Author Archive
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The Audit
Not Covering All the Angles on the Xbox 360
November 22, 2005 07:28 PMMedia outlets across the nation have found all sorts of interesting things to say about the rollout of Microsoft's new gaming system, the Xbox 360. But amidst the flurry of coverage, a report from National Public Radio yesterday stood out.... Continue reading
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The Audit
The New York Times Goes Cuckoo for Google
November 21, 2005 05:40 PMYesterday, writing in the Sunday Business section of the New York Times, Roger Lowenstein criticized a newly published book called The Google Story for its starry-eyed portrayal of its subject. "The book does not so much report on Google's... Continue reading
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Politics
The Phantom of the Operative
November 18, 2005 05:55 PMA few weeks ago, writing in the Washington Post, Michael Kinsley took a joyful ride through the topsy-turvy, loopy-loops of the Plame leak investigation, proving along the way that there's more than one way to ride a "Scooter." Noting... Continue reading
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Politics
All for Torture, and Torture for All!
November 17, 2005 04:25 PMThis past weekend, U.S. troops uncovered a bunker's worth of detainees in the basement of a government building outside of Baghdad. Over the past several days, various news outlets from the Christian Science Monitor to the New York... Continue reading
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Politics
Very Hidden
November 16, 2005 12:39 PMPaging all political scientists: Get ready to amend those textbooks. Today an article in the Los Angeles Times identified, documented, and named a previously unrecognized phase of the American presidential-election cycle -- behold, the presidential pre-pre-primary. "Big... Continue reading
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Politics
Anagram Wars
November 14, 2005 05:09 PMThis past week, writing in the New Yorker, Hendrik Hertzberg sized up the president's nomination of Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court and, in so doing, passed along a lethal anagram of the judge's name. "He... Continue reading
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The Water Cooler
Behind Every Successful Jock Is a …
November 11, 2005 06:18 PMGena James PittsThis past September, Gena James Pitts launched the premier issue of Professional Sports Wives Magazine, a quarterly glossy catering to the roughly 500,000 women... Continue reading
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Blog Report
Who Is Lying About Iraq?
November 10, 2005 01:35 PMNorman Podhoretz's essay in the December issue of Commentary appears under the provocative title, "Who is Lying About Iraq?" Hint: According to Podhoretz, it's not the Bush administration."Among the many distortions, misrepresentations, and outright falsifications that have... Continue reading
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Blog Report
It’s Mary Mapes Day in the Blogosphere
November 9, 2005 02:07 PMMary Mapes, the erstwhile CBS News producer who was fired earlier this year for her role in the botched "60 Minutes II" story on President Bush's National Guard service, is back in the news this week promoting her new book,... Continue reading
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Politics
And We Wish It Had Stayed Hidden
November 3, 2005 02:32 PMThe presidential primaries of 2008 may seem like a galaxy far, far away. But according to an article in the Christian Science Monitor today, the residents of Iowa and New Hampshire may already be facing a threat to their... Continue reading
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Behind the News
Put This One on Ice
November 2, 2005 05:56 PMNobody likes a dirty refrigerator full of rotting food -- except for that endlessly hungry caste of Americans known as feature reporters. Recently, post-Katrina reporters scavenging the wreckage of the Gulf Coast for fresh stories two months after... Continue reading
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Magazine Report
Breakups and Make-ups
November 1, 2005 01:17 PMAccording to the calculus of American magazines, if you take one botched hurricane response, multiply it by a high-profile Washington indictment, add a failed Supreme Court nomination, and divide the whole shebang by high oil prices, what do you get?... Continue reading
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Politics
Martha Libby?
October 31, 2005 05:46 PMThe Martha Stewart brand has something for seemingly every time of the year, from Thanksgiving morning, to Christmas eve to, apparently, that festive time of the year unique to Washington, D.C. -- Scandal Week. Thus, to judge by the... Continue reading
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The Audit
Investment Coverage That Doesn’t Add Up
October 28, 2005 02:14 PMIf you were going to write an article attributing a certain characteristic to roughly half the world's population -- say, a few billion people -- how much data would you gather ahead of time? For Marilyn Gardner of the Christian... Continue reading
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Politics
Poll Vaults Hypothetical, Slams Into Wall of Insignificance
October 26, 2005 01:37 PMWhen it comes to reporting on American presidential elections, news organizations are currently slogging through a less than thrilling part of the cycle. Stories about the 2004 election feel stale. Stories about the 2008 campaign feel premature. Yesterday, however, the... Continue reading
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The Audit
Up! Down! Neither! Both!
October 25, 2005 04:41 PMIs the tank of gas half empty? Or is the tank of gas half full? The answer to that question seems to depend on which news organization you happen to be asking.To wit: Recently both the Associated Press... Continue reading
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Blog Report
The Technical Term For It Is “Big Fat Lie”
October 24, 2005 12:49 PMYesterday during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas floated a pre-emptive defense of the Bush administration officials currently under investigation by special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald. "I certainly hope," said Hutchison, "that... Continue reading
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Behind the News
Very Hidden
October 21, 2005 01:41 PMFor all of you who think that USA Today is incapable of hard-hitting cultural reporting -- and you know who you are -- think again. Today, the Web site of the paper best known for its excellent national sports page... Continue reading
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Behind the News
She’s Ba-aack
October 20, 2005 05:48 PMIt seems like just yesterday that Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz noted of the post-Hurricane Katrina news coverage, "Suddenly, there were no more absurdly hyped melodramas like those of Natalee Holloway." But apparently it takes more than a hurricane... Continue reading
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Behind the News
And a New Contender Emerges …
October 19, 2005 01:29 PMThere are all sorts of reasons why sources request anonymity when talking with reporters. Some are whistleblowers afraid of retribution. Others are gossip mongers worried about looking overly-catty. Still others are exercising a grudge against a boss or a colleague.... 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
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