Newt Gingrich, Media Critic

Primary night in South Carolina, Gingrich and supporters sound off on press

By Erika Fry   Jan 23, 2012 at 06:00 AM

COLUMBIA, S.C. — All campaign long, Newt Gingrich has been known to knock the media, but at his victory party... More

What I Saw at the South Carolina Debate

Or, how campaign coverage is like industrial farming

By Erika Fry   Jan 20, 2012 at 03:12 PM

SOUTH CAROLINA — The campaign media horde congregated in Charleston Thursday night for the Republican presidential debate, eagerly billed by... More

A Day in the Life of South Carolina’s ‘Sic Willie’

How the Palmetto State’s most read, most ribald politics blogger goes about his work

By Erika Fry   Jan 20, 2012 at 06:00 AM

SOUTH CAROLINA — On most days, you will find Will Folks, aka “Sic Willie”—South Carolina’s blogger provacateur, the prolific... More

The State endorses Huntsman … for the day

By Erika Fry   Jan 16, 2012 at 02:38 PM

Yesterday, under the headline, "Huntsman could bring us back together," The State, South Carolina’s largest newspaper, endorsed Jon Huntsman: We... More

A.G. Sulzberger is getting chewed up

By Erika Fry   Jan 12, 2012 at 10:44 AM

It’s beginning to look a lot like a Stephen Bloom reprise. Not even a month after Bloom, a New Jersey... More

Searching for Santorum

After his surge, it’s hard to find much needed coverage of who he is and what he wants

By Erika Fry   Jan 7, 2012 at 10:18 AM

Here’s what we know about Rick Santorum: He wears sweater vests, at least when members of the media first noticed... More

Darts and Laurels

Univision, The Miami Herald, and Marco Rubio, the GOP’s rising star

By Erika Fry   Jan 5, 2012 at 05:00 PM

In December 1987, federal police in Miami made their biggest drug bust of the year. Dubbed “Operation Cobra,” agents arrested... More

A Long Day—and Night—Covering the Caucuses

Patriotic popcorn, Google swag, and the ubiquitous Chuck Todd

By Erika Fry   Jan 4, 2012 at 04:05 PM

DES MOINES, IOWA — On Tuesday, I spent more than 13 hours in the “official media hub” for the Iowa... More

You’ve Got (Candidate) Mail(ers)

A look at the direct mail deluge in Iowa

By Erika Fry   Jan 3, 2012 at 05:05 PM

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA — Perhaps you've heard non-Iowans grumble about the attention lavished on Iowa for its first-in-the-nation caucus. Residents... More

A VIP Pass to Cover the Caucuses

Credentials offer access, amenities for a cost, but some reporters take a pass

By Erika Fry   Jan 2, 2012 at 01:57 PM

IOWA — There are a lot of journalists in Iowa right now. But on Tuesday night, when results of the... More

About That Santorum Surge

Let’s cover it with some restraint and self-awareness

By Erika Fry   Dec 31, 2011 at 10:07 AM

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA — The media has been abuzz about Rick Santorum since Wednesday, when a CNN/Time/ORC International poll showed... More

Best of 2011: Erika Fry

From Romenesko to rich men, Fry picks her top CJR stories from the past year

By Erika Fry   Dec 29, 2011 at 06:00 AM

Escape from Thailand This was my personal account of fleeing Thailand in 2010—yes, that tropical paradise known as the Land... More

Q&A: New York Times Iraq reporter Michael S. Schmidt

On finding classified documents in the trash, and transitioning from the sports beat

By Erika Fry   Dec 19, 2011 at 05:19 PM

Several weeks ago, New York Times reporter Michael S. Schmidt, a foreign correspondent in the newspaper’s Baghdad bureau, went looking... More

Don’t Have a Cow, Iowa

State’s reaction to Atlantic piece forgets its ironic tradition

By Erika Fry   Dec 16, 2011 at 05:08 PM

Oh, there's nothing halfway About the Iowa way to treat you, When we treat you Which we may not... More

Darts and Laurels

Univision, The Miami Herald, and Marco Rubio, the GOP’s rising star

By Erika Fry   Dec 16, 2011 at 03:47 PM

In July 2011, Univision, the nation’s leading Spanish-language network, reported that Florida Senator Marco Rubio’s brother-in-law, Orlando Cicilia, had been... More