Author Archive
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Behind the News
Megan Stack On War Reporting in Lebanon
August 4, 2006 04:00 PMMegan K. Stack has covered the war in Lebanon for the Los Angeles Times for the past several weeks, describing the conflict's costs for Lebanese civilians in compelling and even poetic ways. Stack, 30, joined the Times in 2001,... Continue reading
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Behind the News
Pondering Shutdown of White House Press Briefing Room
August 3, 2006 12:30 PMWith a number of special guest stars (five former press secretaries), surprise appearances (President Bush, Laura Bush, and Sam Donaldson) and much playful banter, the White House's 20th-century relic of a press briefing room took its final curtain call Wednesday,... Continue reading
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Politics
Carter Pleas for Peace, Bloggers Step Up Attack
August 2, 2006 01:20 PMWith the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon now three weeks old, former President Jimmy Carter stepped into the breach yesterday with a plea to "Stop the Band-Aid Treatment" -- and bloggers received his Washington Post op-ed with characteristic restraint and... Continue reading
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Politics
The Press Briefing Room, Iraq and Citizen Journalism
August 1, 2006 01:45 PMLooking for another reason to be glad you're not covering the Bush White House? Newsweek's Periscope provides one this week in a punchy item on the imminent, "long-overdue rehab of the press briefing room and workspace" at 1600 Pennsylvania... Continue reading
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Behind the News
ABC Uncovers Climate Science for Sale
July 28, 2006 03:42 PMYesterday ABC News broke the story of how a Colorado electric cooperative, the Intermountain Rural Electric Association, "openly admitted that it has paid $100,000 to a university academic who prides himself on being a global warming skeptic." ... Continue reading
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The Audit
CNNMoney Copies Copy About Copycats
July 26, 2006 02:41 PMWe've previously noted CNNMoney.com's tendency to act as a rewrite wire service -- rehashing New York Times or Wall Street Journal stories as it strives to meet the unceasing demands of the continuous news beast. But a... Continue reading
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The Audit
The Sad Tale of One Steelworker’s Plight
July 24, 2006 05:35 PMEvery once in a while we come across a story that stands out from the pack, a narrative that eloquently encapsulates a place we have never been. Associated Press writer Vicki Smith's piece on the turn of... Continue reading
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Politics
WHDH Unwittingly Feeds Daily Show’s Maw
July 21, 2006 02:47 PMThe tragic first death related to Boston's Big Dig project and the ensuing fallout have gripped the city ever since concrete ceiling panels fell in an I-90 tunnel last week, crushing 38-year-old mother Milena Del Valle. Silent to... Continue reading
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Behind the News
Reporting on Lebanon’s Dispossessed
July 19, 2006 04:21 PMWith the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah now in its eighth day, the refugee situation in Lebanon continues to worsen. Yesterday, the United Nations estimated that 500,000 Lebanese have now been forced to flee their homes. Today, the... Continue reading
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Behind the News
Carl Monday On Relentless Reporting, a Murder Confession and His Real Name
July 4, 2006 08:30 AMCarl Monday (courtesy WKYC) Carl Monday, an investigative reporter with WKYC-TV in Cleveland, received wide attention recently for a story on sexual misbehavior in area libraries. Earlier in May,... Continue reading
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Politics
Bloggers Scorn Dobson, CNN
June 29, 2006 02:29 PMCable news anchor Lou Dobbs can generally be relied upon to provide a strongly worded, passionately argued, oft-inflammatory commentary each Wednesday on CNN.com. But while Dobbs relatively calmly diagnosed how "we all bear responsibility for failing... Continue reading
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Behind the News
Requiem for a Heavyweight
June 28, 2006 02:36 PMKnight Ridder is no more. For too many months now, we have witnessed the slow-motion implosion of that once-mighty newspaper chain, and yesterday at 4 p.m. it evaporated in its entirety with the stroke of a pen. ... Continue reading
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Behind the News
It’s Summertime and the Readin’ Is Easy
June 27, 2006 03:04 PMIt's summertime, which for the nation's big newsweeklies means special issues devoted to random topics. In a double issue, Newsweek doles out its "Giving Back Awards": "15 Winners Who Use Fame, Fortune, Heart and Soul to Help... Continue reading
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Politics
Kos: Yesterday’s Hero, Today’s Goat
June 26, 2006 01:37 PMThe current issue of Newsweek features a provocative takedown of Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, also known as Kos, the titan of the blogging left who has come under heavy fire lately from his fellow bloggers for "Kosola" and from the... Continue reading
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Politics
Press Sheds Light on Another Secret Program
June 23, 2006 04:30 PMLast night, the nation's newspapers reported the existence of a secret program run by the CIA and the Treasury Department, designed to track suspected terrorist financing through unprecedented access to a vast database of international financial records. Under... Continue reading
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The Audit
A Penny ‘Saved’ Is Media Credibility Burned
June 23, 2006 01:40 PMKevin Federline, husband of Britney Spears and newly anointed expert on monetary affairs, recently rolled into Times Square in a red truck covered with copper coins, emerging from the vehicle wearing an Abe Lincoln mask. "We're bringing power back to... Continue reading
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Behind the News
CNN Makes Waves Where There Are None
June 20, 2006 03:50 PMSometimes we are amazed what the news media will do to manufacture "controversy," an overused word that purportedly will ensnare readers and viewers. For a case in point, one needed but turn to CNN.com late this morning and... Continue reading
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Politics
Chipping Away at the Story of Guantanamo
June 19, 2006 04:10 PMWith the apparent suicides of three detainees followed by the Pentagon's clampdown on reporting at Guantanamo Bay last week, the United States' war-on-terror detention facility in Cuba is again in the spotlight. In its lead... Continue reading
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Behind the News
AP Tells A Story Needed to Be Told
June 16, 2006 03:02 PMPicking up a trail seemingly gone cold, the Associated Press broke a story that needed to be told today, authoritatively reporting -- using "[o]nce-secret documents" -- that "a disaster supply management company went unpunished for Sept. 11 thefts after... Continue reading
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Behind the News
“Could You Repeat That One More Time?”
June 15, 2006 04:21 PMNear the end of this morning's New York Times article about the escalating "boardroom feud" at Tribune Co. we spied a familiar quote from one Charles K. Bobrinskoy, vice chairman of Ariel Capital Management, a Chicago-based firm which owns... 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
