tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1 2008-05-13T15:44:09Z Movable Type 3.2 tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15768 2008-05-13T15:32:54Z 2008-05-13T15:44:09Z

Good enough for you? Moyers raises the equity question

Trudy Lieberman Bill Moyers Journal last week featured the California Nurses Association--not the usual Moyers Q and A with a guest, but a reported piece that examined the health care advocacy of a vocal and vociferous group that makes you realize what unions once were and could be. This union has fire in the belly, and the Moyers segment captured it... tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15761 2008-05-12T20:56:31Z 2008-05-13T15:38:31Z

A small example of a much larger press problem

Zachary Roth The Washington Post reports today that Hillary Clinton, still doggedly making her case, told West Virginia voters today: It’s a fact that Democrats don’t get elected unless West Virginia votes for you. Leaving aside the awkward syntax, this is almost true in a technical sense—you have to go back to 1916 to find a Democrat, Woodrow Wilson, who... tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15760 2008-05-12T19:30:00Z 2008-05-13T15:38:31Z

In which Hillary surrogates get got

Todd Gitlin What’s a Sunday morning show to do when it specializes in political prophecy and the expectation is a foregone conclusion? Bring some players on, ask them routine questions, register their spin, try to trip them up when the spin is ridiculous, and move on. By all conventional measures, the news is that Hillary Clinton’s campaign is sinking beneath the weight... tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15762 2008-05-12T18:51:32Z 2008-05-13T15:38:31Z

Liz Cox Barrett "West Virginia Keeps Distance From Obama." So reads the headline on a Financial Times piece today. Just who is this "West Virginia" eyeing Obama warily and keeping a healthy distance? Twenty-two people the reporter interviewed at a Clinton rally in the small coal-mining town of Williamson, two of whom supplied the reporter with quotes tailor-made for the lede... tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15753 2008-05-12T14:00:00Z 2008-05-13T15:38:31Z

As campaigns discuss the uninsured, the insured have their own problems

Trudy Lieberman How ironic that the campaign has been marked by Democrats pushing for universal health insurance coverage just as the country is in the throes of a de-insurance movement. While more Americans have come to believe everyone should be covered, many of those who thought they had insurance are finding that their policies cover less and less. Higher deductibles and co-payments... tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15750 2008-05-09T15:09:33Z 2008-05-13T15:38:31Z

The New York Times does non-fiction, political, comics

Clint Hendler tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15749 2008-05-09T13:21:25Z 2008-05-13T15:38:31Z

European media and their audiences catch the U.S.’s Election Fever

Lynn Berger On a Wednesday a couple of weeks ago, French, Dutch and Polish camera crews gathered in a small studio on Park Avenue. All were correspondents for TV news networks in their respective home countries, and all had come to interview Amber “Obama Girl” Lee, who was in New York shooting a video for her latest song. (Her debut, “I... tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15748 2008-05-09T13:10:52Z 2008-05-13T14:32:00Z

David Broder points a finger at the wrong candidate

Zachary Roth David Broder wrote yesterday: I’d like to know what kind of people Obama would bring into his White House and where he would turn for a Cabinet, because there is so much uncertainty about his actual policies at home and abroad. Really? Is there actually all that much “uncertainty” about Obama’s policies, all things considered? Doesn’t seem... tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15744 2008-05-08T18:20:16Z 2008-05-12T21:00:13Z

Reporters let bloggers and columnists do the work

Russ Juskalian The possible suspension of the federal gas tax has become a big issue in the presidential race, and the latest media frenzy surrounding the candidates. As we noted last week, the press aggressively (if belatedly) attacked the idea, which John McCain and Hillary Clinton support and Barack Obama opposes. But regardless of whether tax holiday amounts to political "pandering"... tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15738 2008-05-08T13:30:00Z 2008-05-12T13:07:33Z

John McCain’s campaign canard

Trudy Lieberman The Rocky Mountain News’s coverage of John McCain’s campaign stop in Denver last week raises an important issue for reporters, especially those covering the election: Do you let a candidate’s remarks stand unchallenged even if they are wrong or misleading? McCain had come to town to talk mostly about health care, the paper reported, noting that the topic... tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15735 2008-05-07T17:49:11Z 2008-05-12T07:17:30Z

The press gets wrapped up in one debate, but misses a parallel

Curtis Brainard Since Hillary Clinton announced her support last week for suspending the federal gas tax between Memorial Day and Labor Day, the press has marshaled economists and environmentalists from around the country to wholeheartedly denounce the idea. Of course, it's not really the soundness of the plan that the media are after, or else they would have mounted a similar... tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15732 2008-05-07T16:11:16Z 2008-05-09T15:26:42Z

The press finds the faith to find the math

Clint Hendler This morning, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough—and much of the press—seemed to be of two minds about what last night’s results would mean for Hillary Clinton. “She needs a miracle,” he said. And then, twenty minutes later, as if almost by force of habit: “It’s too early to count her out.” A race, it seems, is a terrible thing to quit. Here’s... tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15731 2008-05-07T15:35:08Z 2008-05-09T15:26:42Z

Hey, MSNBC: Why the remembrance of things past?

Megan Garber Could it almost be…over? Is “our long national nightmare” soon to end? After a night of nail-biting—“too early to call” morphing into “too close to call” morphing into “this one’s a real squeaker, folks!”—the results of last night’s Possibly Pivotal Double-Header of a Primary leave things, officially, at least…unclear. Yep: our residence in the Hotel California of party... tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15733 2008-05-07T14:54:13Z 2008-05-09T15:26:42Z

Liz Cox Barrett How The Media Works 101: Can't Walk and Chew Gum, with Professors Chris Matthews and Tim Russert (and input from grad students/T.A.s Rachel Maddow and Dan Abrams) on MSNBC last night. MATTHEWS: Do you think [Democrats worrying about the effects of ongoing primary] are aware of the way the media works? I was explaining this to a group of...

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But rest of TV news perpetuated a fiction in the service of suspense

Zachary Roth As we all waited for those final results to come in from northwest Indiana last night, everyone on TV seemed to collude in deceiving viewers—by propagating the fiction that the question of which candidate got more votes in Indiana was of any direct importance. I was watching with my Mom, who’s visiting from overseas. From the breathless way that Russert,...