Bryan Keefer : Author Archive : Bios

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Behind the News

Webby Gala Long On Brevity
June 13, 2006 03:23 PM
The tenth annual Webby awards were handed out last night -- or, more precisely, the winners got to hoist a spring-shaped statuette for a few moments and deliver a blog-style acceptance speech before gently placing the oversized spring back on... Continue reading
Behind the News

Vaughn Ververs on Transparency, Focus and Critics
May 19, 2006 04:52 PM
Vaughn Ververs is the editor of CBS's Public Eye blog. Before launching Public Eye in September, 2005, Ververs was editor of The Hotline, a daily political news outlet,... Continue reading
Behind the News

New York Times, USA Today Reverse Roles
May 11, 2006 01:30 PM
As of 11:15 this morning, the home page of the New York Times, generally regarded as the heavyweight among national dailies, looked like this (click for larger image): ... Continue reading
The Audit

Gary Pruitt Picks a Few Cherries
March 16, 2006 03:15 PM
In today's Wall Street Journal, McClatchy Chairman and CEO Gary Pruitt defends his company's decision this week to spend $6.5 billion to buy newspaper conglomerate Knight Ridder. Pruitt argues that "newspapers are still among the best media businesses --... Continue reading
The Water Cooler

George Clooney and Grant Heslov on Ed Murrow
March 2, 2006 04:40 PM
George Clooney (Melinda SueGordon/Warner Independent Pictures) George Clooney and Grant Heslov are the co-writers of "Good Night and Good Luck," a new film about Edward... Continue reading
The Water Cooler

William Bastone on James Frey and The Smoking Gun
February 8, 2006 03:55 PM
William Bastone is editor and co-founder of The Smoking Gun Web site. He began his journalism career at the Village Voice in 1984, working first as an intern, then a contributing... Continue reading
Behind the News

In Defense of Wikipedia
December 16, 2005 01:14 PM
Reading the news lately, you may have been left with the impression that Wikipedia, the collaborative online encyclopedia, is an information-age monster, destroying reputations like Godzilla batting away fighter jets. But if that's all you've heard, your impression is... Continue reading
Behind the News

Buying the News; L.A. Times Sniffs Out Payola in Iraq
November 30, 2005 12:52 PM
PR people are expensive. And often they don't, or can't, produce the results you might like. Wouldn't it be easier to just show up at the offices of your local paper with fistfuls of cash, and ask nicely if they'd... Continue reading
Behind the News

An Open Letter from Knight Ridder Alumni
November 18, 2005 01:24 PM
The following is an open letter to the management of Knight Ridder, signed by more than 50 former employees of Knight Ridder publications. In it, the signatories state that they are "prepared collectively to nominate candidates for the Knight Ridder... Continue reading
Behind the News

Mary Mapes: Still Defending Her Assassin
November 1, 2005 04:41 PM
Mary Mapes still isn't coming clean. The latest issue of Vanity Fair features an excerpt from Mape's forthcoming book Truth and Duty, in which she provides her account of how the infamously flawed "60 Minutes II" segment... Continue reading
Behind the News

New York Times Does Its New York Post Imitation
October 25, 2005 04:01 PM
The New York media world is a small one, full of the sort of scheming, intrigue and exquisitely self-serving political maneuvering that would make a French courtesan proud. And, like the minutiae of Louis XIV's court, most of it is... Continue reading
Behind the News

AP Gets Blown Away
October 6, 2005 04:46 PM
Sometimes a little coverage is worse than no coverage at all. So it is today with an Associated Press story that brings us one of the sorrier examples of "he said/she said" journalism we've seen since the... Continue reading
Politics

Overlooking a $250 Billion Treasury Raid
September 26, 2005 04:05 PM
What if Louisiana threw a $250 billion party and no one noticed? That's largely been the case with the request put forward by the Louisiana Congressional delegation last week for $250 billion in hurricane reconstruction funds for the state. The... Continue reading
The Audit

Math Continues to Befuddle Times
August 29, 2005 03:46 PM
Last week, we noted a couple of examples of the New York Times' inexplicable inability to understand the numbers it was reporting to its readers. Yesterday, the Times did it again. A graphic in the paper's sports section... Continue reading
Behind the News

Per Se Can You See? The Times Does
August 15, 2005 05:41 PM
Even more than most Americans, New Yorkers tend to define themselves by reference to cultural touchstones: bands we've heard, books we've read, films we've seen. One such New Yorker is the New York Times, which apparently defines itself... Continue reading
Behind the News

Tu N’existes Pas
August 4, 2005 03:12 PM
If you're reading this, you probably don't exist. See here. Continue reading
Politics

McDonald’s Fries Reporters
July 6, 2005 05:54 PM
Yesterday, McDonald's announced that it was beginning the search for a fashion house to redesign its employees' uniforms. And, like an expense-account cheeseburger, reporters just couldn't resist. The fast-food chain is in talks with a number of designers, ranging from... Continue reading
Behind the News

Examining a Dinosaur Trapped in the Tar Pits
June 3, 2005 01:58 PM
It's no secret that media outlets of all stripes are mulling over new distribution strategies. CNN recently began putting video of its news segments online for free; meanwhile, the New York Times and Los Angeles Times are heading opposite... Continue reading
The Water Cooler

Carl Bialik on Being the Numbers Guy
May 13, 2005 04:46 PM
Carl Bialik Carl Bialik writes the weekly Numbers Guy column for the online edition of the Wall Street Journal. A former technology reporter for the online... Continue reading
Behind the News

To the Victors Go the Headlines
April 5, 2005 03:00 PM
The Pulitzer Prizes were announced yesterday, and while they're less glamorous than the Oscars or even the Cable ACE Awards, they still generate a tremendous amount of media hoopla. (The prizes are sponsored by CJR Daily's parent's parent's parent,... Continue reading

Desks

The Audit Business

The Observatory Science

United States Project Politics & Policy

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