Author Archive

Articles by Edward B. Colby | Email the Author

 

1. Politics

   2008? Uhhh, Thanks, But We’ll Pass

   October 3, 2005 06:17 PM

   Every four years, the nation's presidential race consumes more space, time, and energy -- grabbing with each cycle a bigger share of our public life and distracting both politicians and the press from major issues facing the country. ... Continue reading

2. Politics

   Harriet Who?

   October 3, 2005 05:09 PM

   President Bush this morning nominated White House counsel Harriet Miers to take the place of Sandra Day O'Connor on our nation's highest court. To state the obvious, as the Los Angeles Times did, "With Roberts' arrival at the court,... Continue reading

3. Behind the News

   Hot and Sticky, New Yorkers Shun Heavy Clothing!

   September 29, 2005 04:48 PM

   Editors love weather stories -- easy to do, and always a trusty fallback when news is slow. But they're difficult to write well, and more often than not do little more than fill space. The New York Times' Thursday Styles... Continue reading

4. Politics

   A Story That Cries Out for Follow-Up

   September 28, 2005 05:19 PM

   Earlier this year, our print brethren at CJR called attention to the press's piecemeal effort in adding "substantial layers to our knowledge of what the CIA daintily calls extraordinary rendition" -- the frightening practice by which the U.S. government... Continue reading

5. Behind the News

   MSM Outs Self; Bloggers Pounce

   September 26, 2005 05:09 PM

   With some notable exceptions, the media is widely thought -- no less by itself -- to have done an admirable job in its Katrina coverage. Now, according to a new, introspective review from the New Orleans Times-Picayune, it turns out... Continue reading

6. Behind the News

   Tracking Where Rita Isn’t Going

   September 23, 2005 04:25 PM

   That's one ferocious storm brewing in the Gulf of Mexico, and one big story to cover. Before it even hits land, Hurricane Rita has brought the news of millions of people evacuating from Houston, 100-mile-long traffic jams, and levees overflowing... Continue reading

7. Politics

   Painting Katrina with a 9/11 Brush

   September 22, 2005 06:03 PM

   President Bush gave a lunchtime speech before the Republican Jewish Coalition in Washington yesterday. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, in a roundup of pre-Hurricane Rita preparations, focused on Bush's comments on the government's readiness for the new storm in the two paragraphs... Continue reading

8. Behind the News

   What Happened and Why at the Gretna Bridge

   September 21, 2005 12:02 PM

   We expect journalists to get both sides of a story. Usually, that means going beyond the official explanation. But in rare cases it is those officials themselves who are overlooked, with their account drowned out by the clamor surrounding an... Continue reading

9. Behind the News

   Some Celebrities Smoke? Surely, You Jest

   September 19, 2005 11:12 AM

   Sound the alarm: Movie stars are increasingly being caught by paparazzi sucking down nicotine off-screen -- and it could have an untoward effect on your children! For the #2 slot in its Sunday Styles section yesterday, the New... Continue reading

10. The Water Cooler

    Kevin Sites On Getting Dangerous Stories, Stirrings Brought by Katrina, and Slippery Truth

    September 16, 2005 06:14 PM

    Kevin Sites A veteran combat correspondent who has worked for CNN, NBC, and ABC, Kevin Sites set off for Somalia this week, the first of... Continue reading

11. Blog Report

    The Pummeling of Michael Brown Continues

    September 15, 2005 01:54 PM

    After giving the New York Times his first extensive interview since his resignation earlier this week as FEMA director, Brown is getting kicked around the blogosphere like a soccer ball today. In his account to the Times (about which... Continue reading

12. Blog Report

    Roberts’ Future, Bush’s Future, E.J. Dionne’s Future

    September 14, 2005 02:27 PM

    The Roberts confirmation hearings are upon us, bringing with them all-day coverage on the cable networks, not to mention instant (and endless) analysis of the handsome Harvard grad's appearance, demeanor, and impressive ability to gently brush off pesky, overly-specific questions... Continue reading

13. Behind the News

    News Flash: New York Post Discovers … Sex!

    September 13, 2005 06:08 PM

    Women in New York City have slightly -- very slightly -- more sex than their counterparts in major cities around the country. So found an online survey of 1,639 women conducted to coincide with the imminent release of Elexa, a... Continue reading

14. Blog Report

    Of Presidential (and Blogospheric) Bubbles

    September 12, 2005 02:32 PM

    Liberal bloggers are having a field day today with two big stories by Time and Newsweek that focus on how the Bush "bubble" adversely affected the president's response to Katrina. In Newsweek, Evan Thomas reports that the reality of... Continue reading

15. Politics

    Unraveling The Mess at FEMA

    September 9, 2005 06:19 PM

    Earlier this week, we implored the press to move beyond depictions of the surface horrors and get to the root of what caused the massive response failures to Hurricane Katrina on all levels of government. Even as we spoke, some... Continue reading

16. Behind the News

    And Speaking of Katrina, Let’s Talk About … Tennis?

    September 7, 2005 05:16 PM

    "Katrina Looms Over 'The Man' Premiere," an AP headline reads. A New York Times sports columnist feels compelled to refer prominently to the Gulf Coast disaster in a piece on rising tennis star James Blake. And a New... Continue reading

17. Magazine Report

    All Katrina All The Time

    September 6, 2005 03:46 PM

    The week after the storm, the covers of the nation's major newsweeklies all focus on Hurricane Katrina: At Time it's "An American Tragedy"; at U.S. News & World Report it's "What Went Wrong"; at Newsweek it's "Pray For Us." Time... Continue reading

18. Behind the News

    Prescient Warnings of New Orleans’ Fate Were Numerous

    September 2, 2005 05:00 PM

    By the nature of our work, we knock people. We knock journalists for falling back on tired and outmoded forms and formats; we knock them for lapsing into "he said/she said" journalism that doesn't inform anyone; we knock them for... Continue reading

19. Politics

    Waxing Wise From Far Away

    September 2, 2005 10:57 AM

    The situation in New Orleans worsened yesterday, hard as that is to believe. "New Orleans Mayor Issues 'Desperate SOS'" read a banner headline at the top of the Chicago Tribune's Web site yesterday afternoon, with the AP providing this... Continue reading

20. Behind the News

    Its City Gone, the Times-Picayune Rises to the Occasion

    August 31, 2005 05:30 PM

    An enduring tenet of journalism is that, no matter how or where disaster strikes, the paper must get out. That's a point of honor, from college papers and small weeklies to the largest metro dailies, and this week the staffers... Continue reading

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