tag:www.cjr.org,2009://4 2009-07-02T21:46:31Z Movable Type 3.2 tag:www.cjr.org,2009://4.21214 2009-07-02T20:55:13Z 2009-07-02T21:46:31Z

Press focused on who asked questions at Obama town hall

Greg Marx We may, thankfully, be putting Pitneygate behind us. But reading through press coverage of President Obama’s town hall meeting on health care reform yesterday, one could be forgiven for thinking that the episode is still weighing on the minds of the Washington press corps. Nico Pitney, of course, is the national editor of The Huffington Post, who made... tag:www.cjr.org,2009://4.21211 2009-07-02T19:39:44Z 2009-07-02T21:46:31Z

Jeff Jarvis’s Low Lob

Clint Hendler Like Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Connie Schultz, I am sincerely worried about the future, as the revenue streams dry up and along with it, support for in depth, investigative, and accountability journalism by newspapers. I’m also not a fan of the solution she outlined to protect newspaper profits in her June 28 column. It’s unworkable, illogical, and... tag:www.cjr.org,2009://4.21204 2009-07-01T22:57:39Z 2009-07-02T17:56:48Z

Non-profit consortium launches Investigative News Network

Greg Marx With the near-daily drip of bleak news about the journalism world (today’s edition: Gannett reportedly plans to cut at least 1,000 jobs), we could all use some reason for optimism. And, fortunately, some has arrived: A consortium of non-profit news publishers including the Center for Public Integrity, NPR, MinnPost and many others has announced plans to launch an... tag:www.cjr.org,2009://4.21189 2009-06-30T22:58:51Z 2009-07-01T17:08:06Z

Froomkin and Rosen on accountability, impartiality, and the dangers of the journalistic lobotomy

Megan Garber Jay Rosen calls it "the Froomkin kissoff." Others call it, less colorfully, "l'affaire Froomkin." Many call it politically motivated. Some call it "dumb, short-sighted, and self-destructive." Some just call it stupid. However you choose to describe it, the event in question--the unceremonious dismissal of Dan Froomkin, the immensely popular blogger, from... tag:www.cjr.org,2009://4.21165 2009-06-29T16:16:48Z 2009-06-29T19:49:18Z

The tussle that makes us all look "pathetic"

Megan Garber Twitter, as of yesterday afternoon, has a new a new hashtag: #Dickwhisperer. Nope, not a typo: #Dickwhisperer. This being a reference to the exchange—entertaining, granted, but only by virtue of its supremely cringe-inducing awkwardness—that took place between Huffington Post editor Nico Pitney and Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank on yesterday morning's Reliable Sources. The exchange that... tag:www.cjr.org,2009://4.21158 2009-06-26T22:23:50Z 2009-06-29T16:20:49Z

End breaking-news alerts delivered through e-mail? Not so fast

Megan Garber Traditional news got beat yesterday. First, the professional celebrity-stalkers over at TMZ broke the news--a full hour before any other news outlet did--that Michael Jackson had died. Then Wikipedia, in a reprise of the role it played upon Tim Russert's death last year, updated its MJ entry to reflect the news--before major news outlets posted anything... tag:www.cjr.org,2009://4.21153 2009-06-26T16:00:42Z 2009-06-30T04:00:44Z

When the punishment for factual inaccuracy doesn't fit the crime

Craig Silverman Matt McCann wasn’t supposed to spend his summer working for St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick. For the second year in a row, McCann, a journalism student at St. Thomas, had landed a summer internship at the Telegraph-Journal. But that ended abruptly in May when he was fired a day after the paper published a story... tag:www.cjr.org,2009://4.21091 2009-06-23T15:38:24Z 2009-06-24T17:25:42Z

Howard Kurtz, media critic, vs. Roland Hedley, "Doonesbury" character

Richard Wexler Can you tell the real reporter from the fictional character, based only on the messages they send on Twitter? The real person: Name: Howard Kurtz Title on Twitter: Media Guy, Washington Post Followers include: Roland Hedley Twitter ID: HowardKurtz The fictional character: Name: Roland Burton Hedley... tag:www.cjr.org,2009://4.21078 2009-06-19T22:22:28Z 2009-06-23T15:49:08Z

Notes from the 140 Characters Conference: if "journalism is a battle," what's the fighting about?

Joshua Young Robert Scoble, the man with the quickest laugh in the room, any room, strode up on stage, triumphant. He grinned wide, even for a fellow who's already the jolliest about town, Silicon Valley normally, where his personal brand as a far-sighted observer of social technology trends looms large. On stage Tuesday at the 140 Characters Conference,... tag:www.cjr.org,2009://4.21070 2009-06-19T17:36:08Z 2009-06-22T22:29:04Z

When the man you think is Kim Jong Il's son isn't

Craig Silverman South Korean construction worker Bae Seok-bum is used to being teased about his uncanny resemblance to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il. His friends sometimes call him “Comrade Chairman.” He takes it in stride, and at one point uploaded a photo of himself to a Web site in order to show people how much he looks like the Dear Leader.... tag:www.cjr.org,2009://4.21047 2009-06-17T21:23:18Z 2009-06-19T12:12:53Z

Stewart's send-up of CNN: surprisingly unfair

Megan Garber Here's something you might have missed in all the talk about Iran's "Twitter Revolution": it's totally mockable! Indeed. During his segment on "IranDecision2009"—a play on The Daily Show's "Indecision" election series—last night, Jon Stewart briefly described the unrest in Iran (framing the protests as a conflict between supporters of Mahmoud "I'm-a-dick-in-a-jad" and "the guy who looks... tag:www.cjr.org,2009://4.21035 2009-06-16T22:31:42Z 2009-06-18T14:08:18Z

Let's hold off on pronouncements about the latest "Twitter Revolution"

Megan Garber "However things turn out in Iran, this will probably be forever known as the Twitter Revolution," Kevin Drum noted yesterday. "It's too easy to call the weekend's activities the first revolution that was Twittered," Marc Ambinder declared, "but when histories of the Iranian election are written, Twitter will doubtless be cast as a protagonal technology that... tag:www.cjr.org,2009://4.21018 2009-06-15T19:00:52Z 2009-06-16T20:44:18Z

Spanish-language Philly paper gets libelous, Anglo media don’t notice

Daniel Denvir Personal rivalries have spiraled into defamation at a Spanish-language newspaper in Philadelphia. In April, Al Día, the area’s largest-circulation Latino community paper, paid out $210,000 after losing a libel suit to former city solicitor Kenneth Trujillo. It’s a big story with implications for Philly’s media community—but you wouldn’t know it if you relied on the English-language press. Trujillo sued... tag:www.cjr.org,2009://4.21007 2009-06-12T19:50:09Z 2009-06-16T14:49:54Z

Remembering Thomas Paine, America's original muckraker

Matthew Harwood Two hundred years ago this week, the radical journalist and pamphleteer Thomas Paine died an ignominious death. But during his life, Paine was renowned as the philosophical architect of the American Revolution, a true democratic populist who voiced ideas that are still considered dangerous. Common people can govern themselves justly and democractically. Liberty should not be forsaken for security. Both... tag:www.cjr.org,2009://4.21002 2009-06-12T16:24:55Z 2009-06-15T20:18:57Z

Corrections migrate to new media platforms

Craig Silverman In exploring the emerging universe of Twitter, the service’s users have created hashtags and retweets, and have helped popularize URL shorteners. Alongside these innovations, Twitter users have also adopted a practice that is decidedly old media. Yes, I’m talking about the correction. Years ago, when blogs began taking hold in the minds and browsers of the people, bloggers were faced...