Author Archive
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Behind the News
Hurricane Aaron Still Blowing
October 18, 2005 05:12 PMIt wasn't long ago, during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, that Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard seemed like the last person on planet Earth who would ever have to bypass the media to get out his message. At the time,... Continue reading
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Politics
Drawing Back the Curtain on One Miers Mystery
October 17, 2005 04:36 PMFor weeks, Washington watchers have been obsessing about an October 5 declaration by James Dobson, a radio pundit and founder of the conservative advocacy group Focus on the Family, expressing his support for Harriet Miers' nomination to the Supreme Court.... Continue reading
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Behind the News
Panda Press Misses Not a Detail
October 14, 2005 10:29 AMYesterday, the Washington Post broke some dreadful news, the ultimate ramifications of which -- as of press time -- were not entirely clear, but the impact of which will surely be felt by hundreds if not thousands of residents in... Continue reading
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Politics
The Times-Picayune Undresses a Blowhard
October 12, 2005 04:01 PMIn the days following Hurricane Katrina, Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard leapt into the white-hot media arena and became one of the most eloquent, savage, and ubiquitous critics of the Bush administration's lackluster, stutter-step response. As we noted earlier,... Continue reading
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The Audit
Christian Science Monitor Discovers the Internet
October 11, 2005 06:03 PMThese days, everywhere you look, the news is full of dire economic indicators. High gas prices. Huge heating cost increases. Creeping interest rates. But according to an article in today's Christian Science Monitor, help may be on the way thanks... Continue reading
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Politics
Journalism in Camouflage
October 10, 2005 05:55 PMIf you're going to criticize the Bush Administration's handling of the war in Iraq for the editorial page of the Washington Times, it's important to take care of due diligence first. Before getting around to your protestations, for example, you... Continue reading
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The Water Cooler
David House on Post-Publication Fact-Checking and Deterring Plagiarism
October 7, 2005 05:49 PMDavid House In March of 2004, the editors at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram announced that they would begin implementing a new deterrence system designed to safeguard their... Continue reading
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Blog Report
Man Pokes Stick at Dog Behind Fence; Dog Eats Stick
October 6, 2005 01:40 PMOn Tuesday night, Bill O'Reilly devoted a portion of Fox's "The O'Reilly Factor" to discussing the subject of dangerous, partisan "Web logs" and answering the pressing question: "Who's behind the smear campaigns?" The show, which featured guests David Kline of... Continue reading
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Blog Report
From the Left, From the Right, Bloggers Whack Bush Around
October 5, 2005 02:59 PMYesterday at a press conference in the Rose Garden, President Bush answered questions about his nomination of Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court, reiterated his opposition to steroids in baseball, and addressed the potential hazards of bird flu ("That's... Continue reading
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Blog Report
“60 Minutes”: In the Crosshairs Again
October 3, 2005 02:04 PMLast night on CBS's "60 Minutes," Bob Simon interviewed Elian Gonzalez, who is now 11 years old and living in Cuba. Predictably, the interview touched off a minor "El Nino" event in far-reaching corners of the blogosphere. "Did... Continue reading
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Behind the News
Not Yet, Anyway
September 30, 2005 04:47 PMThere are few things more dramatic in television news than reporting on a hurricane. Giant waves rushing ashore, demolishing all that they encounter. Torrential downpours flooding the streets. Nasty winds lifting away rooftops. Everywhere you look, drama. Reporting on the... Continue reading
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Politics
Who Indicted Tom DeLay?
September 29, 2005 02:51 PMYesterday, in the wake of a criminal indictment in Texas, Tom DeLay stepped down as the Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. In a brief speech, DeLay posed a few hypotheses. The charges, he suggested, were the... Continue reading
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Magazine Report
Six Different Takes on Katrina, Rita
September 27, 2005 01:02 PMThis week the combined brunt of two hurricanes washed up on the glossy shores of American magazines, creating a torrent of coverage, complete with counterintuitive eddies, soggy historical analysis, and off-the-cuff poetry. The cover of U.S. News & World... Continue reading
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Behind the News
New York Times Writes Second Obit for the Joke - and Then a Third
September 26, 2005 02:26 PMIt's been months -- four months, in fact -- since the New York Times first announced the death of the joke -- an art form, the Times suggested, that may have at last succumbed to other forms of humor. Irony.... Continue reading
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Behind the News
Going Nowhere Fast
September 23, 2005 04:40 PMToday, everywhere you look in the news, you see them. People trapped in cars, running from a storm, running into traffic, running out of gas, and running out of patience. But while swarms of reporters and camera crews have turned... Continue reading
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The Audit
Inflation at the News Pump
September 22, 2005 04:22 PMThis morning, the San Francisco Chronicle greeted its readers in the Bay Area with a bit of bad news about gas prices. The paper reported that Hurricane Rita was now bearing down on the Texas coastline and could "drive... Continue reading
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Behind the News
Why Did New Orleans Drown?
September 21, 2005 04:34 PMWhy did the floodwalls surrounding New Orleans fail to protect the city from Hurricane Katrina? It's an important question, and for the past several weeks, the Army Corps of Engineers has been giving a pat answer seemingly intended to head... Continue reading
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Politics
The Real MSM Piles onto DeLay
September 20, 2005 03:54 PMPundits of a certain stripe love to prattle on about the liberal bias of the �mainstream media,� an engrained mindset that drives them to gang up on Republican politicians such as House Leader Tom DeLay. This week, once again, DeLay... Continue reading
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Politics
What? A Boondoggle Without a Czar?
September 16, 2005 04:45 PMLast night, in his speech to the nation, President Bush announced that a group of inspectors general would be watching over the federal government's rebuilding of the Gulf Coast, keeping an eye out for patronage and corruption. That... Continue reading
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Behind the News
Giving New Meaning to the Term “Pool Reporter”
September 15, 2005 05:44 PM"A pool is, for many of us in the West, a symbol not of affluence but of order, of control over the uncontrollable," Joan Didion once wrote in an essay. "A pool is water, made available and useful, and is,... 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
