Author Archive

Articles by Brian Montopoli | Email the Author

 

1. Behind the News

   Lighting the Messenger On Fire

   April 19, 2005 12:54 PM

   There's something we've forgotten to tell you over the past 15 months: Journalists are as vile a group of low-lifes as any on the planet. Don't believe us? We'll prove it to you, using the words of our prominent public... Continue reading

2. Behind the News

   Press Release Journalism

   April 18, 2005 05:08 PM

   In the past few months, there have been a number of headlines reminding us that the line between news and PR is blurrier than we'd like to think. Karen Ryan and others have become infamous for offering up propaganda... Continue reading

3. The Water Cooler

   Hudson Morgan on Gangsters at the New York Post, Reality C-Listers Swarming New York, and Becoming a Gossip Item

   April 15, 2005 03:55 PM

   Hudson Morgan Hudson Morgan is the assistant to Lloyd Grove, who writes the Lowdown gossip column for the New York Daily News. He spent a year as... Continue reading

4. Blog Report

   The Meek May Inherit the Earth, But the Wealthy Shall Inherit Tax-Free

   April 14, 2005 12:32 PM

   Party on, Paris -- the House just voted to repeal the estate tax, a.k.a. the death tax, a.k.a. the "Paris Hilton really deserves all that money" tax -- for good, beginning in 2010. The tax presently affects only... Continue reading

5. Blog Report

   Racists, Nazis and Lawyers - Oh My

   April 13, 2005 01:25 PM

   There's been a lot of talk in the 'sphere about The Conservative Brotherhood, a group of conservative African-American bloggers. But not everyone's a fan. At Wizbang, one commenter wrote, "Why do folks continue to think that their... Continue reading

6. Blog Report

   Guilty Until Proven Innocent

   April 11, 2005 12:29 PM

   Normally we wouldn't start the blog report by quoting the dreaded "MSM," but we couldn't keep from laughing when we read the following passage, from the New York Times' (notably late) report on how conservative blogs are "incensed" over... Continue reading

7. Behind the News

   And the MIPSY Goes To …

   April 7, 2005 05:12 PM

   We got a lot of entrants in the competition for the coveted MIPSY -- the Most Inane Pope Story our news media could come up with. After all, as reader Larry Green points out, the Associated Press reported that,... Continue reading

8. Magazine Report

   Cutting Out the Fat

   April 5, 2005 02:37 PM

   Time, Newsweek, US News: Pope, pope, pope. John Bolton. Grad schools. Pope pope pope. Moving on. Generally, we heart The New Republic. It's one of the few political magazines willing to challenge its readers' assumptions instead of toeing the party... Continue reading

9. Behind the News

   Play MIPSY for Me

   April 4, 2005 03:12 PM

   Today is day three of the weeklong papal media spectacle, which began with the pontiff's death Saturday and will continue through his funeral on Friday. Last we checked, CNN had Anderson Cooper, Christiane Amanpour, and Bill Hemmer, among others, <a... Continue reading

10. Behind the News

    Don’t Try Writing About Ste*oids

    April 1, 2005 04:20 PM

    It's easy to see why the Google Ads system appeals to both Web publishers and advertisers: It offers the former the opportunity for advertising revenue with little effort and the latter the chance to reach readers already interested in... Continue reading

11. Politics

    Four Months Later, Still Bouncing Off the Walls

    March 31, 2005 03:16 PM

    What's a more trustworthy resource: The Drudge Report or the New Yorker? It's not, to be sure, much of a competition. But, wittingly or unwittingly, Norman Draper of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune has lately followed the fedora instead of the monocle.... Continue reading

12. Behind the News

    A Long Way From Columbine

    March 29, 2005 05:58 PM

    Outside the realm of politics, there haven't been many media performances worse than the one that followed the Columbine tragedy in 1999. The press, in its rush to neatly explain the actions of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, introduced the... Continue reading

13. Behind the News

    Propaganda Clothed as Critique

    March 23, 2005 03:04 PM

    By Brian Montopoli We'd like to take Brent Bozell's Media Research Center seriously. We really would. There are ideological biases in the press, overt and covert, and organizations like MRC can, theoretically, be an important resource in identifying and... Continue reading

14. Politics

    When Politicians Go Bad, Must the Press Follow?

    March 21, 2005 04:53 PM

    For honest reporters, the Terri Schiavo case is something of a nightmare. (Not so for ratings-obsessed cable news directors, of course, who must be delighted with the timing: they can shift from the lives and deaths of Scott and... Continue reading

15. The Water Cooler

    Tom Fenton on How Dumbing Down the News Nurtures Terrorists

    March 18, 2005 02:29 PM

    Tom Fenton Tom Fenton is the author of Bad News: The Decline of Reporting, the Business of News, and the Danger To Us All. A correspondent... Continue reading

16. Blog Report

    We Decide, You’re Stuck With It

    March 17, 2005 04:05 PM

    According to Sifry's Alerts, there are now nearly 8 million blogs out there, and the growth trend shows no signs of abating. "[I]n the last 20 months," says Sifry, "the blogosphere has increased in size by over 16 times."... Continue reading

17. Blog Report

    Kings, Bears, Cardinals and the Benefits of Blogging

    March 16, 2005 02:19 PM

    Parlez-vous Francais? If you do, you might want to check out the blog of Norodom Sihanouk, the former king of Cambodia. Our French has slipped a bit since high school, so we won't subject you to our tortured translations. Thankfully,... Continue reading

18. Politics

    “Plucky Fellows Coalesce, Icy Media Attack!”

    March 15, 2005 01:20 PM

    The American Enterprise is a conservative publication that bills itself as a "brightly colored, brilliantly argued magazine that is as witty and addictively fun to read as it is authoritative." Today, the magazine's website features an interview with... Continue reading

19. Blog Report

    Mansquitos, Cartoons, and Big Media Bias

    March 14, 2005 02:54 PM

    Readers: Fear the Mansquito. Over the weekend, the Sci Fi channel debuted its original film centered on the half-man, half-mosquito monstrosity, and it's a doozy. Ryan at the Dead Parrot Society tuned in with his 10-year-old, who enjoyed... Continue reading

20. Behind the News

    Who Are Those Guys, Anyway?

    March 10, 2005 03:23 PM

    Here's the dominant storyline regarding Lebanon: after last month's assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the Lebanese organized unprecedented protests calling for Syria's withdrawal from their country. From a geopolitical perspective, it looked like the beginning of a victory... Continue reading

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