard to say if Mitt Romney’s declaration the other night in Florida that Republicans “will never go after Medicare... More

Rooting for the Race

Journalists are suddenly eager to admit the media is biased in favor of an extended campaign. Will they do anything about it?

In a column earlier this week, The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank penned a public love letter—to Newt Gingrich. Taking on... More

Rebecca MacKinnon discusses new book Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom

Rebecca MacKinnon, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, visited Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism on Wednesday to... More

Florida Roots

A native son discusses environmental journalism

On any day, there are six novels hiding in the pages of The Miami Herald, says Carl Hiaasen, the... More

The Old-School Value of Facebook

The New York Times's curtain-raiser on the Facebook IPO this morning asks, "Personal Data’s Value? Facebook Is Set to Find... More

Three Thoughts on Mitt Romney’s ‘Very Poor’ Day

What makes for a gaffe, what Medicaid really does, and what lame questions!

Herewith, a trio of thoughts on the political-media story that won the day on February 1: Mitt Romney’s statement on... More

Super PAC Reporting: Recommended Reading

Because you know you need to get up to speed

Maybe you know someone—a friend—who keeps hearing about Super PACs, knows he should know more about what they are, where... More

Stories I’d Like to See

The Dodd-Frank effect, unions and private equity, and Newt’s expenses

In his weekly “Stories I’d Like to See” column, journalist and entrepreneur Steven Brill spotlights topics that, in his opinion,... More

To Sue or Not to Sue?

The first two years of OGIS

Last June in Las Vegas, Corinna Zarek told a ballroom full of investigative journalists at the annual Investigative Reporters and... More

Brief Encounters

Reviewing anthologies on food in wartime reporting and the best of Wolcott Gibbs

Eating Mud Crabs in Kandahar: Stories of Food During Wartime by the World’s Leading Correspondents Edited by Matt McAllester |... More

Audit Notes: Finally, Fraud Charges; Gee Whiz Wired; Freddie

The Wall Street Journal reports, and as far as I can tell, scoops that the Justice Department is preparing to... More

Barack Obama: ‘those old times aren’t coming back’

“It used to be there were local newspapers everywhere. If you wanted to be a journalist, you could really make a good living working for your hometown paper”

The Guardian’s editor opens up on Reddit

Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, answered questions in an Ask Me Anything

The (almost) lost speech of Justice Anthony Kennedy

How his insightful remarks about the Constitution inadvertently make the case for a Supreme Court “media pool”

Fox News sues TVEyes for copyright infringement

Says subscription service sells access to its content without permission nor compensation

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Who Owns What

The Business of Digital Journalism

A report from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

Study Guides

Questions and exercises for journalism students.