Author Archive
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Behind the News
I’ll See Your 8.2, and Raise You 0.5
March 29, 2005 04:53 PMCheck your local newspaper today, and the lead story is likely the magnitude 8.7 earthquake that occurred yesterday off the coast of Indonesia. Or was that 8.2? Or 8.5, maybe? And what's the difference, anyway? ... Continue reading
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Behind the News
Further Crimes Against Humanity
March 9, 2005 05:28 PMTelevision isn't the medium we usually turn to for in-depth coverage, so when we flip on one of the cable networks, our expectations are appropriately low. On rare occasions, however, there is TV news so witheringly bad, so... Continue reading
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Behind the News
When Eight Isn’t Enough
March 4, 2005 12:52 PMIn his online column today, the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz analyzes why President Bush's Social Security plan hasn't steamrolled through Washington the way his tax cut proposals and his push for war in Iraq did. Kurtz gives... Continue reading
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Behind the News
The Dog Days of Winter
February 16, 2005 02:29 PMNormally, we'd leave coverage of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show to, well, the dogs. But given that the winning pooch, a German shorthaired pointer named Carlee, has become both "America's dog" (as television commentators reminded us repeatedly last... Continue reading
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Politics
Someone’s Overreaching, but it’s Not the President
January 24, 2005 01:42 PMIt's still early in the first lap, but we think we've found the frontrunner in the race for the Most Unsupported Lede of 2005. Today Adam Nagourney and Richard Stevenson of the New York Times bring us this doozy:... Continue reading
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Behind the News
CJR Daily Uncovers Massive Bias at New York Times!
January 21, 2005 02:58 PMWe don't usually rely on the New York Times for our sports news -- for that we just cast freebie glances at the back page of the New York Post on the subway. But this week it's been almost impossible... Continue reading
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Behind the News
Inviting Outsiders to “Take Their Best Shot”
January 17, 2005 03:46 PMOn Sunday, the Los Angeles Times ran the first installment of what it labeled "[a]n experimental column in which [the paper] invites outside critics to take their best shot at Southern California's heaviest newspaper." What's notable isn't that a major... Continue reading
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Blog Report
Whitewashes, Greywashes and Makeovers
January 12, 2005 12:05 PMEveryone seems to be getting a makeover these days, from Laura Bush to the Apple Macintosh. Matthew Yglesias' blog has gotten a facelift; it now features a 1988 satellite photo of the National Mall (though we'll miss... Continue reading
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Behind the News
Spectacle Yes; Entertainment, No
January 11, 2005 05:09 PMDoes the independent panel's investigation into journalistic sins at CBS belong alongside such fare as an article on "Desperate Housewives" in your local newspaper or Web site? Evidently some cynic at the Associated Press thinks so. In a bit of... Continue reading
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Behind the News
All the News That’s Fit to Spin
January 10, 2005 05:20 PMIt's been little noted so far, but one of the most damning aspects of the Thornburgh/Boccardi Panel report about CBS's September 8, 2004 segment on President Bush's Texas Air National Guard service is its description of the way the... Continue reading
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Behind the News
Time to Stop Playing Ball
January 7, 2005 05:16 PMWe spilled quite a bit of virtual ink last year over how news organizations promote their own political polls and call it journalism. There's another polling issue in the news lately that has fewer implications for federal policy, but still... Continue reading
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Politics
In What Way Can We Screw Up the Social Security Story Today?
January 5, 2005 05:22 PMToday's crop of Social Security stories features a couple of what are quickly becoming the Seven (or Eight, or Nine) Deadly Sins of Social Security Reporting. In an Associated Press story today headlined "Bush Eyes Plan Using Bulk of... Continue reading
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Behind the News
To Link or Not to Link
December 23, 2004 04:57 PMCJR Daily can count on one hand the number of times that we have seen a newspaper, in an online version of a story, provide an Internet link to a story in another outlet. So it was with some fascination... Continue reading
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Politics
Christmas Greetings with a Bite
December 16, 2004 02:54 PMYesterday, with fanfare including a report on CBS's "The Early Show," the White House released its annual Christmas film (streaming Real Video) starring Barney, the president's Scottish terrier. This year, the plot revolves around a mystery: Barney is supposed... Continue reading
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Behind the News
The Beast Must Be Fed
December 13, 2004 04:36 PMWith newsgathering budgets well below what they need to bring original content to viewers 24 hours a day, cable news networks have become media vampires, feeding on the work of others in order to keep blood pumping through their own... Continue reading
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Behind the News
We Call It “Journalism”
December 10, 2004 05:22 PMWas it "ethical" for Chattanooga Times Free Press reporter Lee Pitts to coax a soldier in Iraq to ask Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld why soldiers "had to dig through landfills to find scrap metal" to armor their vehicles before heading... Continue reading
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Behind the News
“20/20” Gives the Michael Jackson Treatment to Real News
December 6, 2004 05:40 PMThe matter of steroids in sports may not strike some readers as the most pressing issue of the day. At first whiff, it seems something of a journalistic sideshow, a made-for-television scandal more in the mode of the Scott Peterson... Continue reading
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Behind the News
Sometimes the Obvious Is in Front of Your Face
December 5, 2004 01:48 PMWhy is Dan Rather stepping down? Since Rather announced he would be retiring next March after 24 years at the head of CBS's evening newscast, the primary motivation ascribed to him by a scandal-happy press is that alert bloggers... Continue reading
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Politics
Where’s the Beef?
November 30, 2004 02:13 PMPerhaps the White House press corps is beginning to treat press briefings as the non-reality-based affairs that they are. Or perhaps they're just throwing in the towel on the prospect of bringing readers any more than the latest White House... Continue reading
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Politics
100 Percent Off at Associated Press
November 11, 2004 10:17 AMWhen is one percent not one percent? When it's one percentage point. In an article yesterday, the Associated Press' Leigh Strope makes an elementary -- but critical -- mistake. Writing about prospects for partially privatizing Social Security, which President... Continue reading
Desks
The Audit Business
- Reuters’s OKC gusher Its outstanding Chesapeake Energy investigation turns toward the gas driller SandRidge
- Audit Notes: insider trading versus CDO fraud, 401(k)s, lead and crime Rough treatment for inside-trading suspects contrasts with CDO probes
The Observatory Science
- Environment coverage TBD The Times says it’s committed, but only time will tell
- Call in the math club Science reporters can help ward off a “Big Data bubble”
United States Project Politics & Policy
- The Frank Luntz script for Congressional Republicans A guide to phrases journos should look for (and scrutinize)
- Hey readers: They’re bluffing! (maybe) The need to put political bargaining positions in context
Behind the News The Media
- German bill would charge for aggregation The potential law would provide content creators with a portion of the profits search engines make by aggregating them
- Gun permit data wasn’t maximized The choice that faced the Journal News was not simply whether to map gun permit holders’ addresses, but how
Blog
The Kicker last updated: Wed 12:13 PM
- Pass the #popcorn
- Should Center Square Journal shut down?
- Must-reads of the week
- WaPo: Got agency?
- On building trust
The Future of Media
News Startups Guide last updated: Mon 3:27 PM
- ACEsTooHigh.com Reporting on the science, education, and policy surrounding childhood trauma
- ACEsConnection.com A niche social network for professionals working in science, education, and policy related to childhood trauma
