Author Archive
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Swing States Project
The Oklahoman distributes a hit piece on Obama
September 28, 2012 05:12 PMOn September 20, The Washington Examiner, one of DC’s conservative newspapers, published “The Obama You Don’t Know,” a 10-part “Special Report” drawn from a four-month investigation of President Obama’s pre-presidential narrative. The Examiner report, which fits neatly... Continue reading
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Swing States Project
In Iowa, a ‘flag flap’ flop?
September 14, 2012 02:50 PMIOWA — Appearances by President Obama have become a bit old-hat in Iowa, one of the nation’s most contested swing states. When Obama and Joe Biden appeared at a campaign rally on the University of Iowa campus on Sept. 7,... Continue reading
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Currents
Darts and Laurels
August 17, 2012 10:55 AMIn August 2002, Winston-Salem Journal reporter John Railey was part of a team of reporters assigned to a story he couldn’t believe was true. “I was like, ‘No, this didn’t happen in my state,’” he says... Continue reading
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Behind the News
Firings raise questions at Alabama Public Television
June 27, 2012 11:07 AMIn May 2011, the Birmingham Business Journal named Allan Pizzato, the executive director of the recession-tested Alabama Public Television, “nonprofit CEO of the year.” Since 2008, APT had seen its state funding cut in half, and the Business... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Escape from Thailand: Epilogue
June 25, 2012 11:30 AMIn September, I wrote the long and unusual story of how I had become the subject of an arrest warrant in Thailand. At its heart was a dissertation on organic asparagus. The story began in 2009, when I... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Rubio and Univision: Détente
June 20, 2012 03:00 PMJust months ago, it seemed quite plausible that Florida’s much-in-the-news Hispanic Senator Marco Rubio might never speak to the Florida-based Spanish language media juggernaut Univision again. The senator and the network had gotten in a complicated and high-profile tiff—which we... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Another case of the racy emails
June 14, 2012 10:29 AMEarlier this week, I wrote about media coverage surrounding the “racy emails” that led to Des Moines, IA, school superintendent Nancy Sebring’s resignation. Sebring’s emails—I’d classify them as “really really embarrassing” before I’d call them “racy”—received attention on... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Don’t think pink
June 12, 2012 01:37 PMHey journalists, how do you navigate the “pink ghetto”? For starters, try changing the language used to describe topics traditionally considered “women’s issues,” OpEd Project founder Katie Orenstein said on Monday night. She spoke on a panel called... Continue reading
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Behind the News
The superintendent’s racy emails
June 11, 2012 03:45 PMIn early May, Nancy Sebring, the superintendent of the Des Moines public school system, abruptly resigned; her resignation was accepted by the school board in a closed meeting. The resignation was unusual, not just for its suddenness—Sebring was scheduled... Continue reading
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The Kicker
In Thailand, moderate comments or go to jail
June 4, 2012 11:00 AMFor 20 days in the 2010, a user comment, later deemed by Thai officials as offensive to the king, was posted to a message board on the Thai news website Prachatai. Last Wednesday, Chiranuch Premchaiporn, the... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Election 2012 coverage: another gender gap
May 31, 2012 04:04 PMEarlier this week, I wrote about the persisting gender gap in opinion media. Women’s voices were especially lacking in legacy media, and on ‘hard news’ topics like the economy and politics—both of which are just as much women’s... Continue reading
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Behind the News
It’s 2012 already: why is opinion writing still mostly male?
May 29, 2012 06:50 AM“Man. Man. Man. Man. Man. Man.” I had Sue Horton, the Op-ed and Sunday opinion editor at the Los Angeles Times on the phone one morning in early March. She was flipping through her slush pile of op-eds, calling... Continue reading
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Q and A
Exit Interview
May 22, 2012 06:50 AMIn 1979, Brian Lamb, then the head of Cablevision’s DC bureau, achieved what now seems unimaginable: He convinced Congress and cable executives to back his plan to create a nonprofit that would broadcast the proceedings of the House... Continue reading
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Swing States Project
For TV, campaigns create big winners, (relative) losers
May 15, 2012 06:50 AMWhen Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum suspended his presidential campaign last month, the former Pennsylvania senator all but sealed Mitt Romney’s easy victory in the state’s April 24 primary. Santorum also dashed the expectations of his home state’s broadcasters, who... Continue reading
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The Kicker
So you think you can dance?
May 11, 2012 11:56 AMSarah Tressler, the Houston Chronicle society reporter who was fired in March shortly after the Houston Press exposed she also moonlighted as a stripper at Houston’s high-end gentlemen clubs—and blogged about it under the <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/angrystripper"... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Nikki Haley Strikes a Pose
April 26, 2012 11:09 AMThe intersecting sliver of the “Tea Party”-“Vogue” Venn diagram would seem to be a razor-thin one, but the latest politician to receive characteristic puff-piece treatment from the fashion magazine is Tea Party darling (circa 2010)-turned-South Carolina governor Nikki Haley,... Continue reading
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Behind the News
Looking beyond Kony
April 20, 2012 08:59 AMIn Kenya in early March, a grenade blast linked to the terrorist group Al-Shabaab killed six people and injured 63. Despite the isolated nature of the incident, CNN International reported the story as if the violence were widespread; on the... Continue reading
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Behind the News
Freelancers on the Front Lines
April 17, 2012 12:06 PMIt was almost one year ago that photojournalist and Restrepo director Sebastian Junger lost his good friend and colleague, Tim Hetherington, to a shrapnel wound suffered while covering the conflict in Libya. Photojournalist Chris Hondros was also killed, and two... Continue reading
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Behind the News
The AOL-HuffPost Show: Who’s Really in Control?
April 11, 2012 12:10 PMLast Thursday, The New York Times ran a story titled “Huffington Gains More Control in AOL Revamping.” Later that day, Business Insider challenged that account, blogging: “Actually, Arianna Huffington Has Been Demoted.” By Friday morning,... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Romney, BuzzFeed, and that “Hidden” Op-Ed
March 21, 2012 12:05 PMIt was four o’clock on a Friday afternoon when BuzzFeed’s Andrew Kaczynski, a 22-year old student at St. John’s College, made a serendipitous discovery. Kaczynski, who has already generated a lot of buzz this election season... Continue reading
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Desks
The Audit Business
- Audit Notes: pyramid people, Disney and ABC, no USA Today paywall Roddy Boyd digs into a diet-shake pyramid scheme
- Hot air Rises Above on CNBC An anchor pins a minor dip in stocks on the TV appearance of a minor politician
The Observatory Science
- Dull news from Doha UN climate summit a ho-hum affair for the press
- Highway to the danger zone Following Sandy, HuffPo and NYT dig into the folly of coastal development
Campaign Desk Politics & Policy
- NBC News sets good example for Medicare reporting People perspective leads to clear explanation of impact of proposed changes
- In Pennsylvania, a niche site with wide reach PoliticsPA drives political conversation in Keystone State
Behind the News The Media
Blog
The Kicker last updated: Fri 3:00 PM
- Must-reads of the week
- The media news cycle is bananas
- Pass the #popcorn
- Must-reads of the week
- Tom Rosenstiel leaving Pew
The Future of Media
News Startups Guide last updated: Thu 10:24 AM
- TRVL A free iPad travel magazine
- TheDigitel A small chain of local news sites/ aggregators in South Carolina
