Brian Montopoli : Author Archive : Bios

Columbia Journalism Review; Strong Press, Strong Democracy

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Articles by Brian Montopoli | Email the Author

The Water Cooler

David Adams on the Media Assault on Aruba
August 24, 2005 01:08 PM
David Adams David Adams has been the Latin America Correspondent for the St. Petersburg Times since 1994. He has written for the Economist, the Independent and Newsweek,... Continue reading
Magazine Report

New College Ratings, Fat Kids, Minutemen and Hugh Hewitt
August 23, 2005 02:47 PM
Washington Monthly, which has long criticized traditional college ranking systems -- see the magazine's takedown of the U.S. News rankings here -- has come up with a college ranking system of its own. Here's why: All of the existing... Continue reading
Behind the News

The New York Post Takes One
August 17, 2005 01:32 PM
Arguably the least pleasant of our job requirements is wading through the sensationalist drivel and empty rhetoric that passes for journalism in the New York Post. Usually we just blow it off -- our readers don't need much of a... Continue reading
Behind the News

HBO and the New York Times Hug It Out
August 16, 2005 03:35 PM
We like the HBO series "Entourage." It's an amusing half-hour of celebrity cameos, jokes at the expense of real and imagined Hollywood players, and biting back-and-forth banter that makes for solid popcorn viewing on a typical Sunday evening. But... Continue reading
Behind the News

Armchair Shrinks At the Ready
August 15, 2005 03:07 PM
An alert reader points out a story from Sunday's New York Daily News which purports to shed light on what, exactly, led 46-year-old secretary Laura DeFilippo to allegedly engage in an affair with 79-year-old Monsignor Eugene Clark, her boss... Continue reading
The Water Cooler

Ira Glass on Working in Television, Public Radio’s Struggle For Innovation, and Hanging Up On People
August 12, 2005 04:34 PM
Ira Glass Ira Glass is the host and creator of "This American Life," a weekly public radio show produced by WBEZ-Chicago and distributed by Public Radio International... Continue reading
Behind the News

On Sullivan and Blumenthal
August 11, 2005 02:17 PM
Eight months ago, in its December 2004 issue, the Washington Monthly printed a lengthy profile of Bob Novak by Amy Sullivan. This morning, Salon printed a lengthy profile of Bob Novak by Sidney Blumenthal. There were some striking... Continue reading
Blog Report

Trump, Cuban and Cheney
August 11, 2005 02:08 PM
Fair readers, have you had a chance to check out Donald Trump's blog? Because if you haven't, you're missing out on lines like this: "The glamour and grandeur of my buildings and my life are no mere trappings." In... Continue reading
Blog Report

Rainbows, Windex and MSNBC
August 10, 2005 12:00 PM
There's a lot of cynicism, self-importance, and preening in the blogosphere, but every once in a while you come across a blog so sweet that you momentarily forget all of those "Bush is a fascist!" and "The Democrats are helping... Continue reading
Politics

All War Planning, All the Time?
August 9, 2005 03:00 PM
We were watching yesterday's debut episode of CNN's "The Situation Room" this afternoon, and we couldn't help but notice that Wolf and Co. missed the real story. CNN took us inside what Blitzer dubbed a "high tech, top secret command... Continue reading
Blog Report

A Pause for Peter Jennings
August 8, 2005 01:11 PM
Most blogs, regardless of their political stance, are taking a subdued, respectful tone the day after ABC anchor Peter Jennings died from lung cancer at age 67. "Many criticize Jennings' liberal politics, but no one can argue that among... Continue reading
Behind the News

Time for a Rest, Bob
August 5, 2005 03:22 PM
As you surely know by now, Bob Novak stormed off the set of CNN's "Inside Politics" yesterday, after declaring that James Carville's gleeful suggestion that he (Novak) was trying to "show these rightwingers that he's got backbone" to... Continue reading
Politics

Current Affair
August 2, 2005 04:24 PM
Here's a simple fact: It's tough to be both earnest and cool. Consider Rock the Vote, an organization designed to get young people interested in voting and political issues, which uses cool graphics, hip, multiracial youth, and slang like... Continue reading
Magazine Report

Katie and Diane, Bill Frist, and a Plea For a New Strategy Against Terror
August 2, 2005 02:10 PM
In The New Yorker, Ken Auletta weighs in with a lengthy consideration of Katie Couric, Diane Sawyer, and television in the morning. (The piece isn't online, but a related Q&A is here. If you don't have time to read... Continue reading
Politics

The Gaggle Snaps Awake
July 12, 2005 03:50 PM
After watching yesterday's White House press briefings, in which reporters hammered Scott McClellan for refusing to answer questions about Karl Rove's involvement in leaking the name of an undercover CIA officer -- an involvement that McClellan and Rove had... Continue reading
Politics

Fitting Bias Into Its Proper Slot
July 8, 2005 03:00 PM
When media critics and radio talk show hosts screech about "bias," they're almost always talking about the ideological kind. The publisher's write-up of former CBS reporter and producer Bernard Goldberg's book Bias states that "When [Goldberg] looked at his... Continue reading
Behind the News

A Tale of Two Reporters
July 6, 2005 06:10 PM
In a dramatic turnabout worthy of Hollywood, Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper has decided to testify about his source to a federal prosecutor investigating the government leak of the identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame. Had he not... Continue reading
Politics

A Press Pretending to Be Invisible
July 6, 2005 03:56 PM
Last week, this reporter wrote a story for the New York Times about the marketing machinations behind the novel The Traveler. The piece was about publicity for the novel, but it also, of course, was itself publicity for the... Continue reading
The Water Cooler

Matt Bai on Juvenile Bloggers, Political Reporters Who Hate Politics, and Why Reporters Shouldn’t Go On Cable
July 1, 2005 03:12 PM
Matt Bai Matt Bai is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, for whom he covered the 2004 presidential campaign. After beginning his career at... Continue reading
Blog Report

Dodging the FEC and Relishing the Thought of Jailed Reporters
June 30, 2005 01:19 PM
The Federal Election Commission is holding hearings on whether or not to regulate bloggers, which has given Greg at The Talent Show an idea "to avoid any potential pitfalls": This post will be the last one on The... Continue reading

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